The center console is the part of the car between the seats with buttons and controls. Here, they’re working on it because it connects to the air-conditioning/vent area.
The “black foams” are foam insulation/material inside the heating/AC system that can crumble. When it breaks loose, it can get blown out of the vents and also mess up how the climate control directs and regulates air.
HVAC is the car’s heating and air-conditioning system. In this case, the foam inside the airflow paths breaks down and interferes with where air goes and how well the cabin temperature can be controlled.
A temperature gun is a tool that measures temperature from a distance using infrared. The host used one to see how hot the air coming out of the vents was, but says the cheap version might not be super accurate.
The Porsche 911 is a sports car made by Porsche. It’s famous for its classic design and for having the engine in the back. People talk about it a lot because it’s a “real driver’s car.”
These are the little flaps inside the heating/AC system that move to send air to different vents and mix hot and cold air. If the foam that helps seal things breaks down, air can leak through holes and the climate control can’t work as intended.
Term
heat and AC blend
“Heat and AC blend” is how your car mixes warm and cool air to get the temperature you want. If it’s not blended correctly, the cabin can feel too hot or too cold even when you set a target temp.
DIY means doing a repair or project yourself rather than paying a shop. In this segment, they’re describing a door-related repair process that’s intended to be repeatable with basic tools and careful steps.
Term
side channels
“Side channels” are the parts along the sides of the door that you have to work around to get to what’s behind the panel. They matter because they affect how the door trim goes back together.
The Saturn Vue is an SUV meant for regular driving, like commuting and errands. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because someone is talking about how a repair could be completed quickly. The focus is on the practical side of fixing the car.
Plastic welds are when plastic is melted and fused so the joint becomes one solid piece. They tend to hold up better than tape because they don’t rely on sticky adhesive staying bonded.
They’re using staples as reinforcement. The staples get melted into the plastic so the repair is stronger, and the speaker suggests you can remove only a few later if you have to go back in.
They’re referring to the car’s head unit (the in-dash audio “radio”). The point is that the repair work they’re doing requires access behind the radio, so they’re using one car as a test case before doing the same procedure on their own.
The heater core is the part that uses hot engine coolant to make warm air for the cabin. If it’s not working right, you may not get good heat even when the system is on.
They’re talking about the car’s AC system and why it’s not getting as cold as it should. If refrigerant leaks out, the AC can still blow cold for a while, but it won’t stay “ice cold.”
“Freon” is a common (though often generic) name people use for refrigerant in an AC system. Refrigerant is the working fluid that absorbs heat inside the cabin; if it leaks out, the system can run but won’t cool properly and will eventually fail to cool at all.
R134 is the specific refrigerant used in the car’s AC system. The AC is set up to work with that exact refrigerant, so it’s important for diagnosing leaks and recharging correctly.
The Porsche Cayenne is an SUV made by Porsche. It’s designed to be more sporty than a typical family SUV. In this conversation, the focus is on whether the air conditioning works well.
MSRP is the official sticker price the manufacturer lists for a car. It’s the starting number people use when comparing prices, before sales discounts and extra dealer charges.
The Porsche 987 Cayman is the second-generation Cayman, a mid-engine coupe that shares much of its driving character with the Boxster. Here it’s specifically described as a “base coupe,” and it’s one of the three models chosen to fit under the $50,000 threshold.
A transmission is the part that sends power from the engine to the wheels. Different transmissions can feel very different when you drive, which is why they’re worth talking about in a buyer-focused video.
“Brake bite” means how strongly the brakes grab when you first press the pedal. If it doesn’t have much bite, you may feel like you have to press harder or farther to stop as quickly as you expect.
Term
stop sign
A stop sign means you have to come to a complete stop before you go through the intersection. The hosts are talking about how easy it is to roll through without fully stopping.
Muscle memory here means your body learns a driving habit from repetition. The host is saying they stop fully because that’s the habit their driving reflexes follow.
A pre-purchase inspection is when a mechanic checks a used car before you buy it. It helps you find problems you might not notice during a quick look or test drive, so you don’t end up paying for expensive repairs later.
The center stack is the main control area in the middle of the dashboard—where the radio and climate buttons/screens usually are. Modifying it can change how the car works and can hurt originality.
BCA is a company that runs auctions for collector cars. Here, they’re talking about how altering parts of a car could discourage people from joining or participating.
Term
plastic bill in the dash
They’re talking about a plastic trim piece on the dashboard. The modification involves cutting it, which can be difficult to undo later.
They’re saying first-time owners don’t have an earlier version of the experience to compare against. So they tend to be more excited and less critical, because everything feels new.
A boxer engine is a flat engine where the pistons move opposite each other. Porsche uses this layout in many cars, and it’s part of what makes the driving feel and balance distinctive.
“Seven figure” means the car costs in the millions. They’re comparing a relatively affordable Porsche to very expensive classic Porsches to show how wide the Porsche community is.
Tiptronic is Porsche’s automatic transmission that also lets you choose gears yourself. So you can drive like a normal automatic, but still “shift” when you want more control.
“Porsche tax” just means owning a Porsche tends to cost more. Parts and repairs can be more expensive than on cheaper, more common cars, so you have to plan for that.
The Toyota Corolla is a common, everyday car. People often choose it because it’s practical and usually doesn’t require complicated maintenance. In the podcast, it’s used as an example of a car you can maintain without too much hassle.
They’re saying a Porsche usually needs regular care to keep working well for a long time. If you skip maintenance, it’s more likely to cause problems than on some everyday cars.
The Mazda MX-5 (Miata) is a small two-seat sports car. It’s made to be fun and easy to drive, especially on twisty roads. The conversation is about how people go about finding one.
A “consulting model” means the advisor talks with you first to understand your needs and concerns, then helps you choose the right car. Instead of assuming everyone should want the same brand, they try to match the car to the person.
A Porsche 911 Targa is a version of the 911 with a special roof setup that lets you enjoy open-air driving, but with extra structure for safety. Here, the host is using it as an example of a car someone loved as a kid and wants to recreate.
Car seats are the safety seats used to protect children in a vehicle. The point here is that the parent is thinking about whether the car will work well and safely for their kids’ seats every day.
The Porsche Boxster is a Porsche roadster (open-top sports car). Here it’s mentioned as the kind of Porsche someone wants, but they may not have the budget or comfort level for ownership.
A manual transmission is the kind of car where you shift gears yourself. You use a clutch pedal to change gears, which is why some drivers specifically want it for more control and engagement.
“Open top” refers to an open-air driving configuration—typically a convertible or roadster with the roof removed or folded away. Here it’s part of the buyer’s desired experience, used to justify recommending a Miata over a budget-stretched Boxster.
Car
Miata
The Mazda Miata is a small, fun, open-top sports car. In this story, it’s recommended because it’s typically cheaper to live with than a Porsche and still delivers the driving experience people want.
Sometimes people don’t have a bad attitude—they just end up with a car that doesn’t fit how they expected to live with it. If the car’s real-world behavior or ownership demands don’t match what they need, the experience can sour.
A service center is where you take your car for maintenance and repairs. The host is saying some people don’t want the hassle or stress of having to deal with that kind of situation.
That phrase means pressing the clutch pedal in and then releasing it. It’s a way to test how the car responds when you change gears or load the drivetrain.
A “diagnostic tree” is like a decision path for figuring out what’s wrong. You start with what you notice (a symptom) and then ask “what could cause that?” until you get to the most likely explanation.
Bore scoring means the inside walls of the engine cylinders get scratched or damaged. That can make the engine less able to seal properly and can lead to bigger problems over time. It’s one of the issues Porsche owners worry about on some models/years.
IMS is a part inside some Porsche engines. In certain years, a bearing in that part can fail, and that can cause serious engine problems. That’s why some owners worry about driving their cars.
“Toro” sounds like an app or website people use to find cars to drive or owners to connect with. The host is saying don’t just read about a car—try to drive one first. The transcript doesn’t explain what Toro stands for, though.
