For Anyone Who Ever Dreamt About Porsches, Air | Water 2026 Was Heaven
Air-cooled classics. 997s. GT cars. Heralded race car heros.
Air | Water – the annual meet from the team behind Luftgekühlt – just wrapped up its 2026 edition in Costa Mesa, California. Here is a recap of just some of what we experienced in the wide world of Porsches.
For its fourth iteration, Air | Water stood as the biggest single marque event in Southern California, with Porsche cars across all generations, all models, all powertrains, etc. More than 800 cars were on display, but it could have easily been over a thousand if you include the paddock parking and the overflow lots that also saw passionate owners roll up with their finest.
During the event, guests were treated to basically any build you could imagine across the Stuttgart-crested brand, beyond just 911s. Fans of cleanly executed weekend cars, fun daily drivers, colorful allocations and more were all catered to. The show also took advantage to showcase the recently announced Porsche 911 GT3 S/C, with mixed reviews across spectators. Other brands took the time to reveal their prized creations as well, like Gunther Werks with its ‘Project Endgame’ release, Singer’s gorgeous DLS Turbo, and even the one-of-one “Sally” Porsche 911 GTS alongside Pixar’s very own full-sized version from the movie Cars.
When guests wanted to learn a bit more about why – or how – Porsches are so special, they hit up the Broad Arrow auctions held on premise in the OC Fairgrounds’s Hangar. There, people watched in awe as prices climbed for some really rare Porsches, like a pristine 2017 RUF RT12, the illusive 997.2 GT3 RS 4.0, and our favorite – a 1988 Porsche 959 SC, Reimagined by Canepa in all of its Viper Green glory.
Luftgekühlt will continue its tour of Porsche events with Lüft 12,set for October 10 in Atlanta, Georgia.
