He embraces the worn and the vintage. He savors patina as well as the time it took the finish to get there.

His intent is to satisfy his own style compass that pays homage to craftsmanship. His appreciation is evident and infectious. He makes you desire the experience he’s having.

Drive sits down with Magnus Walker to learn about the past, the present, and the next big thing.

 D! I read that your interest in the Porsche marque began when you were with your dad at the Earl’s Court Motor Show, you were about ten-years-old. 

Prior to that, were you a car guy (car kid) or is that experience the one that created a car guy?

MW  Well, it’s a combination of both, you know. I grew up working-class in Sheffield, north of England, an industrial steel town. So it wasn’t like we had a fancy car in the family. My dad was a sales rep and he had a company car but we did watch a lot of motorsports.

In the mid-seventies, England was kind of ruling the world on two and four wheels with Barry Sheene and James Hunt. Nineteen-seventy-six was a pivotal year for those guys, James was F1 Champion, Barry was Superbike Champion.

England’s a pretty small country. It’s pretty accessible to actually watch Motorsports. You can watch on TV or go to local (sort of close by) tracks and watch Club Racing at places such as Donington Park, Cadwell Park, and Mallory Park. So that was my exposure to it.

 … if I want to experience what 1966 might have been like I get behind the wheel of my 1966 Irish green, 911 and that’s about as close as I can get to time travel.

My uncle was actually the guy that had the fancy cars. He had a Ferrari Dino that he traded into a Ferrari 328 GTB back in the late ‘60s. He actually bought a Lotus Type 47 as a kit from the Lotus Factory and assembled it in the garage. So even though we didn’t have a cool car of our own, my uncle had a cool car, and I was sort of around it in the sense of the Club Racers.

Reading my dad’s copy of Auto Sport and watching racing on Thursday back in the mid-’70s, so that seed was already sown before I went to London to the motor show as a ten-year-old and I fell in love with Porsche.

I had the poster on the wall as a kid and I wrote the Porsche company a letter saying, I want to design cars for you. Porsche actually wrote a letter back to me saying call us when you’re older.

I didn’t really think much about working or designing for Porsche until I acquired my first Porsche when I was twenty-five, back in 1992 which represented a dream come true in a personal sense of achievement.

 D! That’s quite a good start to becoming a car guy.

MW  I also watched a lot of American TV growing up and so it was everything from Starsky and Hutch with the Ford Torino, the Rockford Files with the Trans Am too, you know.

American TV car culture in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, and movies, obviously, such as Bullitt and various other films. So for me, it was a combination of American TV shows that featured cars, plus, Captain America, Evel Knievel, and the iconic films which featured cars.

So that was the background for me falling in love with cars. I always say I didn’t necessarily have to have a cool car in the family to like cool cars. You know, inspiration is all around. You don’t have to own it to experience it.

It all depends where you’re going, how you want to get there, and what you want to experience.

 D! So what was it about Porsche in particular that captivated you then, and how has that interest evolved? 

MW  Well, it’s obvious right. You know, it looks good standing still. You think of a ‘70s Turbo for the most part. I think any kid growing up anywhere in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, chances are you had at least one of three posters on the wall: Porsche Turbo, Ferrari 512, or Lamborghini Countach.

Those were the pin-up poster cars of the era. So you know, it wasn’t hard to pick one of those three. But I suppose the specific answer is, visually as a ten-year-old, the Porsche just stood out. Really, really cool. And that was sort of it for me as a kid.

Fast forward forty-four years later and still in love with Porsche. Perhaps more. I’ve owned a lot of them and I’ve experienced a lot of different drives behind the wheel of different Porsches, not just the 911.

Ultimately, the greatest thing about them compared to Lamborghinis and Ferraris, up until some period of time, Porsches were, and are, still affordable. You see a lot of high-mileage Porsches because they’re built to be driven. You don’t necessarily see a lot of high mileage Ferraris and Lamborghinis. That was the initial hook: affordability, reliability, checking all the senses: looks good, feels good, smells good, tastes good.

Then the drivability of them, and later on, the ability to modify them to your own personal needs, whether it’s an aesthetic look or they need to speed to go faster, handle better, whatever, Porsches were pretty versatile in the way that you could modify them.

