Mr. 911: Magnus Walker

Cars People Culture

The Outlaw breaks cover to tell us about his 911 obsession and talk the universal language of Porsche

I first fell in love with Porsche as a 10 year old kid during a visit to the London Earls Court Motor show back in 1977. The car that started the love affair was a white Martini 930 Turbo that was on the Porsche stand that day.

This is probably a familiar story to anybody growing up in the late 70s or early 80s –chances are you had a PORSCHE turbo poster on your bedroom wall also.

I wrote a letter to Porsche that year saying I wanted to design cars for them, to my amazement they even wrote back & said words to the effect of –“call us when you’re older”

This is something I never forgot.

It took me another 15 years to acquire my first Porsche –a 1974 slant nose conversion model in 1992.

magnus1

 

For me as a 25 year old now living in LA this represented a huge personal sense of achievement, as a kid growing up in Sheffield, England Porsche ownership was just a dream –I hardly ever saw one on the road back then.

Not only was this a very memorable time for me, my first 911 represented the ultimate personal freedom to go wherever I wanted at my own chosen speed.

Over the past 23 years of Porsche ownership I’ve had many memorable moments, owned over 50 911s, acquired quite a few speeding tickets, done a lot of track days, raced wheel-to-wheel, travelled the world, met a lot of great people and shared similar stories.

This is great thing about Porsche –it’s like a family.

magnus2

I often say Porsche is a language and it does not matter if you speak English, German or Japanese – we all speak Porsche – share the same passion and relate to the car.

I’m more passionate about the car than ever before, I’m continually amazed by the sheer diversity of what has evolved within the 911 over the past 50 years of the evolution –the DNA is still there, the key is in the same place, the cars have gotten faster and more advanced but are still instantly recognisable as a 911 and are still fun to drive.

magnus3

The 911 is an easy car to modify and upgrade to your own personal tastes and preference, almost all parts from the first 30 years are somewhat interchangeable and that’s a great thing!

Ultimately for me it’s all about the driving experience –nothing beats an early air cooled manual car, where I’m in control with my two hands, feet, balls and brain – deciding how fast I go down the road.

Cheers,

Magnus

CLICK TO ENLARGE