That “airbag light” is a warning on the dashboard that something in the airbag system isn’t happy. It can turn on if there’s a problem with sensors or wiring, and it can also happen after certain interior mods.
Those tire pressure lights mean the car thinks your tires aren’t at the right pressure. It’s usually tied to a sensor system that checks tire pressure and warns you when it’s off.
Term
DSM lights
“DSM lights” appears to be a shorthand for a specific Porsche dashboard system/indicator group. In this context, it’s part of the cluster of warning lights that comes on after modifications, suggesting a system that monitors safety or vehicle status.
Term
traffic control lights
This sounds like a dashboard indicator tied to some car system that can be turned off. The host is saying it was working, and they disabled it to avoid the warnings.
Bucket seats are the more supportive, racing-style seats with a deeper shape. If you swap them in, the car may think something about the safety system changed, so you can get warning lights unless everything is set up correctly.
Dura-Metric is a brand that makes tools used for car maintenance or diagnostics. The host is saying they bought one to help with the car’s service-light issue.
“Stability” here refers to a vehicle stability-control system that helps keep the car pointed in the direction the driver intends. The host says they turned it off for track use, which can change how the car responds when traction is limited.
A tire pressure monitor watches your tire pressures and warns you if something’s off. The host says their track wheels don’t have the sensors, so the warning lights act differently on track wheels versus street wheels.
Here, “belt” means an engine-bay belt that powers important accessories. The host thought a belt failed, which then caused overheating and lots of warning lights, so they had to end the race.
Term
black tape
The host used black tape to cover warning lights on the dashboard. The idea was to keep the driver from getting distracted or worried by a bunch of alerts during the race.
Term
Monty kit
A “kit” like this is an aftermarket tuning package. In this case, it sounds like it changes things like handling/suspension while keeping the car’s main power system mostly stock.
Term
arrow management
This likely means “aero management,” or how the car’s shape and aero parts affect airflow. Better airflow can help the car stick to the road at speed and feel more stable.
Term
Wysock package
The “Wysock package” sounds like a special track setup for the Taycan Turbo GT. The big clue is that it removes the back seat, which helps reduce weight for faster driving.
“1039 horsepower” is how much power the car makes. More horsepower usually means the car can accelerate harder, but tires and weight still affect how fast it actually feels.
“Boost” here means extra push—more power available for quicker acceleration. It’s like a temporary performance boost mode rather than the car’s usual output.
The Porsche Taycan Turbo GT is an electric Porsche made for serious speed. It can accelerate so hard that it feels like your body gets pushed back into the seat.
EVs are electric cars. They run on batteries and electric motors instead of gas. The host is saying EVs can be fast, but it depends on the class rules.
Here, “production” means it’s not just a one-off custom car. It’s something that’s actually available as a real product you could buy and install. That’s important for what’s allowed to compete.
A “one-off kit” means a custom setup made just for one specific car or one attempt. The host is saying some teams do that, but it’s harder to compete if the rules want something that’s actually available to buy. This segment says Monty’s kit is available through dealers.
Apple CarPlay lets your iPhone show certain apps on the car’s screen. Things like maps and music can be controlled from the dashboard. The host points out it was on while the driver was doing a record lap.
The Yangwang U9 is an electric car with four doors. It’s designed to be extremely fast. In the podcast, it’s brought up because they’re comparing performance numbers with other cars.
The Xiaomi SU7 is an electric sedan made by Xiaomi. It’s being mentioned because people are comparing it to other very fast four-door cars. The conversation is about performance.
JDC Miller is a race team that competes in IMSA sports-car racing. In this segment, the host is pointing out that they won the overall race.
Term
opt for this very expensive upgrade package for 2026
Racing rules can change year to year, and teams may need to buy new parts or update the car to match the latest requirements. The host is saying they didn’t want to pay for the 2026 updates, so they ran an older spec instead.
“Spec” is shorthand for the rules-approved setup of a race car. Running “2025 spec” means they used the car configuration from the 2025 rules instead of switching to the newer 2026 version.
Penske Porsche is a racing effort where Penske runs Porsche race cars in IMSA. The host says they were doing great early on, and then later got hit by a balancing rule.
Balance of performance (BoP) is a racing rule system used in IMSA to equalize performance between different cars. If one team or car is too fast, BoP can add restrictions or weight and reduce power to bring lap times closer.
GTP is a top class of race cars in IMSA—prototype cars built for endurance racing. Here, the host is noting that after BoP, their cars ended up carrying extra weight compared to others in the same class.
“Heavier weight” means the race car is required to carry extra mass (ballast). Extra weight makes the car slower and harder to handle, so avoiding it helps performance.
The Volvo 960 is a bigger, comfortable sedan made by Volvo. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because it did well in some racing-related context. The point is that it wasn’t only a regular road car—it also showed up in competition results.
GT is a racing class where the cars are based on real production models. Compared to prototype classes, the race cars tend to be more closely related to street cars.
A “connectivity system” is what lets the car connect to the internet or phone services. The host is basically saying they didn’t like how Porsche’s version works or feels to use.
“Porsche UI” means the way Porsche’s screens and menus are laid out in the car. The host is saying it can be confusing, especially for things like climate (air conditioning) controls.
LIVE
Welcome to the Porsche Club Insider, your one stop for all things Porsche and PCA.
Here's your host, Vu Gwin and the Insider Crew.
Welcome everyone, I can guarantee you it's going to be a fun episode because our guest
today is back Nathan Merz PCA Tech Committee valuation expert and owner of Columbia Valley
luxury cars. Welcome, welcome, welcome. He's been here for four weeks, he will not leave.
I'm pretty much moving in my sleep bags in the corner over there. Of course, it's great to
have Manny as well. You look good, sir. And Damon, thank you for being at the controls and
making all of this happen. I want to thank our presenting sponsor, Pirelli. Pirelli tires have
to achieve the highest levels of performance, safety, noiselessness, and grip on the road surface.
Innovative tires that can satisfy even the most specific mobility needs of the end consumer.
Thank you all for listening. If you aren't currently a PCA member and own a Porsche,
what are you waiting for? Grab that VIN and head over to PCA.org. And for those of you
that are looking for that special Porsche for your driveway or garage, check out our test drive
program. You can join and it unlocks resources and you can even reach out to Manny and perhaps
even to Nathan. And I'll tell you which car you should buy. Nathan has not been here for four
weeks. We're doing this sort of Hollywood style, right? Yes. But we've done, on the last episode,
we were talking about some of the objectives we had for your visit here. Thank you very much
for coming out. Yesterday, we attacked the center console, the air conditioning, the foam in the
986. And attacked. We did. This guy, I was explaining, you want to just make a nice cut down
the center of the vent. And he just mauled that thing and just tore the door off. I mean,
look at the strength in this man's arms. I'll give him credit. You got to watch the video.
Don't kill Manny. Oh, he's right handed. We're family friendly here.
So I was a bit, you told me it was easy. You told me it was easy. Manny said, yeah, you don't need
many tools or whatever, blah, blah, blah. And I've taken the center stack out of the 986 plenty
of times, 996. But I wasn't sure the whole cutting of the air conditioning, you know,
vents and stuff, like how difficult that would be. Because I've seen some people do it with a
utility knife. I've seen some people do it with like an oscillating, like a rotary or what do
you call it, the Dremel or something like that saw like, man, that's that was the unknown for me.
So I was a bit nervous. But other than that, I think it went really smooth. And of some of the
videos I've seen out there on YouTube, I think we're going to put something out there that's
going to be more useful, more detailed. And Damon got up close and personal with all the
different areas that you need to see. Because some things are hard to see in all the other videos.
I do have to apologize a little bit. I was getting a little hard on but I'm actually going to pay
you an honest compliment. This guy was very skilled with the knife like he cut that like first go on
both sides. And it was a perfect cut and made the repair look nice. I think whoever looks in that
dash 10 years from now, will be impressed with your handiwork. Yeah, so sharp, sharp utility knife
is key. The one that I used is a Japanese I think it's Ulfaz the brand. It's sharp, but it's small
because if you went in there with like normal utility knife, that's huge. There's not that much
room. What is that knife useful when you when you buy that Japanese knife? What are they advertised?