You could take one, if you wanted a ‘64 911 which had a two-liter motor, and put a 318. It technically bolts right in, obviously, you have to modify a few things, suspension, brakes, and gearbox. But you know, for the first thirty years of 911 production up until pretty much the 993, everything’s interchangeable. So it’s not hard to modify an early 911.

When I bought my first one in ‘92 that one was a ‘74 Slantnose conversion that I bought for $7,500. It was already modified. It had been converted to the wide-body, turbo, slant nose look. So that was the gateway drug. Down the slippery slope of Porsche ownership and modification.

 D! How many do you own now?

MW  I have a few. A little over 30. They’re not all 911s.

My goal is variety. So the goal is one of everything Porsche has ever made in a sports car. Broken down to front-engine, rear-engine, air- and water-cooled.

A lot of people, unfortunately, when they think of Porsche they think it has to be a 911. For me, I want to experience the 914, the 924, the 944, 968, to the 356. And every generation of 911.

So for me, it’s all about variety. I often say, we can’t go back in time and time travel, if I want to experience what 1966 might have been like I get behind the wheel of my 1966  Irish green, 911 and that’s about as close as I can get to time travel.

 D! As Porsche is transitioned through air-cooled. to liquid-cooled and then from mid-engine, to front-engine and the back to mid-engine. What’s your short list of the models that you love best and which ones do you feel fell short?  

MW  It all depends where you’re going, how you want to get there, and what you want to experience.

Recently, I took a drive to Moab and back. I spent twelve hours in the seat and behind the wheel of my 2014, 911 Turbo S, which I acquired not too long ago. That car had almost 162-thousand miles. For a seven-year-old Turbo S, one-owner lifelong LA car that’s the highest mileage 911 Turbo S in the country and I put a couple of thousand more miles on it.

The point to my rambling is Porsche is the car you could drive a thousand miles in a day and not actually feel beat up, and get out without your back aching and buzzing.

If you want to have a thrash on the Angeles Crest Highway it’s fun in any 911. It’s actually fun in any Porsche. I did it last week in my ‘92 968. So for me, it depends where I’m going. And how I may want to get there. I don’t have a favorite.

The second part to your question, where did Porsche fall short? They haven’t really fallen short.

D! Do the Porsche purists consider you more of an artist, a savior for the brand, or a heretic? 

MW  I  don’t know. You’d have to ask them really.

I describe the Porsche world as like a cake with a lot of slices, and the purest is one slice.

The guys that like to put their cars in a concourse at Pebble Beach and have judges walk around it with white gloves and Q-tips and tell them what’s wrong with it. There’s a slice for that.

There’s a slice of the guys that like to modify that like to race is a slice of the guys that, you know, love to brag about how they don’t even have two hundred miles on them.

So for me, you know, it is what it is. I’m not a Porsche purist, so I can’t really answer that question as to what Porsche purists think about what I do wrong. I don’t judge anyone on what they do. Ultimately, my theory is if you own the car you can do whatever you want to the car.

 D! That’s an excellent analogy. 

Could you comment on how some feel the Porsche DNA has been irreparably altered by modern safety, and air-quality mandates? 

MW  People have been modifying Porsche since day one. When the first one rolled off the production line, June 8th, 1948 in Austria.

James Dean might have been the first guy that modified Porsches and get some notoriety of it with his Little Bastard. Then Dean Jeffries modified the 356.

Remember, some of the 356 guys hated the 911 when it superseded it in 1965. The 356 had only been out seventeen years. The iconic 911 has now been in production for 57+ years. So, you know, that’s three times longer than the 356 was in production.

So you got to move with the times. You’ve go to evolve with the times.

The internal combustion car has been around 125 years and seems like it will disappear if you listen to some people.

To me, Jay Leno has a great example; he’s found a way to keep a 1902 steam car running . You want to talk about prehistoric obsolete technology, the steam car is that, but he’s still able to keep his team car rolling. It’s fast too.

So for me, as long as you can keep oil and gasoline available, we’re still going to be driving internal combustion engine cars as long as we can.

But to answer your question on mandates and restrictions, Porsche has to evolve. Things have always evolved. You gotta keep moving forward and that’s essentially where we’re at.

D! You have a tendency to put your own style on the restoring Porsches. Is the process the same when you do restorations for your clients?

MW  Well, first of all, I have to specify, I don’t have clients. Everything that you’ve seen I’ve built is my own personal builds from my own collection.

