0:00
/
0:00
I Bought James May’s Porsche 997.2… By Mistake!
I Bought James May’s Porsche 997.2… By Mistake!
0:00
0:00
0:00
0:00
About this episode
A surprising purchase leads to a lively discussion about the Porsche 997.2 and the intricacies of car ownership. The hosts share their experiences with engine work and maintenance, emphasizing the therapeutic nature of tinkering with cars. They also dive into the auction world, discussing Magnus Walker's upcoming car collection sale and the implications of electric models like the Boxster and Cayman. The episode balances humor with insightful commentary on the evolving landscape of Porsche ownership and collecting.
Topics:
electric Boxster
electric Cayman
engine oil
EV
extended leather
gearbox
GT3
Heritage Parts Center
IMS
major service
Cars:
Alpine A110
Porsche 356
Porsche 907
Porsche 911
Porsche 959
Porsche Boxster
Porsche Carrera GT
Porsche Cayman
Porsche Macan
Tesla Model S
What happens when a late-night browse on Collecting Cars goes “wrong”? In this episode, the 9WERKS team – Lee Sibley and Andy Brookes – sit down with former co-host Max Newman to hear the unbelievable story of how he accidentally became the next custodian of James May’s 2010 Porsche 997.2 Carrera S.
From the “fussy” cleaning brush included in the sale to the nerve-wracking moment the hammer fell, Max reveals the reality of buying a celebrity-owned 911, the “purist” spec that tempted him, and why this particular Carrera White 997.2 might just be the perfect daily-driver 911.
Key Discussion Points
- The “Accidental” Bid: Max walks us through the auction process and the moment he realized he was the high bidder on a piece of Top Gear and The Grand Tour history.
- The James May Spec: Why “Captain Slow” chose a manual gearbox, Carrara White paint, and a rare limited-slip differential (LSD).
- Provenance & Detail: A look at the car’s impeccable service history at Porsche Centre West London and why James May included his famous cleaning brush in the sale.
- 997.2 vs. The World: Why the Gen 2 997 remains a “sweet spot” for enthusiasts, blending analog feel with modern DFI engine reliability.
- Living with a Legend: Max’s plans for the car—will it be a “garage queen” or stay true to the 9WERKS “Driven Not Hidden” mantra?
The Car: 2010 Porsche 911 (997.2) Carrera S
- Engine: 3.8L Naturally Aspirated Flat-Six (DFI)
- Power: 380 hp / 310 lb-ft
- Transmission: 6-Speed Manual (with optional LSD)
- Exterior: Carrara White
- Interior: Ocean Blue Extended Leather
- Key Options: 19-inch Carrera Classic wheels, PASM, BOSE Sound System, and PCM 3.0 with Extended Navigation.
Links & Resources
- Find your next Porsche: 9WERKS Marketplace
- Follow Max Newman: @maxripcor
- Follow 9WERKS: @9.werks
- Sponsor: Special thanks to Heritage Parts Centre. Use code 9WERKS10 for 10% off your order.
If you enjoy the podcast and would like to support us by joining the 9WERKS Driven Not Hidden Collective you can do so by hitting the link below, your support would be greatly appreciated.
Filter:
|
Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Term
IMS
"Show us your IMS. It's all fine, mate, it's all fine."
IMS is a part in some Porsche engines that helps keep the engine running smoothly. If it fails, it can cause serious problems, so it's something owners need to check on.
IMS stands for Intermediate Shaft Bearing, a component in some Porsche engines that can be prone to failure, leading to significant engine damage. It's often a point of concern for Porsche owners, especially in models produced before 2005.
Car
Porsche 2.7 Carrera
"...you've got a 2.7 Carrera MFI that'll be a US spec one, by the way. Oh, no, MFI, beg your pardon, it won't be US spec."
The Porsche 2.7 Carrera is a classic sports car that has a 2.7-liter engine. It's known for being lightweight and fast, and it's part of the famous 911 lineup from Porsche.
