Michael Satterfield
by Brendan Mckay Photos by Heritage Gruppe
Those who know me know that I’m a huge advocate for waking up early on weekend mornings. Granted, those first few minutes out of bed are horrific and nearly every ounce of my brain is questioning sanity levels as that alarm goes off. More than once I’ve started to make coffee without the coffee pot installed properly – you’d think hot liquid spilling all over the counter would be reason enough to ensure that something like that would never happen again, but seemingly all bets are off before 6 AM on Sundays and I have done this more than once (ok, more than twice…).
The payoff to the early start however is phenomenal – this time of year you’ll catch a sunrise over the eastern part of LA as the birds crank up the volume on their morning tunes. The air has that particular quality to it only found during summer mornings on the west coast: damp from lingering humidity from the evening before with a sweet overtone from blooming jasmine, and a subtle heat starting to rise as the blacktop warms up. If you get a move on early enough, you’ll have the roads to yourself, which means you can take that large sweeping left-hander on the Angeles Crest or Mulholland Drive quite a bit quicker than you’ll be able to a few hours later. Based on personal experience, more miles per hour unequivocally means more smiles per hour.
That said, who am I kidding – catching an extra hour or two of sleep is not to be underrated. The normal group of Heritage Gruppe attendees either took this advice to heart and/or had a banger of a Saturday night as last Sunday’s Driver’s Meeting was a touch more subdued than some of those in the past. But subdued doesn’t necessarily mean somber, as the vibe was incredibly chill. In some respects, this was the perfect amount of energy to allow attendees to get up close and personal with their favorite rides and have some meaningful conversations with their owners. That community feel is, after all, what HG is all about.
A healthy dose of late-model horsepower rolled through, including the venerable 911 GT3RS, a Ferrari 458 Spider, an M4 with some of the best wheels I’ve seen in a while, and an old school Nissan Skyline r31 GTS. @blkprez was there in his drippy NSX – Valencia Red Pearl is distinctly gorgeous in any light. And it wouldn’t be a proper Driver’s Meeting if the esoteric and eclectic didn’t roll in. Even though this wasn’t the Heritage Gruppe Overland Event, a proper Toyota 4×4 came through to join in the action.
Vache showed up with his Alpina/Dekra liveried 2002ti build, which is hands down one of the tightest out there. Seeing this car again was actually quite nostalgic for me as it was one of my favorites from the first Heritage Gruppe meet I attended at the Eagle Rock Plaza almost a year ago. Without this car, I’m not sure I would’ve ever ended up becoming more involved with G and the HG family – as if I needed more reasons to be enamored with this thing! I am a huge fan of period-correct builds, particularly those that tastefully nod to the racing culture of the 70s and 80s with paint and livery setups. As someone who is normally not a fan of yellow, I think yellow is the only proper color for this front fascia.
For those staying local over the July 4th holiday and looking for something to do, join us for a proper holiday rally. The Heritage Gruppe family will be partnering up with Team Cali Crooks for a group ride out to Dockweiler beach to start the holiday right. Stick close to Instagram for forthcoming details on meet times, the route, and plans for the festivities. If you missed the last Driver’s road rally, here’s your chance to make up for it! Make sure calendars are marked for July 11th for the next Driver’s Meeting in Sun Valley as well.
