Around 8000 Porsche enthusiasts flocked to Luftgekühlt 12 at Town at Trilith in Fayetteville, Georgia, US, on October 10, 2026 according to Porsche. Hurricane warnings pushed the start back by several hours, but once dry weather prevailed, patient visitors were rewarded with 300 display cars lining the town’s avenues.
Luftgekühlt 12 was the first edition held in the American South and, organisers say, the first in a US residential area rather than a city. It also brought the event to the doorstep of Porsche Cars North America, headquartered in nearby Atlanta since 1998.
As ever, the cars and their stories were carefully curated. The event requires owners to apply with images, a history and a description of their car, and the organising team reads every submission. “Every event is an evolution on an evolution,” says Luft creative director Jeff Zwart. “We want to find new stories to tell.”
This year’s event paid tribute to the Porsche 935, which turns 50 in 2026. Luftgekühlt 12 gathered three yellow examples raced by the Whittington brothers, alongside a fourth from the Brumos Collection.
Among them was the 935 K3 in which Don and Bill Whittington and Klaus Ludwig won the 1979 Le Mans 24 Hours. Around the time of that victory, the Whittingtons bought Road Atlanta, roughly 80 miles from the Luft 12 venue.
Luft 12 also marked 70 years since Porsche’s first Targa Florio victory. In 1956 Umberto Maglioli drove a 550 A Spyder single-handed to win the gruelling Sicilian road race – the first of 11 Targa wins for the marque.
Porsche’s Targa Florio history was told with four cars at Luftgekühlt 12. A 1959 718 RSK led much of that year’s race and set fastest lap, Porsche says, before a suspension failure on the final lap denied it victory. It was joined by the RS 60 that won in 1960, the 904 Carrera GTS that won in 1964 and a 1971 908/3, developed specifically for the Targa Florio and the Nürburgring. The Sicilian race also lent its name to the 1965 911 Targa, which Porsche credits with pioneering the open-top targa roof seen on myriad sports cars since.
Among Luftgekühlt 12’s headline cars was the Gulf-liveried Porsche 917 K in which Brian Redman set the fastest time at the 1970 Le Mans test, before it was acquired by Formula 1 driver Jo Siffert, who subsequently hired it out for the filming of Steve McQueen’s Le Mans.
Providing a striking contrast to the immaculately presented 917 K was a 1957 Porsche 356 A ‘Outlaw’ with an unusual backstory. Its owner discovered the car buried beneath rubble in the basement of a North Carolina general store.
With the lower half of the bodywork badly rusted, he removed the roof and welded it onto a sounder shell. The unfinished project was sold in 2004 after its owner fell ill, before resurfacing years later less than 2.5 miles from his home, with his handwriting still visible on the boxes of parts. At Luft 12, the Porsche was displayed fresh from a sympathetic restoration that preserved its hard-earned patina.
“It’s always been approachable for anyone,” says Zwart of the event. “There are no barricades at the event, stopping you from getting close to the cars. You come through the gate and you explore; you walk into buildings and through rooms, down streets and avenues. You discover the cars, you talk to people, you read and hear about their stories.”
For more information on Luftgekühlt 12, see luftgekuhlt.com.
