Cars you may have missed at the HHP All Sports Car Day
Get the show on the road
Story by Bailey Gilliam + Photography by Charles Grace
The HHP (Hilton Head Plantation) All Sports Car Day, hosted by the HHP Porsche Club, convened in the heat July 15 in the Plantation House parking lot. Sports car owners, fans and enthusiasts alike braved the sweltering sun to converse about all things car. No brands or types were excluded, so an interesting mix of sports cars held our attention. If you couldn’t attend the event, we’ve got you covered. Here are some of the coolest cars you missed.
1963 Chevrolet Nova Convertible Super Sport
Owned by Joe Wolnick
Year acquired: 2015
Why he bought it: It was almost at the end of an auction, and I had already bought another car, but I was watching this car come up on the presentation. Only five or six people were left in the show, and I decided to bid on it because I liked it so much. Another guy was bidding with me, and his wife stopped him and said, “Honey, you bought three cars already. Let that nice man buy the red Nova.” And I got the car.
Why he loves it: Its uniqueness. Obviously, the color. It also has a power convertible roof from the factory, so it’s automatic. And it’s just eclectic; it’s kind of a crossover between the ‘50s and ’60s. So it’s got a lot of chrome on it, but it has more modern styling than the ‘50s cars. It turns heads. Everywhere I go, people give me high fives. It’s a high-five car.
Favorite place to drive: U.S. 278 in the middle of traffic when all the tourists are here.
1980 Mustang GT Enduro Serial #2 Prototype
Owned by Joe Wolnick
Year acquired: 2015 (at the same auction)
Why he bought it: This was the car I went to the auction for. It was a concept for race cars, so to change the body styling of cars you have to build 1,000 examples if you’re going to race that in the new body style. This was the prototype to test the concept. So they made three of them, put them on trailers and took them all around the country to show them to dealers, car clubs and racing teams. And to the best of my knowledge, there are only two left. One was destroyed in a racetrack accident. It was built for Ford engineering, and then after this was made for IMSA racing, the front end was put on race cars. But this was the prototype to decide exactly how they would do it. So it’s unique.
Why he loves it: It’s a prototype fiberglass Mustang that’s one of three ever made. It’s rare.
Favorite place to drive: I don’t know; I take it to car shows and grocery shopping.
2007 Shelby Cobra Replica
Owned by John Baker
Year acquired: 2020
Why he bought it: Why? Take a look! It’s the only Cobra replica built under a license from Carroll Shelby Licensing. This car has a 351-358 engine and produces 147 horsepower.
What he loves about it: Just the way it drives. It rides great. It’s very fast and very responsive. It handles well. One thing I don’t like about it is that these pipes are very loud. Everyone in the neighborhood knows when I’m out; the pipes get very hot.
Favorite place to drive: On the Bluffton Parkway.
2007 Porsche Boxter S
Owned by Bernie Reidel
Year acquired: 2010
Why he bought it: I never had a Porsche, and I wanted to try one. This one only had 9,000 miles on it, so I saved a lot of money, bought a used Porsche, and it’s great. I’ve had it for 13 years. It just turned 36,000 miles.
What he loves about it: Driving it.
Favorite place to drive: Anything short, like 30-45 minutes, and anything close. It’s not for long distances. And anything that has curves. Curves are good. It handles so well. It’s a mid-engine, so it handles really well.
2019 Cayman S Porsche
Owned by Merry Harlacher
Year acquired: 2019
Why he bought it: I liked the color. I liked the PDK automatic transmission, which is faster shifting and accelerating than even a manual transmission. And I liked the engine, a turbocharged boxer 4 engine with 360-70 horsepower.
Why he loves it: I cannot pick a favorite thing.
Favorite place to drive: Here on the island. I guess the best place to go fast is the Cross Island Parkway, and then there are several backroads here on the island that are fun to drive 35-40 mph. A little further out there’s a nice group of back roads behind Auto Nation between there and I-95 that are fun to drive.
1968 Mercedes-Benz 280SL
Owned by David Stitzer
Year acquired: 1977
Why he bought it: I wanted that car. I loved that car. It was my first collector car. Over the years I’ve had several collector cars; I’ve been in the Concours many times and won. This car won last year.
What he loves about it: It’s just a pretty car. Very smooth, runs great, and you can take it anywhere.
Favorite place to drive: Around here. And get comments on it.
2022 911 Cayenne Porsche
Owned by George Haley (show organizer)
Year acquired: 2022
Why he bought it: I’ve had Porsches for over 20 years, basically starting with the Boxster, which is a convertible, then going to the Cayman, which is a hardtop – they’re all beautiful cars. But the 911 is the pinnacle of the Porsche line, and I figured that would be my last car; I’d go for the top of the line.
Why he loves it: The power. I think it’s why all guys buy these types of cars. It’s the thrill of putting the accelerator down and taking off. And being careful when you’re doing it.
Favorite place to drive: I don’t go that far around here since the island is so small. I drive it back and forth to work in Port Royal and places like that.
Why did you organize this show? I organized this car show for social reasons. Mostly, it’s because I enjoy meeting new people. In this society today it’s hard to meet people. But with this event we all share a common interest, and some of us become good friends through our cars.
1970 Chevelle Super Sport
Owned by Charlie Neverdousky
Year acquired: 2022
Why he bought it: Because I used to have one like that, and I wanted another one.
Why he loves it: The looks.
Favorite place to drive it: I like taking it for cruises at the end of the day when the sun’s going down.
2019 911 Porsche Special Edition GT3 RS
Owned by Wilbur Strickland
Year acquired: 2020
Why he bought it: The RS stands for “RennSport” in German, which basically means race car. This particular car looks kind of gaudy, but that’s because it has many race-car parts on it. Porsche has a factory-built race car, and they took that and made it street-legal, and that’s what this is. So you see a bunch of black accents and so forth, but all of those do something. They’re part of the race car and adapted to the street.
Why he loves it: Really, it’s the engineering. This thing is the best that Porsche’s German engineers know how to do. If you get close to it, the attention to detail in the design and build quality is exceptional. And as an engineer, I appreciate it from an engineering standpoint. But I also love the driving as well. I drive it all over the place. We try to go everywhere in it.
Favorite place to drive: There are some lovely roads near here. If you go towards Sylvania, Georgia, there are better roads and good back roads.
Mystery car
Owned by one lucky local
If you’re the owner of this car, we’re sorry you left before we could find you. But we felt that your car was spectacular and needed to be included.
