"If only you were nearer" Back on track! Apologies...

Ruffgeezer, this thread is therapeutic for at least two of us then. Thanks Bruce.

Hi folks, i have been lurking on this forum also for a long time,
I also am stunned by this thread, an amazing story and superb photography,
Thank you Mr Mystery Machine.

To understand the Canadian people i will add a few words,
I have been to Canada a few times now,work/holiday related trip's and had an epic time,
I decided to show my brother this thread(not a regular at the forum),
He also was amazed at the story and kept rattling on about it,and certain things he was impressed with,
I have spoken to him about my trips away and how lovely the people are,so back to the point now,

I don't buy many presents for Xmas just to buy stuff for the hell of it and i try to get something that is relevant to the person its for,
Needed a present for the brother and had a think so i emailed restoration design and asked about T shirts,
I got a reply and was informed they do sell them tho not on there website and 25$ each (just to add it was Mike Dejonge that i had got in touch with),
Emailed back again and asked how i could purchase 2(Xmas present for myself also),Just Email or ring me was the answer,
It was at this point it dawned on me that Mike is the Dad and main man in it all,I then decided to ring and got to speak to Mike,
I explained how i had come to hear of him through the Retro Rides forum and how much i had enjoyed the photo's of his workplace and the truck etc,
He had no knowledge of the thread at all and sounded puzzled(think he was away the day the photography took place) so i explained how to find the thread and continued on and purchased the T shirts,
I explained that i am from N Ireland and which was the best way to post them,He informed me that he would do the postage free and they have been airmailed to me,A really nice thing to do from someone i don't know,
Mike has since emailed me back to say "that is a great thread",

Anymore update's then ??

Cheer's Mo

It has been quite some time since your presence has been noted on the forum, but boy you can come back with a bang!

As for the 'if you were only closer' it makes some of my car buying trips pale into insignificance! I think the furthest I have been to collect a car has been Dundee, on two occasions.

While they did not go quite as smoothly as your trip did, this thread has inspired me to go and do something just a little further affield!

It is a privilege to read your well written, and jaw dropping photographs. I was meant to comment on many things in the thread but reading it from start to finish simply had me being immersed in the fabric of the thread itself! Many, many thanks for the updates and keep them coming!

more more more!!!

Epic. I'm not a Porsche lover but I do appreciate your passion for them. I also appreciate the passion of a true car nut. We all have different skill sets and your's are definately photography AND words (and really who knowns what else!). If a picture is worth a thousand word AND your weaving of a picture with words combo.... wow - just WOW! I read a LOT of build threads because I'm a car nut but obviously since the car isn't even in the shop being contemplated as to the build... this is going to be an epic novel of a thread and so it has been appropriately named. I have thoroughly enjoyed this. It reminds me of some of the Petrolicious articles but instead of a blurb in a newspaper article we get a whole Encyclopedia Britainica worth of material. I'm a hard core Datsun nut and James (Camerashy) sent me the link over here to check it out. I love the pieces on the Mazda 616 because it is an appealing piece of Japanese automotive art. The Roadster bit is super cool because it's nice to hear your thoughts in the whole experience with a couple of Datsun Fairland buffs from the perspective of a car enthusiasts who isn't a Datsun nut.

You and I are a lot alike in some ways. I absolutely love your photographs, your love of the form and function of automobiles, your appreciation of life in its most precious details, your hard work attitude to get to your goals, the way you bring us into your experience, the way yof savor the fruit of your labours. You are just as kindly as my fellow Canadians in your sharing of your experience with your virtual audience.

If you ever choose to come to Canada again you have a place to stay on the West Coast

I signed up just to subscribe to this thread

Onward!

OK, OK, OKAY!!!

Firstly, please accept my apologies for the extended absence from this thread, it certainly wasn't intentional and life has been particularly frantic these past couple of weeks which has meant long days, late nights and no time to write anything (it's 1am now and I really should be in bed)

Many, many thanks to everyone for the kind words, comments and compliments, especially to those new to Retro Rides - I cannot express how flattering it is to have people sign up to read this thread, genuinely heart warming and I feel guilty for not having kept on top of it all.....

If I were to respond to each post I'd be here all night and I guess you'd rather see a cool car than me rabbit on anymore??

So, without further ado, I give you Scott's 930 Turbo, probably the one car that changed my perceptions of Porsche 911s more than anything else. I'll come to that bit later.