The Porsche 2.7 Carrera is a model from the iconic 911 series, known for its lightweight design and performance. It features a 2.7-liter flat-six engine and is part of the G-Series of 911s produced in the 1970s.
Term
MFI
"It'll be the RS engine if it's MFI."
MFI is a way to inject fuel into an engine that helps it run better and produce more power.
MFI stands for Mechanical Fuel Injection, a system used in some high-performance vehicles to deliver fuel directly into the combustion chamber, improving efficiency and power.
Car
Porsche 911
"The Minerva Blue 911 Turbo, the 76, the 65 911 that's been magnest."
The Porsche 911 Turbo is a fast sports car that has a turbocharger, which helps it go really fast.
The Porsche 911 Turbo is a high-performance variant of the iconic 911 sports car, known for its turbocharged engine and distinctive styling.
Car
Porsche 996 GT2
"The 67S, his 996 GT2,"
The Porsche 996 GT2 is a very fast version of the 911 that has a turbo engine and is built to be lightweight and sporty.
The Porsche 996 GT2 is a high-performance version of the 996 generation 911, featuring a turbocharged engine and lightweight construction for improved speed and handling.
Term
GT3
"The very best GT3 of all time,"
The GT3 is a special version of the Porsche 911 that is made to be very fast and perform well on race tracks.
The GT3 is a high-performance variant of the Porsche 911, designed for track use with a focus on lightweight construction and enhanced aerodynamics.
Car
Porsche Boxster
"...good. Have you heard the news about the electric Boxster and Cayman? I have, yeah."
The Porsche Boxster is a two-seater sports car that you can drive with the top down, making it fun for sunny days. It's known for being very good at handling curves and going fast, and now there's talk about an electric version, which means it could run on batteries instead of gas. This is exciting because it shows how car companies are changing to be more eco-friendly.
The Porsche Boxster is a mid-engine roadster that has been a significant model for Porsche since its introduction in the late 1990s. It is known for its excellent handling, sporty performance, and convertible design, making it a popular choice among driving enthusiasts. The recent news about an electric version highlights Porsche's commitment to electrification and modernizing its lineup.
Car
Porsche Cayman
"...you heard the news about the electric Boxster and Cayman? I have, yeah."
The Porsche Cayman is a sporty car that looks like a smaller, more compact version of a typical sports car, but with a solid roof. It's designed for people who love to drive fast and enjoy sharp turns, and now there's news about an electric version, which means it could be more environmentally friendly. This shows that even high-performance cars are starting to use electricity instead of just gasoline.
The Porsche Cayman is a coupe version of the Boxster, sharing many of its performance characteristics but with a fixed roof. It has been praised for its balance, agility, and powerful engine options, making it a favorite among sports car enthusiasts. The mention of an electric Cayman alongside the Boxster indicates Porsche's shift towards electric performance vehicles.
Concept
electric Boxster
"Have you heard the news about the electric Boxster and Cayman?"
The electric Boxster is a new version of Porsche's sports car that will run on electricity instead of gasoline. This means it will be more environmentally friendly and may offer different driving experiences.
The electric Boxster is a future model from Porsche that will feature an electric powertrain, representing a shift towards electrification in sports cars. It aims to combine the performance and driving experience of the traditional Boxster with the benefits of electric propulsion.
Concept
electric Cayman
"Have you heard the news about the electric Boxster and Cayman?"
The electric Cayman is a new version of Porsche's coupe sports car that will also use electricity instead of gasoline. This change will help reduce pollution and could change how the car feels to drive.
The electric Cayman is another upcoming model from Porsche that will feature an electric powertrain, similar to the electric Boxster. It represents Porsche's commitment to expanding its electric vehicle lineup while maintaining the performance characteristics of its sports cars.
Concept
Project 965
"And, you know, the stillborn Project 965 is quite a famous example. That was meant to sit in between the 959 and what was the 964 Turbo."