This seems to be an example where people sometimes get confused This is not a business for me, it’s a hobby.

What separates me from a lot of other talented builders out there is they’ve built cars for customers. I build cars for myself. So essentially the car is a canvas for me to express what it is. My area of inspiration is what I call the Glory Days of Porsche motorsports, the late ‘60s, early ‘70s.

In the mid-sixties through the inspirational seventies, Porsches first outright win at Le Mans in 1970. And the ‘73 RS Carrera through the 935, that’s where my inspiration comes from, thrown in a blender with a little bit of punk rock attitude, and a little bit of Americana hot rod thrown in.

I’ve never sought to emulate. I don’t build customer’s cars and never have. In fact, I’ve turned a lot of that type of opportunity down that’s how I want someone to come and say, hey, I love what you did but I’d like it a little bit differently. Then all of a sudden it’s their interpretation and my car is no longer my car. Then I have to manage their expectations on time, energy, and money.

I’ve been around independent builders and performance shops and see that things get out of control very quickly. Budgets escalate, things take three times as long, and the customer has changed their mind. So that’s not what I do. I built for myself.

I chose to feature a Lamborghini Espada. That’s not necessarily a car you would think of straight away. 

D! Well, I definitely appreciate the clarification. I thank you so much.

Your a racer and seeing you out there you really know how to to tear around corners. You obviously have been driving for a long time successfully. Can you share with us your favorite track or tracks that you’ve raced? 

MW  I started out with the POC (Porsche Owners Club) on their short program at the streets and then went Time Track and then went Cup racing, and then did some instructing along the way. That’s how you sort of taking what I would call aggressive street driving to the track and actually reach the next level in a safe, controlled environment where you’re able to push the car a little bit closer to the limits, or beyond.

I did a lot of track time at Willow Springs, only because it’s like ninety miles from where I am now and I could be there in an hour and a half. The privilege of driving a lot of West Coast tracks from Laguna Seca to  California Speedway.

But Springs is kind of one of my favorite tracks. She’s old school. The oldest, continuously running, purpose-built racetrack in America and it’s still in use.

A lot of history there including Shelby testing the Cobra and the GT40 back in the ‘60s. It’s still a kind of magical, special place to be.

That’s what unites all together. It’s that vehicle, right? 

D! I’m captivated by your new project called The Next Big Thing. You really take a dive into the underappreciated and somewhat forgotten cars from the past.

Share a little more with our readers so they get why it’s the “next big thing”.

 MW  I’ve been having fun. We are in the second season now. Forgotten cars, or the cars that are not necessarily what you think of when you think of a certain market.

Perfect example, I did an episode on a Lamborghini. You probably think of the Countach, right? Or an even or something modern. I chose to feature a Lamborghini Espada. That’s not necessarily a car you would think of straight away.

So, that’s sort of what the shows about season two. I shot ten episodes five of them in and around New York five and these ten episodes featuring 15 cars.

I do episodes on the BMW M Coupe, a Saleen Mustang Fox body from the ‘80s, a Mercedes AMG 500, and even a Volvo 1500 whose owner put 3.2 million miles on it.

The last episode was one of my favorites. I’m driving a class 11 Baja Bug somewhere off-road out near Barstow. It’s the car the EMPI Company races in the Baja 500.

D! I’m always excited about new content. That’s what’s nice about checking out your stuff because you are also that same car fan who has a platform and a voice that speaks to car people.

MW  You know, it’s what unites all true gearheads all, true car folks, motorheads, whatever you want to call yourself. It’s the thrill of all things automotive.

It often starts with the idea, the chase, the build, that ultimate drive, but it’s a common language.

In fact, you just pick your poison. Whether you’re a sport import guy, an American muscle car guy, a European sports car guy, or an off-road guy. You know, we all seem to speed on a thrill of everything that the car brings. It doesn’t matter what it is. You’re probably going to feel similar whether you drive in your Baja Bug or whatever 911. You know, it looks good, feels good, it energizes. You feel excited, involved, engaged.

That’s what unites all together. It’s that vehicle, right? It allows you to express all of those emotions and experience all of those senses behind the wheel.

D! Nicely put.

I appreciate your time, Magnus. Thank you.   

Check out the Hagerty Channel on YouTube for The Next Big Thing with Magnus Walker. Magnus explores the cars he thinks are the under-appreciated classics to buy right now.

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