This car is a little bit special, it's a 1976 which is very early, but more than that it was the first 930 ever sold in Canada. It's a piece of Canadian Porsche history.

Now, I'm not a mystical person. You can keep your goblins, fairies, witches and dragons. You can also keep your ghosts, spirits and invisible family members that have come back to tell you Great Grandpa is disapproving of your current life direction from his orthopedic chair beyond the pearly gates. As for Yvette Fielding? GET OUT!!

Having said that, there was definitely an aura about this car, a sense of something special. Dare I say it, magical? Not in the same way as that scrawny, annoying little northern guy who names himself after an old fashioned alternator and milks out basic tricks into half hour 'epics'. No, not in that way, but more in a way that you just stand there beguiled by its lines, the form, the way the bodywork has been on a fast track steroid course yet looks so damn hot because of it!

It has a presence, an energy, an undefinable draw. If Obi Wan was right about tractor beams, I can say for sure that they existed back in 1976.

Talking of 1976, here is a little treat for you. When someone talks about 'history' regarding a vehicle, they usually define it by a service book and fistful of receipts.

Not this car. Well, yes, it does have that too, but when I say history, I mean a photo of the car itself being unloaded from a big plane having been flown over to North America from Germany. Not shipped, flown - in 1976. That's decadence.



Seriously, HOW COOL IS THAT??


Is there anything about that photo that isn't cool? Now that's what I call history.

Then there's the shots the first owner commissioned to commemorate his amazing purchase. You would too wouldn't you, if you'd just bought one of the coolest cars on the planet? He looks mighty proud of his car, and rightly so!





So the next time someone talks to you about history, a pamphlet with some dealer stamps will not seem quite so special. Or cool.


But coming back to that 'magical' presence, it's there alright. I know for sure that I've not been able to capture it with my camera, that's way beyond my means and way beyond my cameras capability. Why is that? Because it's being there, seeing it and spending time with it in the flesh where the magic happens. The car, the noise, the styling, the way it sits, the way it moves. But also the environment. I'm convinced that the landscape had a large part to play in the way this car got completely under my skin. Put this car in a city and it'll turn heads all day long, but out here, in the wilds of Alberta, it really does stop you in your tracks.




You've seen my take on Scott's 930 slant nose and how it was a pin-up model in an automotive frock for me, but this 930 is on a totally different plane. The lines on it are just so right. I'm not a fan of body addendums, fat spoilers and other paraphernalia that distort, contort, disguise and/or bloat an otherwise lovely bodyshape, yet here the modifications really do work.

In part because they are the legacy of performance enhancements, but more so because they just work. It's as simple as that.

Then there is the way it drives.







I guess you've all heard the reputation of this car and the subsequent nickname it has acquired?



The Widowmaker.

Well, I can tell you one thing now, this car is an absolute revelation to drive!

I still can't fathom how it must have felt to pilot this in 1976? My brain simply cannot comprehend how something that drives so incredibly nicely was engineered in an era when flares, fondue and Farrah Fawcett were the mainstay of modern life? Most modern sports cars could learn a thing or two from the design and dynamics of this car. And when I say that, I don't just mean this based on sitting in the co-pilot seat. No siree, Scott handed me the keys and said, succinctly, "drive".

I did. It was amazing. And right there is one of the biggest understatements I've ever made.

That 'magic' I mentioned, this is where it really comes out. The interior is nothing fancy, an exercise in simple, understated function that allows you to get on with the job at hand; the driving experience, which is just sensational. Sitting in that cabin and being in control of something so well put together is a sublime feeling. All of a sudden I really 'get' the whole 911 attraction. I get why they are popular and I get why the 930 is so sought after.

OK, so a fair majority of owners will probably have bought them for their status, or investment value or just to show off in, but that's missing the whole point of them. Driving them.

One of these in a city, I see now, is a waste. Give it a wide, open road and miles to stretch its legs and you just cannot help but get sucked into an alternative reality where you never want to stop driving.













I never wanted to stop driving this car. Ever.

It was a bitter sweet experience to be honest. On one hand I'm having the time of my life driving a dream car, an icon. I've got free reign to blast along the roads around Alberta and relish every bend, every gear change, every bit of that torrent you feel when the turbo spools up. On the other hand I know I've got to give the keys back and then it will all be over.