Because it is so thin, the actual utility life you can grab and hold on to. But this is like
super it's like a I think a ballpoint pen. I think it's from my window tent and and what do you
call it? It looks like it can be really precise like holding a pen basically. Yeah, it's as small as
a pen. Yeah, but very sure probably work, right? An exacto knife, believe it or not, is not as thin
as that. The plastic casing around an exacto knife normally is kind of like maybe two or three
pens, but this one is just one pin. Well, I think the one difference maker between our repair and
some of the other ones we've seen online is that actually having that sharp thin blade made a really
nice cut. And so then when you plastic welded the box back together, whereas the other ones,
if you take like the oscillating saw, it's going to have a huge hack job. I thought you're going to
say the only difference was that the hawk broke it. Yeah. You know what? Hold on, hold on one second.
Well, that's for those that may not have listened to the previous podcast, I think we have to rewind.
What was the objective of that video first? Okay, so anyone who's owned a 986, 987,
997, 987 car, you turn one of the HVAC on and all of a sudden these black foams start
blowing at you. Now that's the irritating part. The functional problem with it is that people
don't realize that over time that reduces the ability of your heat and air conditioning to
function correctly because the first door is of course direct where the air is going to go. And so
if it doesn't direct it correctly, you won't be able to, you know, for example, move to the frost
or face vents. It just kind of goes out every vent. But the more important one is you won't be able
to modulate the temperature correctly. And so one of the more interesting things is Vue drove it home
because I'd asked him, I said, well, how's the heat in the car? He says, oh, I don't really drive in
the winter, but I think it's good. And so when he drove it home last night, he says, oh my God,
the heat in here is so hot. And I said, well, when they're new, you should be able to like cook
hot dogs on the vents. And so I think you even got a temperature gun out last night. And I don't
remember what the reading was. 178 or 179. Yeah. So but truth be known, it's like a Harbor Freight
temperature gun. So I don't know how accurate it is. But I can tell you, you probably could have
roasted marshmallows. It was hot. And because I tested not tested it, but I felt mine. I took
my 987, which has foam coming out. And I thought this is not 180 degrees. It's hot,
but not 180. It was hot. This was definitely hot, hot. It's like, if you ever had a jeep,
you know, or even a jeep body 911 where you throw it, it throws out that kind of heat,
like exhaust. If I've ever seen it, these doors, these doors that move in and out,
basically, as Nathan articulated, give you heat or air conditioning. We don't know why,
but Porsche put holes in them. What about an inch diameter? Yeah, like inch diameter holes.
And why they put holes? Anyways, once the foam is off the doors, these holes are nothing stopping
them from air escaping. And we were expecting to see maybe, I don't know, 50% coverage of foam
still on it. This was like, do it ahead of time and clean the doors. When I, when I pulled back
the panel that I just cut, no, you mean you ripped off? Yes. Relax, but we'll get to that point in
a second. You're both of your eyes are like, Oh my gosh, it looks like you detailed the,
the doors because they, there was nothing left. Even had his little camera set up to where we
could watch. Nathan, I could watch kind of like we were watching the operation going on remotely
on the phone. And it was so when he, when, when David got in there with the camera, we were like,
Oh my God, it is completely bare. You were completely naked. You were going full
command on your doors. Watch it. Watch it. Funny too, because,
boo, you were telling us beforehand. Yeah, I'm pretty sure, you know, the most the foam is
probably still there because like there's AC, there's heat, and it doesn't feel blended.
Yeah. When we got there, it was, and that still might be true because the doors that we saw from
the interior of the car is not the heat and AC blend. It's all a difference when we fixed it.
True. You're right. You're right. Yeah, for sure. For sure. So we're not going to go through the
whole procedure because that's what the video is for, but it is a, it is a DIY that you can do it
yourself. Yes. If you take your time, it's not hard. Watch the video. There's only, like I said,
a few tools that you will need. The one thing that both Nathan and Manny sort of like their
jaws dropped is you, after you cut the two side channels, so to speak, for that door,
you're supposed to bend it down and tape it out of the way. Every video I saw that they did that.
Yeah. So I proceeded to do so, but I may have exerted a little bit extra pressure because I
really wanted to have access. Man. Yeah. Hulk is in the house. So I, and also the plastic is quite
brittle now because it's so old. So that actually it cut a, it broke perfectly. And so it snapped
off. So then I had full access to the doors and I could put my whole palm inside to, inside to
do what I needed to do. So that was good. And not to tell the full video, but the repair process
was quite simple. We used a plastic welder and it's as good as new. Yeah. And actually,
we had a lot of fun doing it. So I think the average. You had a lot of fun because you guys
were making fun of me the whole time I was trying to do it. I was being a governmental
supervisor. I was making sure that we were following protocol. And I think the average
member could probably complete the repair in under two hours. Well, if you listen to Vue's
description and you don't watch the video, you're mind going to gutter really quick.
Driving what he's doing. Please watch the video.
But one of the things I told Vue, I said, every video when they tape the
the doors, the channel, whatever, when they air come from, they tape it up. And I asked him,
I said, I want you to take a look at this video and think, I think a plastic welder would work
better in this case. And he agreed. So we said, we'll try it once we get in there. And
I would highly recommend what we looked into like $30 bucks, $40 bucks for a plastic welder.
And you'll use it for something else. Oh, without a doubt. I've seen Vue use it a lot.
But it just made a cleaner cut. I think Nathan pointed out and made it rigid. And if the tape
that most people use, that adhesive starts to come off. And how many years because adhesive
and heat never go well together, those plastic welds will not. Yeah, it's literally staples
that are melted into the plastic and they'll stay there. And I thought about this too,
is like, what if we have to go back in there? Don't put a bazillion of them in there. I think
I did a total of five. So if I need to go back in there later, I could really could clip the
five staples and go right back to where it was. I trust you repair Vue. It was top tier.
Yeah. Didn't drop anything. I had to expose myself a bit because you made me a little bit
nervous. Whoa, whoa. I already said you went commando on this repair. Why do you make me
pause? Because Nathan goes, Nathan goes, so who put in the stereo? I'm like, Oh my gosh, I did.
But I did it so long ago. I'm like, I don't, I don't remember if I was rushed and doing it.
Or did I just, did I do my normal job? And thankfully it was a pretty, I did a clean install.
Everything was cool. Well, you know, this is a little known factor. Our listeners maybe don't
know this, but in 1994, Vue and I were business partners. We had a car stereo installation shop
and Vue was the pretty marketing face and I was the man doing installation because
his skills were not so good. So when I saw you did this radio, I was like, it's not going to be
good, but he must have been watching my skills over the years because it was pretty well done.
I did mostly sales and marketing, but I did in a pinch help with installs and I did learn from
some very good people. Yeah. So Vue and brother's car stereo store went out of business shortly
after we had too much fun, but good old times. For those of you that think, and actually I posted
a teaser video, teaser photo on Facebook and one of our national volunteers had said, Oh man,
I know that, but mine's almost done. So I think I'm good. Here's the thing.
Even though I had tons of foam all inside my car, there was still a lot of foam
on the door still attached and I've had this car a long time. So it will always keep coming. It's
a lot and more importantly is the holes are now passing and not doing the doors not doing its
job. So you still have to seal it. So even if your car stopped spitting foam at you,
you still should do this repair. 100% actually more so because it's never going to work correctly.
Yeah. All right. Next up is either my 987, which we're still trying to figure out. You're going to
be the guinea pig because I'm going to dig in there and see what the heck is behind your radio.
Yeah, you'll be the guinea pig and then we'll do it on my car and see if your HVAC is the same.
And then we'll see we can do your heater core that we didn't know. Oh yeah. I'd love to do that.
Actually might be worth mentioning is that the video we've already filmed does not address the
heat versus cold issue with those doors. Those lapper doors. Yeah. I think it's going to probably
75% of the people. It'll help them. And we can do a follow up with through the heater core method.
