If you are not hardcore Porsche Nerd like some of us, you may not know what Luftgekühlt means. Literally, it’s a German word meaning “air cooling.” But in this context, Luftgekühlt is the brainchild of two-time Le Mans winner Patrick Long and Southern California creative director Howie Edelson, who set out to share their passion for Porsche with the world.
True to its name, Luftgekühlt is a motor show entirely dedicated to Porsche, from the brand’s most beautiful production cars to its most successful racing cars. Long and Edelson wanted the event to be bigger, better and more engaging than anything that had come before.
Rather than hosting it in the typical parking lots or golf courses favored by traditional car shows, they made sure to choose settings that were almost as stunning as the cars on display.
Luftgekühlt events have popped up across the country in a variety of venues, from the Bottleworks District in Indianapolis (Luftgekühlt 7) to the Universal Studios Backlot in Los Angeles (Luftgekühlt 6). In 2024, the show crossed the Atlantic to Copenhagen, where dozens of Porsches filled the grounds of the airport’s historic hangar.
Nearly a decade later, Luftgekühlt continues to thrive, becoming bigger, better and more ambitious than ever before. With ten shows behind them as of last year, organizers have turned their sights to the East Coast for the first time. The 11th episode was held in Durham, North Carolina at the historic American Tobacco Campus just a few weeks ago.
Construction on the American Tobacco Campus began in 1874, and the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. With more than a century of history and stunning architecture as the backdrop, hundreds of the most beautiful Porsches ever made are featured at this year’s show.
For co-founder Patrick Long, bringing Luftgekühlt to this location was the fulfillment of years of planning.
“This year’s event is an amazing culmination of about six or seven years of work,” Long tells us. “I first got a call from (Porsche collector) Rory Ingram around 2018, and he said, ‘I have this place I want you to look at.’ That was just three years out of four years at Luftgekühlt. The first time I came here, I totally got it, and I was very sure that this was going to be a great place for us — the No. 1 place on the East Coast.”
Ultimately, seeing Luftgekühlt through photos on social media only offers a glimpse of what the event is really about. To fully experience it, you have to be there in person.
With that in mind, we headed to Durham for Part 11 to get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how one of the country’s finest motoring events comes together. Watch the video above to see it all unfold.
