Brewsters in San Clemente

[Old Guy]

Many of you will recall that Brewsters was for years located in the surf industry part of the city, west of I-5, near the Rainbow shoe location. Last year the shop moved to an industrial park in east San Clemente...and into a 20,000 SF facility. Today they hosted a BBQ and open house. I drove up and stayed for about an hour (missed the food ). The new shop is REALLY impressive! There must have been 20-30 Porsches of all years (no 997s or newer) in the shop in various states of repair or restoration. Besides many lifts, the shop has an army of machine tools and a distinct engine building area. Obviously they cleaned the place up big time to prepare for the open house, but still...well, they put on one heck of a show. At the back of the building is a hot rod shop and they joined in the day's event. Wow, hot rods are something else: incredible originality and effort. There were also a couple of "replica?" Gulf livery GT-40s. Well, the point is, if you recall the old 5 lift Brewsters next to Frank's body shop, times have changed. At first glance I didn't see anyone else from our chapter; lots of LA area/Orange County types, of course. Did anyone else attend? Comments??

[Petunia777]

Hi Jim,

Sorry we didn't make it to Brewsters as planned. Mike became sick with a nasty cold over the weekend, so he wasn't really up to participating in our planned PCA weekend activities.

Anyway, thanks for the great recap of the event. We really still hope to get up to Brewsters soon. Apparently, Brewsters is hosting this event called "Stuttgart Saturday Sozial" from 9a-noon every third Saturday of the month at their new shop at 130 Calle Iglesia, Unit B, San Clemente.

Hope to see more PCA-SDR club members there in the future!

Sara

[Old Guy]

Missed you both, for sure, Sara & Mike. We hope that Mike is A-OK now. And wish me luck: I'm in WashDC, getting snowed on and dealing with forced air heating. If I get back to Oceanside without a cold...well, the sun will rise tomorrow. Otherwise, this gig cancelled out our Spring Mountain plans. Asi es la vida.

As for Brewsters, hadn't heard about the regular event, but am not surprised; will check it out and likely attend. The business is in a major expansion mode. For me, it will be interesting to see just how much of a barrier the Camp Pendleton "20 miles" is for our chapter's members. Charlies, Black Forest and others in our region have really functional shops with impressive facilities...and treat the customers well. Smaller shops like MRD offer over-the-top expertise on a one on one basis, not to mention local neighborhood status. That said: Brewsters is really & truly, quite the facility. While walking around the shop I found myself wondering: where in the heck did they find enough mechanics, techs and whatever to operate this scale of facility? Mileage-wise, San Clemente is "just" as close to many of us, as San Clemente is to most of the Orange County crowd.

The plot develops, as the worm turns....

Thanks for checking in!

Jim & Tooi

[Petunia777]

Wow, Jim! I had no idea that Brewsters was on the large scale you're describing, and yes, they are as close or closer to many of us here in the north county as those services in the south or central county. I'm guessing you were pleased with their work and services when you used them in the past? I'd like to make it up there the third Saturday of March, but I'm already committed to Performance Driving School that weekend, and we'll be in Las Vegas the third Saturday of April. Dang!

Glad you survived God's wrath back East!

[Old Guy]

Performance driving seat time? Has to be good, Sara. Good for you!!

My work at Brewsters was pretty old-911 basic: engine and trans oil changes; motor and trans mounts. As I indicated before, their 20,000 sq ft shop is crammed with Porsches (and some VW vans) of all sorts in all sorts of disassembly or repair status. I'll be curious to see the through-put results, as the many major repair jobs sitting in the shop get finished and pushed out the door. I might follow up with them on the Saturday event; try to get up there this month. Their location is right next to the Surfing Cultural Heritage center, so there is more than one reason to go. As for cold and snow: couldn't get enough of it. We're going back for more towards the end of this month!! Hope to see you all sooner rather than later,

Jim