Nomination for the Zone 7 Wall of Fame

Harvey Weidman

We in Shasta Region are especially honored to nominate Harvey Weidman for consideration in the Zone 7 Wall of Fame. While Harvey is invaluable as our Shasta Northwinds Editor, he has been a trusted expert for many of our Porsche questions, and most importantly, he has been a great Porsche friend. His Porsche story goes back to the early years of Porsche.

Harvey’s interest in Porsches started in 1960 when he and his older brother were at Riverside Race Track. Harvey’s brother would point out the Porsches on the track and Harvey’s love for the marque began. He started working on Porsches professionally in 1966 at a specialty paint shop, where he was responsible for disassembly, paint prep, and reassembly. He worked on a great many Porsche cars, including 356, 911, 550, 904, 906, and 908’s. Unfortunately for Harvey, he left this establishment just when the 917’s were starting to need work.

In 1972, he eagerly accepted a parts department job at a southern California Porsche dealership. He studied the parts books and applied himself to know everything he could about Porsches. Within 3 years, he progressed to Parts Manager, Operations Manager, and then Assistant General Manager. Owing to Harvey’s close association with the Porsche factory racing department, his dealership was one of the very few which actually stocked Porsche race parts.

Due to his expertise and dedication to find hard-to-get 356 parts, Harvey was asked to be one of the charter members of the 356 Registry. Harvey was the first to “group” 356 and 911 parts and place this type of ad in the Porsche Panorama.

Harvey’s parts department was the first to solicit restoration and repair of Porsches, not just new Porsche sales. As a result of this expertise, since the early 1970’s he has been a frequently sought after technical source for restoration and concours judging.

Today, his wheel restoration business, Weidman’s Wheels, overshadows his early involvement in total car restoration, but has not diminished his knowledge or world-renown reputation. Last week he answered a query from Germany regarding early race cars, but others have called from England, Australia, Japan, and Holland with questions about correctness of reassembly.

Every major board has used his statements as references for not only wheels but other phases of restoration and reassembly. In my own experience at the 2006 Porsche Parade concours de elegance, a judge questioned the correctness of my radio face plate. I had only to point to Harvey and say “Harvey Weidman said it was correct.” No further questions were asked.

After leaving the Porsche dealership in 1978, he started Weidman’s Wheels which has become the most prominent Porsche wheel shop globally. One only has to read the December issue of Excellence magazine, page 97, to capture a tidbit of Harvey’s expertise. “Coker sent all five of the original Fuchs alloy wheels to Harvey Weidman in Oroville, California to be refinished. ‘He does a masterful job with wheels.’ raves Coker.”

Harvey has been an active PCA member continuously since February, 1974, and is the 2007 Shasta Region “Enthusiast of the Year.” Harvey Weidman is the consummate Porsche enthusiast and is truly deserving of recognition on the Zone 7 Wall of Fame.

Respectfully Submitted,

Bob Dunlap

President, Shasta Region