Yeah. That's pretty straightforward. Yeah, but it's definitely something that I think many people
are going to watch the video. Hopefully you'll feel comfortable in trying it yourself. And
you know what it costs me? What did it cost me? Nothing. It cost me nothing to do that.
Let's back up though. You had the tape. I already had the plastic welder. I already had
this guy mad to the max. It cost me nothing. But you had to expose yourself to the world.
That cost me something to do. But you know what though? I was confident. Did the stereo work
Yeah. I did. Everything worked out great. Even we went to Jonah's guitar. What do you call it?
Recital. And Lauren said, we're taking the boxer. I'm like, yeah, I want to check out the new heat.
She thanked me personally. She called him. You're like, yeah, we're taking the boxer.
I modified it. But here's the thing. So can I go off on a little bit of tangent? It is
portion related. So I think I told you, you told me to take the readings of the temperatures and
got super hot, right? 170 or whatever. And then I turned it to cold. And I remembered, ah, shoot.
The air conditioning in the car works, but it's not like ice cold, because I did notice
the connection in front of the right rear wheel. There's like a, there's the AC pipes and there's
like two, there's like a junction there. And it's leaking. And I can tell it's AC freon because my
AC has a little bit of green in it for when, back when, the way when anyways. So it has to leak
completely out. It still works. It is cold because when I got in the car is like, how do you think
about the AC? She's like, it's cold. So she hasn't noticed yet. But at some point, I'm sure it's
going to leak all of it out. Can that junction be fixed? Or am I talking about like whole new
lines in the car? We'll have to check that out. But I think actually this, this reminds me, you
remind me of all these sellers I see online. So if you're ever going to buy a car from Boo,
be careful because how many of us seen this ad and someone say, Hey, is the air conditioning
work? They're like, yeah, no, it works great. I mean, it needs a charge, but, but it does work
great. I'm like, well, wait a minute, I don't you love that ad? Oh, it just needs a charge. I'm
like, really? It's definitely a number two, not a number one, but the strong two.
What needs a charge? It's, it's an, uh, why did you turn my honest question into this whole,
I'm not, I'm not even selling the car. It still has most of its original freon.
R134. So the 996 air conditioning works in it? 996 air conditioning is ice cold and ice cubes
come out of that car. Right. Yeah. So I forgot how many of your cars that have air conditioning
actually work? Uh, yeah, the, the G body three twos never had. I mean, when it was delivered
from the factory, you had air conditioning, but since I've owned it, it's never had air.
And the Cayenne's air works, right? Knock on wood, ice cold.
There you go. So you're 50 50 right now. It's not bad. You're doing good. Yeah. Not bad.
All right. So thank you very much for, uh, supervising the both of you freaking having
two managers looking over my shoulder while I'm doing stuff. That was fun. Um, Damon,
I, I think the camera work that you did on that's going to turn out and be a great resource for
people. So looking forward to that. And then today I had a little role at the end. I was,
didn't know I was going to, but you guys got set up. My biggest thing was heading over to
Marshall Goldman and getting you set up with a proper area to do the video. So
shout out to the folks at Marshall Goldman. Uh, they're actually right next to TPC and
Jessup. They are a high end car dealer and they let us use their, it's not really, it's not,
I guess it's got showroom, showroom. Yeah. So anyways, when you got to set up the three cars
and maybe you can set the stage of what that video was about. Yeah. It was actually one of
my favorite videos to make because a lot of people think that, oh, the most fun part of your job
has got to be, you know, when you sell a singer or a 993 RS or a GT2 RS or some, you know, flagship
car. And actually one of my favorite things to do is help someone buy their first Porsche. That's
always the most exciting Porsche you'll ever buy as your first one. And so we did a little series,
like essentially we know the price of a new car today. MSRP on the average new car in America
has crossed over $50,000 in 2026, which I am a curmudgeon, I'll admit it. That's still a
lot of money in my world, $50,000. And so I think, well, are there still Porsche sports cars you
can buy that are good cars for less than $50,000? And the answer is absolutely yes. So we picked
three different models that you could purchase below that price point. And so we started with a
986 Boxster, which is a lovely car. You can buy a good 986 for around $15,000. So we walked around
and talked pros and cons, not a buyer's guide, just a really quick summary about the car. Then we
jumped to a 987. In this case, we used a .2 Cayman base coupe, lovely car, and did pros and cons there.
And then we jumped to the 981, which represented our $45,000 choice. And then we did that little
walk and talk, talked about transmissions and, you know, fixed roof convertible, all that.
And then Vu took his life into his hands. He's so committed to the club. You actually wrote with
me, which is quite scary. In fact, the owner of the 9872, lovely family, they ran the car and
they said, yeah, the only thing about the car, it just never felt like the brakes have good bite.
So Vu, of course, knows he's on camera. And he's more familiar with the roads. So I'm blathering
on and we're approaching this stop sign. And I see Vu like moving his foot, like kind of like
the old driver's ed car did, except for there was no brake on that side. And Vu's like, stop,
stop, stop. I had to go into instructor mode. I'm like, does he not see? I really didn't. I was
so focused. And then I realized, yeah, that the brakes on that car didn't have quite the bite
that I expected them to have. It's a good thing you had me in the past. So he is a lifesaver and
he commits his life. Not only that, but we also, I also notice the speed cameras. Yes. Oh, that's
true. As you were chatting away, I'm like, there's a speed camera there. Just be, I don't, I'm so
slow on the uptake that literally all three drives, he's like, uh, just a reminder, this is the same
spot. Nathan Leaton did a camera and said, not my car. He did say, he did say, so we get a ticket
on this. Are you going to cover it? And I'm like, no, we're not going to get tickets. How fast you
think we can register? I'm like, no, no. I know. I've always wanted to play that game where you,
you know, it has a little thing. It says the speed, like how high can you get it to read?
They maxed out like 85.
How do you know that, man? So here's the question. Not only, you didn't have me in the passenger
seat on the way back to the office and there is a little, um, Howard County police, uh, how do you
say little, um, area that they like to park to catch people that don't stop fully at the stop sign,
which is the stop sign right in front of our office. And I was on the phone, um, hands-free,
of course. And I came to the stop sign and just because I always come to a complete stop there,
thankfully my brain just automatically stopped, but I did not see the police officer and I was
like, I made the right. And I'm like, Oh God, did I make a complete stop? And I'm sure I did
because he didn't come after me. So I was, I forgot to tell you about that, that one. So we got that
covered. Uh, Nathan didn't get pulled over on his way back to the office, but I kid you not. So he
took my, my Cayman for a quick drive, uh, brought me to Starbucks and all that. And on our way back,
uh, we stopped at the other light that's closer to star, um, stop sign closer to Starbucks.
We drove and the police officer was still there. We watched somebody roll through a stop sign,
cut Nathan off, which he had to slow down for. And then we went past, didn't move. He didn't
pop out. Nope. Oh, they're lucky day. They're lucky day. Well, the funny thing is I generally,
I shouldn't say it's not allowed, but I believe a stop sign with good visibility. Now I would never
roll through a stop sign that didn't have my son, but a neighborhood one where you've got,
you know, plenty of visibility, but here's a slight pause and a muscle memory. This is why I
tell Jonah Jonah said literally the same thing. You just said, dad, I can see everything. There's
no one here. I go here every day. I'm like, but this is this stop sign. If you don't come to a
complete stop at every stop sign, muscle memory. That's the reason why I stopped fully here is
because it's just muscle memory. See, this is proof you're a better parent than I because I just
told Damon the story. So my youngest daughter who's like a spitting little image of me, uh,
God bless her. Uh, I always would say to my kids when they're little and kids always listen. And I
always, my expression was always no cop, no stop. And so when she was in high school, she was driving
and rolled Nathan Murray style through the stop sign, gets pulled over and the cop comes up and
says, do you know why I stopped you? And he says, you rolled through the stop sign and she said,
well, I violated my dad's rule. And he says, well, what's your dad's rule? She says, no cop, no stop,
but there was a cop. So I should have stopped. And he gave her a warning because he said,
that's pretty funny, but tell your dad that's not what he should be teaching you. Oh my gosh.
