Thursday, 2200h, somewhere in LA
Finding Magnus Walker's place took a little sleuthing but once we'd liberated the correct 911 from the valet parking at the hotel (disarmingly easy - tell them you're here for the red 911 and eventually someone will bring you one, no questions asked, no paperwork exchanged...) we were down there in no time. Time enough in fact to shoot a few pics of our 991 around the iconic downtown bridges.
We got to Walker's place at the arranged time but found a party from Porsche already present, including design head Michael Mauer no less. Opportunist as ever we just gatecrashed the group for the tour round the loft apartment and garage, earwigging like mad as Mauer and his colleagues pored over Walker's collection of 911s with wide-eyed amazement. "I love what he's done," whispered Mauer to me at one point. "He's changed everything but not too much," he said, looking wistfully at the silver 1967 S with the red engine cover. "This is my favourite..." Coming to a 991 near you soon? Who knows...
An interesting meeting of minds this, the off-duty Porsche design top brass mixing with self-styled 'urban outlaw' Walker. Hard to imagine there's a German term for 'shabby chic' but Mauer and his team were lapping it up. Post Macan unveiling you can see the attraction for Porsche top brass to be seen to be engaging with a super fan for its sports car heritage like Walker, the vague whiff of rebelliousness making the relationship all the more enticing.
Once they'd left to catch the flight home and we had some time with Magnus on his own we had time to talk cars, tales and anecdotes about the history of each one and the tale of how it came into his possession flowing freely. He's clearly comfortable holding court but his combination of reverence and super geekery about every minute detail and difference between the various 911 models and his relaxed attitude to mixing and matching to create the Porsche he wants stands out as unusual. Especially in the 'matching numbers' obsessed world of Californian car collecting.
Which takes to our next appointment...
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