TAJ MA GARAJ Tour
05/03/08 19:35 Filed in:Touring | Social Events
TAJ
MA GARAJ TOUR AN AMAZING SUCCESS
Unbelievable
Facility in Dayton
by
Brice Kadel
More than eighty MORPCA members and their lucky guests
spent the afternoon of Saturday February
23rd
touring
TAJ MA GARAJ in Dayton. To say that those who attended
were impressed with the experience would be a real
understatement. From the comments of the crowd, it’s
fair to assume that everyone had their expectations
more than exceeded by this unique
opportunity.
When parking out front, you are gazing at a non-descript, old manufacturing building in a not-so-good part of downtown Dayton. (The building was originally the home of where the aluminum pop-top can was created!) Then, when you walk under the awning and through the door, all that suddenly changes. Instantly, you find yourself smack dab in the middle of Porsche-heaven.
The first thing you (can’t help but) notice are the cars that have been cut in half and are ‘coming out of the walls’. Their lights work, they are polished to the max, their interiors are complete, and their tires look like new. It’s just amazing. You literally have to see it to believe it. There is just no way words can begin to describe the TAJ MA GARAJ experience. If cars coming out of the wall didn’t put your fun meter in the red zone, then you had to be impressed with the VW coming out of the ceiling. (Yes, it was just a VW…but it was pretty neat none the less!)
All the walls in this 20,000 square foot showroom (calling it a ‘garage’ is not fair) are covered with Porsche memorabilia and artwork depicting John Dixon’s creativity and unique sense of humor. It takes about five minutes inside the place to realize that John is one very clever fellow. John was kind enough to be there to welcome our group and give us a brief introduction of what we could expect to see.
A person could spend hours in just the bathrooms – which for many were the highlight of the day -- with unique paintings that had members highly recommending a visit to the bathrooms to those who didn’t need to make a pit stop! The artwork adorning all the TAJ walls was worth taking the time to admire. The more you looked, the more you were impressed with the tremendous amount of thought that went into designing the presentation.
However, most of those in attendance were awestruck by the collection of great Porsches that were on display. From a Porsche tractor, to a 356 limo, to a 356 panel truck, (I know….Porsche never made limo’s or paneltrucks. John had them made!), to a GT3RS, to a Carrera GT; there was at least one Porsche parked inside the spotlessly-clean facility that was sure to make everyone in attendance drool.
After touring the three giant rooms that make up the downstairs display area, you then climb the stairs to the ‘game room’ -- which has a solid wood door with a giant Porsche crest engraved into it (no kidding…I’m not making this stuff up!) A pool table with the Porsche crest, dart games, basketball games, driving games and more vintage pin ball machines than are in the Smithsonian Museum were enough to make even old people feel like kids again.
After a couple hours at TAJ, we jumped back in our cars and drove a short lap down the street to the Hickory Bar-B-Q for a fantastic meal. Although (non MORPCA) patrons were waiting in line over an hour to get a table, we were able to walk right in and sit down to some great ribs, steaks, and chops.
Gerhard Hillman gets a gold star for pulling off one of the most unique social events in recent MORPCA history. Thanks to all his hard work, MORPCA members were able to enjoy the opportunity to tour TAJ MA GARAJ. If we do it again next year, you don’t want to miss it. Words just don’t do it justice.
For those of you who missed this chance to tour TAJ (or for those who attended and can’t wait to return), TAJ MA GARAJ is having their annual “TAJ WALK” on Saturday May 10th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The donation is $10 each with all proceeds going to the Taj Charities. For more information, please visit HYPERLINK "http://www.tajmagaraj.com" www.tajmagaraj.com.