So back to, back to the cars. I really think it was a cool video in the sense that the average car
today, I think is what? Did you contribute anything other than stop? Oh, yeah, we, yeah,
we did. I talked about, I asked him about modifying the cars. You know, we talked about
some things to look for on the interior, um, how the cars rode. Here's the thing, regardless of
you spend 15, 30 or 45, you will have a wonderful experience in those cars. If you buy the right
car, you will have a terrible experience if you don't buy the right car. You're looking for a deal.
Yeah. If you're looking for a deal, odds are you're going to have a bad experience because
there's a reason why that's a deal. But if you spend the money upfront for a nice car that's
vetted by someone like Nathan or Manny or Damon that knows what they're talking about,
we're just, we have plenty of videos and articles about how to find that right car, what to look
for. Uh, you got your correct, uh, and this is also, you know, always, always get a pre-purchase
inspection. I've broken that rule a couple of times, but really if you want to protect yourself,
right? It's hard because you get, you're excited about getting a car. You feel like the seller
is going to think it's a hassle. Yeah. You know what, but that is a lot less of a hassle than
you running into a big problem down the road. So you got to commit to that. Unless you know
who's selling it and there's full records and someone like a Nathan or Manny or Damon has
helped you look through it. That's one thing, but if you're on your own for the first time,
that first Porsche you drive, you're going to fall in love and you're going to want it and you're
going to want it so bad. You're going to overlook so many things, right? And then guess what? You've
just purchased a 15 or 30 or $45,000 car and now you got to figure out how to fix whatever was wrong
with it. Um, the other thing I had mentioned to him is especially those that are buying in the
lower end market, um, that $15,000 car is don't think it's just going to be $15,000. Like if you
go into it, $15,000 is your start, but having your piggy bank, your car piggy bank, not your whole
family's piggy bank, your car piggy bank to have $5,000 set aside to get things either freshened
up or know that there's probably going to be something within six months that's going to use
part of that piggy bank money. Absolutely. I think the other thing that's fun we talked about,
and he asked a lot of great insightful questions, but one of the things I love about
more entry level price point courses is that the average enthusiast is attempting those repairs. So,
you know, the 986 owners are likely to attempt our HVAC repair. If we told a nine,
92 owner, Hey, you can make, give your car higher performance. If you pull out the center
stack and make this cut in the plastic bill in the dash, we would have a literally a 50% drop in
BCA membership over. Well, I would also be very hesitant to cut into a 100 and some thousand
hour car versus a 10,000 hour car. What I'm hoping is there are younger, you know, the younger
generation that see these cars available for 15 or $20,000 and they go, man, that looks like it'd
be fun to drive and they want to work on them. Yeah, that would be totally cool. And they utilize
our videos as a resource. Like that's why we're doing it, right? Man, you say it all the time.
Yes, we want to market PCA. Yes, we want members and people to join us, but we're also our duty
for the brand. And what we do in this world is to, to create resources for future generations to
have 30 years from now, when these cars hopefully are still around and say, how did they do that?
There's, there's a clear video for them to watch. So I have a question for Nathan,
which you said earlier, you said you like to sell people their first Porsche. Is that because
they don't have expectations and this is everything new? I always say a parade. You can tell the
first time parade goer because they never complained about anything because they have no
reference to say, well, you know, this isn't as good as parade was four years ago and blah,
blah, blah. Everything is brand new to them. And they don't, these just don't realize that
they should, they shouldn't have to wait in line for this thing. And they think it's just normal.
Is first time Porsche owners kind of like that? I'd say absolutely because it's like anything
in life. I mean, we forget sitting here, what a privileged place it is to be able to own any
Porsche. I mean, to be able to have a car that frankly doesn't make the most pragmatic sense
in the world. So you can have a car that's strictly just because it brings you pleasure.
And so to be in that place, whether it's a new intern and a $15,000 boxer or someone driving
a seven figure classic Porsche, it's a blessing. And so to see that excitement in someone's eyes,
the first time they get to drive their cars, the fulfillment of a dream, many oftentimes that
they've had since childhood or for a long period of time, it usually represents a milestone in
their life. And I think you're right. It's also that they don't have a comparison. So they're not,
you know, oftentimes that's one of the worst things in life that the thief of joy sometimes
is comparison, right? So you're happy with whatever you have until you realize, oh,
my neighbor has the S version or, you know, whatever my neighbor's kid is on the better
basketball team or whatever it is in life that you're looking at. And so they just come in with
a new fresh set of eyes. And when they come to pray for the first time, they don't realize that,
yeah, this is unusually good, or maybe even it's unusually bad, you know, we're off for that day.
They're just excited. And that's very refreshing because they can open your eyes to what you forgot
when you were brand new. When we bought our Boxster, my wife had driven Porsche before,
but none of her own. So when we got this Boxster was going to be her car. So we got Tiptonic,
like if you want it. And it was going to be a daily driver. And I remember the first day she
took it to work, she texted me, she said, I get it. I finally understand why you love these cars.
She says, I feel like it's, it's a glove. I can't believe how these things drive.
And, you know, like you said, we tend to get used to all the different cars we drive and start
comparing them, but you had a joy of just driving a Porsche. It's very special.
Well, and we literally said that as we were driving in all the cars was, man, how lucky are we
to be driving these cars, enjoying this day, quote unquote, working, making content for people.
Yeah, this brand has given us so much. And this is a part of a way that we can give back.
I mean, I wake up every day and feel like I've been blessed. And so
the only thing I will say that's a little bit of a bummer. I'll rain on this page.
Was it donuts? Because that's mine too. No, no, no donuts. It's the fact that
if there's anything back to that first Porsche, I was driving Jim Hemmick's 986 today. And thank
you, Jim, for bringing your car out. Seems our marketing manager. And so I'm driving this car.
And a lot of times people will get a car like that. And they'll think, okay, now I've got my
first Porsche and then they've already have their eyes set on the next Porsche. Oh, I've got to get
XYZ. And they keep thinking, and they think that next Porsche is going to feel as magic as that
first Porsche. And it won't because everything that's good about a Porsche is innately baked into
every Porsche regardless of the price. And so while it might be incrementally better,
it's not like, like your first Porsche, you went from zero to 100. Well, the next Porsche is not
100 to 200. Right. It's 100 to 105. Right. So that first one, whatever it is, really,
if you're in your first Porsche out there and you're listening to us,
just soak in that moment because it is, it's pretty peak.
This is what I want to ask you because that's part of the warm and fuzzy side. And we all get the
question from our friends and family and, you know, they see how much fun we're having. And
they're, oh, I want to be in a Porsche. Help me find one this, that and the other. And I think my
nephew, Willis, he's looking for, you know, he has a question, I think we talked about it, 997.2
or 991.1. And as much, and he's been dreaming for a Porsche for a long, in fact, when he was,
I think, high school and college, he got to, I let him drive my 996. And I think that's
where the seed was planted. So he's always wanted one. And I want to try to help him
get the right one. Having said that though, now he's special because he's close to his
family and such, but there's a lot of friends and family that say that. And then I'm like,
like, I'm willing to put in the effort, but, but part of it, I'm kind of hesitant because
it is a Porsche. And there is, you know, let's say parts or service or whatever, there is like a
Porsche tax. There is the fact that, you know, maintenance is not the same. It's not a car like
our 05 Corolla, where you can forget to do all sorts of maintenance and it still turns on and
runs, right? Like these cars have to be maintained for longevity. And you have to do all these things.
And do you, do you sometimes go, Oh man, you really should just get a Corolla. Like I know you
say you want a Porsche, but man, like I feel if I sell a, or help someone find a Porsche that I
know belongs in a Corolla, like I'm going to be married to them because anything that goes wrong
with that car, they're going to say, boo, I was so excited about Porsche. You get me into this car.
