CVR Programs

Monthly Meeting – August 2019

Porsche of Fairfield/LeatherSmith CT

Porsche of Fairfield. Photo by Paul Kudra

We have had some hot days recently so it was nice to get together on a pleasant summer evening for our August monthly meeting. Our host for August was our long-time friends at Porsche of Fairfield. General Manager Mauricio Sanchez and his team welcomed CVR and had the place set up with the latest new Porsche offerings scattered throughout the showroom floor. A few examples of the new 911s and many new Macans could be found along with many other fine Porsches. While drooling over the new and select used machinery CVRers were provided a tasty dinner thanks to the efforts of Porsche of Fairfield team member Melby Chow and the socializing commenced.

Left to right: Jeff Coe, VP Programs, Mauricio Sanchez, GM of Porsche of Fairfield and Phil Capella, CVR Club President. Photo by Walter Hyjek.

The meeting kicked off with a warm welcome from Mauricio and an overview of things happening at Fairfield. Mauricio told the membership that the dealership is expanding its used Porsche department and can assist members in buying or selling a Porsche in an even greater way.  We then handed things over to President Phil Capella for a review of the CVR business calendar. Phil called on the chairpeople that were present at the meeting for updates on the calendar. As usual, plenty of activity for the CVR membership to take advantage of and a reminder to check your digital Challenge for activity reviews as well as notices on upcoming events. We then moved on to our topic for the evening.

Phil Capella addressing the members. Photo by Paul Roth.

First up was a shout out to CVR member Glenn Rozum who suggested the topic for the evening. That’s right, sometimes our hosts don’t have a specific speaker or topic planned for their meeting and they look to the programs group to provide a speaker. Glenn had made the topic suggestion months ago so we were able to put together the August event. So if YOU have a topic that you think the membership might be interested in hearing about please let the programs group know and maybe we can use it at a future meeting. The only requirement is that it be automotive related. If it is Porsche related, even better!

Guest speaker Jordan Stark with Jeff Coe, VP Programs. Photo by Walter Hyjek.

Our meeting topic for August was a presentation by Owner/Master technician Jordan Stark from LeatherSmith CT. This 20-year-old company is located in Bethany and is run by Jordan and his wife Dawn. Jordan went over his background in this specialized field and then covered all the different kinds of leatherwork that the company does which includes full interior restorations on classic cars. One of their specializations is the challenging partial panel replacement and Jordan explained how it was done.

Guest speaker Jordan Stark. Photo by Walter Hyjek.

Backed by a PowerPoint presentation, Jordan discussed the different types of leathers found in cars and passed around samples for the attendees to inspect. He even brought along a half-restored Porsche seat bottom which illustrated how the restoration process works. Members asked various questions about situations with their rides. Jordan provided realistic answers which sometimes were that the problem could not be repaired and would require replacement. Fascinating stuff. Jordan finished the presentation by covering some advice on leather care. One factoid that I found particularly interesting was that leather conditioners don’t really condition the leather! That said, they do act as a lubricant which results in less wear and tear on your seats when you get in and out so their use is a good thing for your interior. Everyone in attendance very much enjoyed the presentation.  

We concluded the great evening with a raffle featuring some prizes donated by Porsche of Fairfield as well as their friend Howard Mansdorf of Accurate automotive equipment of Queens Village NY. Many members went home with a great prize! A big thank you to Mauricio and his team. We’ll see you next month at Hoffman Porsche in East Hartford.  Watch your email inbox for the invitation.

Thanks, your CVR programs crew.

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