If Scott had let me drive it for a whole week, giving it back would have been too soon. A year? More please!




You may think I am over egging this a little. Maybe looking back with rose tinted glasses? Putting the car on a pedestal? Well I can tell you I'm not. There really is something magical about this car and it really does make you want more.

I didn't want to stop driving it. But when I did, I didn't want to stop looking at it.

I could go on and on and on about this car. It immediately replaced my poster car slant nose in the dream car stakes. It's just so right on every level. Not as powerful, but equally not as frantic or highly strung. It's fast, it's very fast, but not in an intimidating way and the reputation it has is probably deserved from the few people who don't respect the car. But it's certainly not a title befitting a car with such a breadth of talent in both its dynamics and its aesthetics.

I've always said that I could never justify spending more than £10,000 on any car purchase. BUT....I can bend that rule for this car. So much so, I'd happily pay the $300,000 it's worth if I could. I never thought I'd say this, but I genuinely think it's worth it.

What you're looking at here is Bruce's new benchmark in automotive perfection. And it's a title I don't give lightly.

I must thank Scott for allowing me the pleasure to spend time with this special car. Not just being around it while staring for ages at its curves. Not just from the passenger seat as we blasted across the Blackie countryside. Nor just from the drivers seat where I got to experience a sensory overload of automotive bliss. Or even nearly falling out the back of the family Tundra pickup while getting high speed shots on the open roads. No, it was each and every part on its own as well as combined as a whole that was an absolute joy and something burned so vividly in my mind that I will never, ever forget it.

Suddenly the realisation hits that the sun is setting fast and the light rapidly fading. Yvonne drops me off at the side of the road and heads home in the tracking car (kids in the back seat) so that Scott and I can get some shots of the car before it's too dark.

The window of opportunity for getting these shots is closing too quickly for my liking, but then, if we had all day, that would be over too soon as well.

We pitch up next to some grain silos and I try and make the most of the last light. Making the most of my time with this car.


























I'm a lucky, lucky guy.

I pinch myself, remind myself just how lucky I am. I take some last shots before the sun completely disappears behind the Rockies and try to relish every last moment.

I don't need to try.....













Dream car.

Amazing people.

Incredible country.

Perfect day.

Another great instalment. Why does it have one orange fog lamp? Is the car lowered? Would you say that the signs of use, wear and patina add to the car's beauty, more so than if it was in pristine condition?

Thanks for continuing the story.

I believe the car was fitted with a single extra fog light at some point (no evidence of a second one) but it's not known exactly why? I personally like this look a lot. The black bar is also a factory item, but I've never seen one on another Porsche.

I will need to ask Scott if the car is lowered, I'd imagine so judging by the photos, but I can't be 100%. What I can say is how well is rides, and handles. This was probably a bigger shock to me than the performance - the ride is so nice you could happily drive it 1,000 miles in comfort yet it still goes round corners so flat and assured.

As for the signs of use, they are only marginal on this car and, yes, I would definitely say they add to the cars beauty. It's story.





Just when you thought you'd seen enough Porsches, along comes another!

Yes, Scott isn't content with having a pair of incredible 930s and a yard full of parts & project cars. No, he has to have a race car too. Lurking deep inside his workshop is a dust covered '77 turbo bodied 911 race car which Clay is eager to show me around:






It's far from standard but I cannot remember the spec to be honest. One thing that I haven't mentioned about my time in the Alberta boonies is that I was becoming ever increasingly ill. It started on the morning I left Toronto and got progressively worse throughout the week with Scott and his family. What I thought was 'just' a sore throat seemed to escalate steadily over the days I was on the farm.

Why am I telling you this? Because the rougher I got, the harder it was for me to keep a mental note of everything. As my head became more and more of a fuzz of pain I seemed to let slide my usual habit of mentally noting everything down. The notepad in my brain was only working at partial capacity while it tried to tackle the ever increasing onslaught of this virus and as a result, I have parts of the trip that are more of a blank than I'd have liked.

Spec aside, it's a cool car! And Scott does use it in anger at race events all over Canada and the US. For the time being, it was here covered in dust. It looks like years of dust, but trust me, things end up looking like this very quickly out here!









I'll try and get the full spec from Scott....but I just wanted to show you all the car anyway. It's a cool thing!