And now I got to spend five grand to do this, three grand to do that. And I'm like, uh, and you,
and I don't, I don't have that request often. You have that request all the time. Like how do you
deal with that? It's a very good question. I can, I can give you the executive summary, which is that
I never suggest they want to go from Porsche to Corolla. But you know what I mean? It's just like
some people just aren't car people to know how to get the Miata. Yeah. So what I do, or Lexus or
whatever. So I've gone to a consulting model a few years ago. So people, you know, you know,
call in and they can, you know, book a consulting with me. And one of the things that my mission is
always to serve people well. And so what I attempt to do is I want to listen to what they're telling
me, what's important to them, what things, you know, make them happy, what things cause them
anxiety, how they're going to use the car. And I really do listen. And it's actually not that
uncommon that as someone's describing both their use case and maybe their car experience, their,
their car knowledge, I oftentimes say, Hey, this may sound non-conventional coming from a person
who's a Porsche brand advocate. I think a Porsche may not be your best fit. That's not to say they
can't if I tell them it's not a best fit, but I do give them a heads up. So I'll give you an example.
I get a call a lot of times from someone that says, Oh my gosh, you know, when I was a little kid,
my, my uncle had this, you know, 911 Targa and I just remember writing it and it was so magical.
And I really loved the car. And I kind of want to recreate that moment. Okay. So that,
I like the story, talk to me more. And, and they say, and I've reached out to you because I know
you sell really good cars. And I just, you know, having any kind of car problems causes me a lot
of anxiety. I don't like cars breaking. I really need a car I can always depend on. And I am
responsible for dropping my two preschool age children at preschool every day. And my wife,
you know, are they going to be good with car seats? Because my wife's really concerned about
safety. And so they're explaining this to me. And I think, okay, I need to break it to this
person that this probably wouldn't be a good experience. And so what I might pivot them to
is I'll say, okay, what was it about that experience in your uncle's car when you were little?
Was it that he was kind of the carefree, fun uncle and all these things. And so I'll have them
describe what about that experience was magical. And I'll say, well, okay, maybe that experience
could be recreated in a more modern car. As opposed to it doesn't have to be the same car,
but you can create the same emotion. And so sometimes it will be a more modern Porsche,
I'll point them to. Or sometimes, yeah, I will sometimes suggest something that's non Porsche.
So for example, for someone who wants a traditional, like let's say they're a Boxster buyer, and
they're looking at the $15,000 Boxster, and their budget is pretty thin. They're not
handy with cars, car repairs bother them, but they like to drive a manual transmission,
they like an open top, I would suggest a Miata in that situation. It's a fabulous car. As they
say, Miata is always the answer. So again, that goes back to this idea of serving people well.
It's one of the reasons that I'm hesitant, I do sell cars on bring a trailer. But one of the
reasons I sell the bulk of my cars not on bring a trailer is that sometimes you'll have a situation
where let's say you have a buyer who's just a good human being is what I describe people as.
They mean well, they're well intentioned. And I think me as a seller, I'm well intentioned
a good human being. And they don't have a positive experience. Well, sometimes it's not because they
acted in bad faith or I acted in bad faith. It's sometimes there's a mismatch between
their expectations and needs and what the car could actually do. And if you sell a car and bring
a trailer, I don't ever get the chance to interact with that potential buyer. So they buy it based on
sort of what's put out there in the community in the comments. And so if that person calls in to
be about a car, sometimes I'll say gosh, if if auto repair or having to have a relationship with
your service center causes you anxiety and stress, honestly, and a classic Porsche probably isn't
a good choice. Whereas there's sometimes this sounds really funny, but we'll get this like
on this way. If I'm driving one of my cars, and all of a sudden I notice there's a weird smell
or vibration or something, right? Instantly on my my neurons light up and I think, oh,
I wonder what that might be. And then I start processing it in my brain and I start isolating,
I drive it with a clutch in clutch out, rough road, smooth road, high speed, low speed, turning
straight. And I'm doing all these things. And then I'm literally making a diagnostic tree in my brain.
And then I'm going on the forums and I'm like, okay, when driving my 987 at greater than 70
miles an hour on a bank turn, you know, and that kind of lights my neurons up. It's kind of fun.
Exactly what you're talking about. That's a good buyer for a classic Porsche.
Someone who they hear the slightest noise and they go in and they're freaked out.
And then you already when on your way home after that drive, you're already figuring out, okay,
is this a winter project? Or am I going to do this in two weekends? And how long is
going to take? And you get completely consumed about figuring out that puzzle, right?
And then if you're correct, it's like the biggest validation ever, like, I'm a genius.
That's almost my daily drive on 95. Your car. Because I'll smell gas. Is it me?
Is this the day? day it probably ends? How quick can I get out of my car? And then I'll
pass another car. I'm like, I don't smell it anymore. Or I'll smell burning oil. I'm like,
this is it. This is the day. This is what the car probably does.
I was in the 32 the other day going to, you're going to laugh, going to pickle ball.
And I saw like a puff of smoke. I'm like, but it was ahead of me. I'm like, I'm going into the
smoke. I shouldn't be worried about this. But I still was just like, let me look behind in the
rear view mirror and I smell and then it started to fade away. And then there was another puff of
smoke. I'm like, Oh my gosh, what is this? Turns out it was like some old like beat up four truck
that was like four cars in front of me. I love it. I'm like, yes, it's not me.
Well, to your point about the people who ask about maintenance and whatnot,
we get those calls in the office too. And 99% of the time I will, if they're at their price range
and what they're looking for is in the CPO category. Oh yeah.
I'll follow them. I'll say just go to Porsche CPO. Here's a link. You want CPO. You want to have
at least by the extra year, you want three years where your piece of mine is covered.
And anything major is going to be covered. And it's just going to ease your mind. So you're not
because you know, you have people, especially with the cars that are affected by IMS or bore
scoring, I get that all the time. They're afraid to drive their cars. And I explained to them about
percentages. And I have an 05 Boxster with an 06 engine. And I say, that's the lowest
percentage of failure. I said, honestly, I said, do you know how many mechanical pieces are in my
engine and in my car? I said, there's so much more that could go wrong that isn't IMS or bore
scoring. So you're driving a mechanical piece of engineering and things will break. And the older
the cars get, the older all the parts, the plastic gets. So yeah, but anybody's looking for something
with 12 years, I think, and newer CPO, I tell them is 100%. It'll enhance your Porsche ownership
experience, make you feel more comfortable. And then when there's three years over, you can decide
do I keep the car and find it independent or keep on going to the dealer, but it definitely gives you
some breathing room. But yeah, when you're going to a vintage car, especially from people, I'll
ask, I'm sure you do as well, Nathan, do you own a Porsche and they'll say yes, I'll say what do you
own 991 or 992? And my second question is, have you ever driven one of these cars? And more often
than not, they say no, but I have great memories. So then I'm like, you've got to drive, either go to
PCA event, go on Toro and see if you can find one to drive and just drive it and see if it's
something that you, all your expectations are met. Because many times people have gotten into
vintage Porsches and they come back and they're like, this car has no power or it's like no power
steering. It's has this, doesn't have this compared to their car. And suddenly all these illusions
they had of how dream ride is going to be, suddenly have come to reality and they're like,
maybe I should think about this little stronger before I come to it.
And if you're a stressor, it's old mechanical things, right? So if you're a stressor, then
you probably should go for something newer. Because there's something nice about driving
a new car and you just know you're going to get in, turn the key, everything works, hit a button,
there's air conditioning, hit a button, there's heat, heated seats, cooling seats, all that stuff.
If that's what you want, you want that luxuriness, like save up the money and get that.
Say I'm in denial when Nathan described, I'm the other way. I'm like,
this is nothing big. I think it was just a once in a million thing. I must have ran over
something like a banana peel or something. I'm not sweating it.
You say that, but you know who's the best at that? Who's the best at that about not
worrying as they drive any distance? Yeah, he wants to give a guess.
He has the same Christopher tattooed on his chest. Sometimes I wish I could just have that
confidence where he's like, yeah, if it breaks, it breaks. So it's not going to break. It's not
going to break. And he can go long distances. I'll just turn the radio plowder and I hear
none. Although I'll give Damon a shout out was driving Damon's car. He gets the award for,
I think, the most amount of dash lights on in a car that I've driven recently. However,
a car that I drove that not denigrating any of the three cars I drove today, I had more fun
driving Damon's car. Oh, I bet. Damon's car. Oh my God, so much fun. I guess you fit in the seat.
Oh, it was great. But I kid you not, the airbag lights on, the tire pressure lights on,
the service. Check out the DSM lights on. There was another one, too. I was like,
shout out to my man. It's like a Christmas tree in here. All right, all right, let me explain.
I mean, that's what happened was when you modify things and why Low-En doesn't,
you know, your wife doesn't want you to modify Christmas trees. Is anything like your BMW,
which always tees you because it doesn't have lights at the beginning when you turn it on.
It has like, I call it the rolling credits. We sit the car and it goes,
fault by fault. I'm like, this is what you'll be getting a Star Wars.
All right, I'll give you a few seconds here to explain. Defend your honor.
Okay, I'll defend. I'll defend. So one is traffic control lights. So that's working.
Because I turned that off and so did Nathan. But yeah, you put bucket seats into those cars
and we're going to have an airbag light, which there's an airbag light and also
puts up the exclamation point. So you're going to have both of those lights on at all times.
What was the other one? I had, yeah, the service light. So I bought a Dura-Metric,
but I haven't gotten around to receiving the service light yet.
I have the tool, but still in the box. Yeah, I got that over the winter. So that needs to
be on fire. I got an extinguisher, but it's still in the box. Yeah, yeah. And the Cayenne's the
same way. So now that I've got that, I just need to go in and get my computer out, my PC.
What was the other light? It was... Stability because we turned that off. That's in there.
You have tire pressure monitor? Oh, tire pressure monitor. Yeah. So my track wheels,
my track wheels, no tire pressure monitors there. So my normal ones, it looks less like
a Christmas tree with the street wheels. But the thing is, he knows why the lights are on.
That's the difference. So noise the heck out. So in 964, Pete Trimper took the bulbs out
out of all the lights that came on. So he had new lights. So we're racing a Watkins Glen in
Endoro and about 15 minutes into, I was doing like the first hour that he was going to do the
last half hour, first hour something happened and all my lights light up on the 964.
So I'm like, what in the world is this? So I radio in, I'm like,
something happened. I could see the temperature start to rise. So I'm like, I think my belt went
up. I said, I'm coming in. I said, here's what I need. You'll get the belt from my
parts box. And I said, give me black tape. And they're like, what do you need the black tape for?
I'm like, every dash light is lit up right now. And Pete will freak out if he sees all these lights
because he won't want to drive the car. So we need someone to get in for the pasture side
and take strips of black tape and just cover up the lights. But as it turned out, I, when it took
out one belt, it took out the other belt and we were like, uh, forget about it. It's going to take
too long to fix it. So we just ended the race there. But yeah, they thought it was funny that
I was worried about covering up all the lights because Pete would freak out that if he saw all
the lights lit up. Love it. All right. Let me remind folks, Damon, let's make sure that they
head over to PCA.org and sign up for PCA's newsletters, performance news, e-brake news,
and mark fresh all free. Let's talk about the Monty. Even though by the time this comes out,
it's a couple of weeks old, but so worth, uh, wicked fast. Well, I wouldn't be surprised
about the time this comes out. The record's already been broken by somebody else. It seems like every
other week, uh, somebody comes out and beats, especially with the Chinese EVs. Right. Uh,
but yeah, the month, what they have Tycon Turbo GT with the Monty kit, uh, just, uh, as of this
recording on this day, uh, set the record. Oh, is it 655, Damon? 655. So basically what these
are the Raider brothers, right? At Monty. Yep. And they sprinkle their genius of, uh, arrow
management, suspension, but pow-power train is stock.
about when's he gonna do something with the Taycan.
The Turbo GT wasn't around yet.
And he had said something like,
we would love the opportunity to do something so.
Or in my heart, when I saw that they did finally
do something with the Taycan, so.
Manny, you had a chance to ride in the Taycan Turbo GT
non-Monty kit.
If I remember correctly, you said that was crazy in itself.
That was crazy fast.
It was in Spain, we did on the racetrack.
It was the Wysock package.
So no back seat?
No back seat.
The little lighter, 1039 horsepower,
plus it had the boost, I think,
to maybe 1070, insane power.
But the funny thing was, and I told Mike Levitas this,
I said, the last time I felt my head slam
into the back of the seat was the Taycan Turbo GT,
and I felt it with the Tuthill when he accelerated.
It was that same like take your breath away
type of acceleration.
The difference being the Tuthill was a pure driver's car.
There was no drivers that did the Taycan Turbo GT.
I don't want to say drove itself,
but I was at a track I'd never been,
and I was looking pretty darn good as a driver.
So it says a lot about the car.
But Lars Kern set the record again.
He said it before, when it was just the Turbo GT Wysock.
Now he said it again with Monty.
So I would see Lars knows this track very well.
I'm very jealous.
I would love to be able to notice track as well as they do
because to me it's still very intimidating.
How many corners you have to remember.
And how, what kind of, you know, 655 dedicated race cars
are doing that in what time?
So I'd have to look, read the article again
to see what class it is,
because there's so many different classes.
I think there's faster times with EVs,
with some of the Chinese,
but it's whether it's production or not.
And that's a key with Monty now is that
the kits are all available to be sold at dealers and installed.
So it's no longer like a one-off kit
that they built just for to break the record.
And some manufacturers do that,
and that's what separates them
from not being able to compete in the class.
Where this is a kit, now you can,
I don't think I see.
I would do a turbo GT.
Think about it this way.
This is about, so a GT3 RS992 is like 645 or six,
and the Monty kit is 643.
So it is roughly 10 seconds slower, that's it.
And it killed a turbo GT Y-Soc record from four years ago.
That's incredible.
Now I have two questions.
One you'll notice in this video that we're playing
that the driver, while he's making this record,
he's got Apple CarPlay, he's talking to his wife,
that was interesting.
And the second thing you notice
that the Porsche Crest is blacked out
with black electrical tape.
I was noticing that too.
Yeah, I'm wondering what's going on there.
Is it distraction?
I don't know.
I don't know, sort of interesting.
But there's a cage, notice that.
We did find out that Nathan gets distracted
by people walking in the background,
while he's making videos.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What were we doing?
We just had the owners of the cars were looking.
We were inside Marshall Goldman,
which had a lot of cool cars,
and we had people walking around.
Because he probably had the urge to walk over and talk to them.
That's probably what it is.
No, man, he was making faces at me.
He does do that.
He does do that.
He loves to trip people up.
No, I was not.
We were looking at, I think, $300,000 arse America.
Oh, wow.
All right, next item, let's see you have here.
Well, I will say, according to the internet,
it is the fastest production overall.
And sedan at 655, the BYD Yang Wang U9 was 659.
And before that, the fastest four-door,
and I'm like, is the Yomi SU-7 Ultra, what was it called?
Xiaomi.
Xiaomi.
Oh, man, I wouldn't, I don't even know.
And also, Yung Wong.
Yung Wong.
Yung Wong.
I gotta start watching more anime.
Anime's Japanese.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
We should leave this just because it's funny.
Keep trying, Manny.
That's like what I said, Czechoslovakia.
I didn't check for public.
Who knew?
Only 25 years ago, whatever.
That was 622.
So, hey, that's awesome.
The Porsche, like I said, by the time this comes out,
they may not have it anymore,
but for now, they get to celebrate.
Crazy.
All right, the next news item you had
has to do with IMSA, I think.
Oh, yeah, so this is also gonna be a couple of weeks old,
but nonetheless, so JDC Miller at Laguna Seca wins overall.
To me, this was such an awesome story
because this is the customer team,
and I'm not gonna say they're poor,
but they're a one-car team.
And they have none of the factors.
They can't compete with Penske.
And I think IMSA even made a different class,
kind of like, so they would be able to compete.
But because they didn't wanna opt
for this very expensive upgrade package for 2026,
they decided to run 2025 spec.
So, no one thought they'd ever run for overall.
But because Penske Porsche was doing so well
at the beginning of the year,
a balance of performance hit them hard.
And now they're the heaviest GTP cars,
and it's really affected them.
They qualify terrible.
I mean, I think they're like 100 pounds extra weight,
which is huge in a prototype.
And they've got the best drivers on their team,
except the factory lent Lars Heinrich,
did I get that right?
Yeah, Heinrich, yep.
Yeah, to JDC Miller.
Now, he was more famous for driving Rexie,
the dinosaur 9-11, and he got promoted to run in GTP,
wins on the team with the 24 hours of Rolex,
wins at SeaBring the 12 hours.
And because they are not subject to the heavier weight,
they were running lighter weight.
Not only did it beat the Penske Porsche car in the 960s,
but they beat the almighty Cadillac in Acherus,
which were really favored to win.
And so it's a huge win for JDC Miller,
who by the way, are big supporters of Nordstern in Minnesota.
So hey, shout out to them again,
because they had a PCA connection.
Anyways, Porsche says, you're moving to the driver,
you're moving to our main Penske Porsche team.
Oh, uh-huh.
Unfortunately, it takes away from JDC Miller,
but yeah, it's pretty awesome that he's getting promoted.
And it's the first year in GTP.
So a lot of times it seems easy to go from GT to GTP,
but it's really a whole different world as the car goes.
I'm pretty excited.
Excellent.
All right, so with that much happiness in the news,
it's gonna take a little bit of a turn
with the next news item,
because we're talking about streamlining the executive board.
I'm thinking that's a little bit more.
Did you read the article?
No, I didn't.
That's why I'm a little concerned.
It was interesting because what there's,
of course, we know Porsche's financial was sort of doing,
you're gonna see a lot of cuts.
They're cutting the car IT division or suspending it,
which is part of their software,
and they're gonna be merging it with something else.
The guy who was in charge of,
I don't wanna even pronounce the names anymore.
Just don't.
You wanna try it, Damon, since you've,
Said Khan, is that it?
I'm not sure.
I'm not quite sure how to pronounce the double J,
unless it's, you know, how we do in America.
I wish they would do it like a phonetically,
so I could pronounce it.
Anyways, they are gonna be closing shop in Porsche's car.
I've never been a fan of their connectivity system.
Porsche UI, user interface?
Yes, yeah, it's.
It goes back to what we're gonna do a little short here
this afternoon.
Goes back to AC controls from the 80s.
Oh, wow.
These guys weren't even born yet probably from when
the guys were gonna get drove.
It's not a stretch, but I'll go with you.
The UI on the air conditioning system on a 3.2
is not easy to understand.
So the interesting thing that Porsche does as far as,
obviously they can't get rid of their systems,
but how they're going to integrate that
with their other department
and keep on developing the system.
But I think this is still the,
they're gonna still get a lot more changes
as the new CEO who's tasked with getting Porsche
right on track, so.
Getting the system lean.
Yeah, as we talked in the other podcast,
a lot of times good things happen from then.
Yep.
All right, let me remind you,
as we're getting to the top of the hour,
we have events here that Porsche Parade,
June 14th through 20th, phase two is open.
If you're not currently registered,
it's still open for registration,
but just keep in mind there are events.
Before you move to the next event,
so you're talking about Parade.
Yeah.
2027, we're going to Boise, Idaho.
So excited.
So we went to lunch today,
and we pull into, I guess I can give them the name,
Jason's Deli, and we see a tractor trailer
with the world's largest potato, and.
And it's not real.
Well, so after we actually had a big potato,
it worked on me psychologically,
because when I went in, I ordered a big potato for lunch.
And when we got done lunch,
we walked out to the tractor trailer,
and they had everything, a tent set up and everything.
They basically promote Idaho tourism and their potatoes
and whatnot.
The truck driver was a really friendly guy, car guy.
And I asked him, I said,
how many people come up and ask if that's a real potato?
He said about 70% of people think it's a real potato.
We'll have to have Damon put a full send,
and Damon a photo to put up on it.
You'd have to be a little bit slow
to think this is a real potato.
Hey, hey, I didn't know.
I didn't know.
Your brother here asked me if it was a real potato.
I saw a little photo, and I'm like,
I mean, the truck says, is it real?
Oh, look at that macadamia that we pulled up there.
Yes, I asked Dan to pull this came it up
so we could have some kind of perspective.
And the funny thing is,
that's not even the largest one they have.
No, that's the medium.
The largest one has been retired.
It is now, believe it or not, an Airbnb.
You can stay in the closet.
And I was talking to the ladies
and member services about it.
One of them looked it up,
and it's big enough for a bed,
but they have a bathroom you gotta go outside.
So it's a B, it's a B&B as far as bathroom and bed,
but it's not in one place together.
Stay in a potato, what could be better?
And they have one smaller in that.
I asked him if it was a tater tot.
I don't think he got my jokes, I don't know.
I should say as well,
I kept calling Dan's car macadamia metallic.
It's actually mahogany.
Oh, you're right, you're right.
I should know better.
Yeah, I let everybody down the wrong path.
Yeah, and the color blind guy didn't make that mistake.
That would be the guys who could see the color.
But anyways, that's a good reminder
that we're going to Boise in 2027.
All right, we're also going
to Workshare Union Monterey August 14th.
Registration opens May 13th.
I think by the time this drops,
this will be, registration will already be open, right?
This will be after May 13th.
Yes, yep.
We also have some news
that there will be some special reveals
from Porsche Cars North America at Workshare Union Monterey.
You'll want to be there for that.
And that's all I can say about that.
Truffin at sea, September 19th through 25th.
You can still sign up for that.
That's the 2026 Pacific Wine Country Cruise.
Nathan and myself as well as Manny will be on there.
So hopefully we'll see you there.
If you'd like to do some sim racing
with fellow PCA members, check out PCASimRacing.com.
We've got some insider swag available at the PCA Web Store.
You've got t-shirts, mugs, bottles.
But if you just want some decals,
all you need to do is send us your physical address
and information to podcast at PCA.org.
And we'll be more than happy to send you a set.
The address is key.
Address is key.
Send me decals if not covered.
Exactly.
Well, look at that.
We are at the top of the hour.
Again, spending time with Nathan goes by so quickly.
And we still have, I think, an evening with you
tomorrow night, which would be fine.
Well, the chest will be good.
And if it stays within the PG rated,
we'll hopefully be able to show it to them
video on our YouTube channel.
We're going to record it.
I don't want to promise anything, but...
If he goes off-script, we're ruined.
Yes.
So stay off-script.
I'm definitely going to have to redo my presentation tonight
because it was going to be an off video.
Well, it's not tonight, it's tomorrow.
Okay, okay.
You can do tonight's in the off-collar,
and then tomorrow you do it in the PG.
Okay, perfect.
All right, folks, well, thank you for listening.
Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe,
and consider sharing our show with fellow Porsche enthusiasts.
Until next time, stay safe, and we'll catch you down the road.
About this episode
Nathan Merz joins the Porsche Club Insider crew for a behind-the-scenes look at filming PCA videos—digging into interior HVAC/vent foam issues on a Porsche 986 and showing how they cut, plastic-weld, and reassemble tight dash areas. They also compare repair approaches (utility knife vs oscillating saw, tape vs staples) and explain why sealing matters even after foam stops. The conversation widens to ownership mindset: pre-purchase inspections, “Porsche tax,” and why first-time buyers benefit from PCA resources.
Nathan Merz returns to the podcast! This week, we are diving deep into his recent Porsche Club of America (PCA) video shoots at national headquarters. We break down the filming of the recently released $15k vs. $30k vs. $45k mid-engine Porsche comparison. Plus, get the hilarious behind-the-scenes scoop on tearing apart Vu’s personal Boxster to fix that infamous climate control blend door foam issue. Stick around until the end to see which one of us is driving around with the most dashboard warning lights!