Project 965 was a plan by Porsche to make a new car that would fit between two existing models, the 959 and the 964 Turbo. However, the project was never finished.
Project 965 was an internal development project by Porsche that aimed to create a new model positioned between the Porsche 959 and the Porsche 964 Turbo. Although it was never completed, it remains a notable part of Porsche's history.
Car
Porsche 959
"That was meant to sit in between the 959 and what was the 964 Turbo."
The Porsche 959 is a fast sports car made by Porsche in the late 1980s. It was known for being very advanced for its time, especially with its all-wheel-drive system.
The Porsche 959 is a high-performance sports car that was produced in the late 1980s and is known for its advanced technology and all-wheel-drive system. It was one of the fastest production cars of its time.
Car
Porsche 718
"...that putting an internal combustion engine back into the 718 is absolutely the right decision. The right decision."
The Porsche 718 is a type of sports car made by Porsche, which includes models like the Boxster and Cayman. It's designed for great handling and speed, and there are talks about changing its engine type.
The Porsche 718 is a mid-engine sports car that includes models like the Boxster and Cayman. It's known for its agile handling and performance, but there has been discussion about the future direction of its engine options.
Term
EV
"I'd be really up for buying an electric or EV 718. So you've got to listen to the buying public."
EV means electric vehicle. These cars run on electricity instead of gas, which can be better for the environment and cheaper to drive. They use batteries to power an electric motor.
EV stands for electric vehicle, which is a car powered entirely by electricity rather than gasoline or diesel. EVs are known for being more environmentally friendly and often have lower operating costs.
Company
Heritage Parts Center
"Nine Makes Radio is brought to you in association with Heritage Parts Center."
Heritage Parts Center is a company that sells parts for Porsche cars, helping people fix or restore their vehicles. They have a wide selection for different Porsche models.
Heritage Parts Center specializes in providing parts for classic and modern Porsches, catering to enthusiasts looking to restore or maintain their vehicles.
Term
Porsche 997
"...all manner of Porsches from 356 to 997 inclusive..."
The Porsche 997 is a version of the Porsche 911 made between 2004 and 2012. It has modern features and a sleek design, making it popular among sports car fans.
The Porsche 997 is the sixth generation of the Porsche 911, produced from 2004 to 2012. It features a more refined design and improved technology compared to its predecessors.
Car
Porsche 356
"... off your basket for all manner of Porsches from 356 to 997 inclusive plus the mid-engine and transax..."
The Porsche 356 is an older sports car that was made a long time ago, and it's very special because it's the first car that Porsche ever made. People love it for its classic style and how it drives, and it's often talked about because it's a big part of Porsche's history. Many car fans admire it and want to own one because it represents the beginning of the brand.
The Porsche 356 is a classic sports car that was the first production model from Porsche, produced from 1948 to 1965. It is highly regarded for its design and performance, laying the foundation for the brand's future models. The 356 is often discussed among car enthusiasts for its historical significance and timeless appeal.
Car
Porsche Macan
"I took the McCann to Norway. I thought that was of the two cars that were available to me, which was the McCann and the Boxster."
The Porsche Macan is a smaller SUV from Porsche that offers a mix of luxury and performance. It's designed for people who want a sporty feel in a more practical vehicle.
The Porsche Macan is a compact luxury crossover SUV that combines sporty performance with practicality. It features a range of powerful engines and advanced technology, making it a popular choice for those seeking a versatile vehicle with a sporty edge.
Term
PDK
"But then I went and found a bit of a curveball, because I thought, well, if I buy a 991.1, I'm probably going to buy a PDK car, partly because there's more of them around."
PDK is a type of automatic transmission used in Porsches that helps the car shift gears quickly. This makes the car feel faster and more responsive when driving.
PDK stands for Porsche Doppelkupplung, which is a dual-clutch automatic transmission that allows for faster gear shifts compared to traditional automatics. It enhances performance and driving experience in Porsche vehicles.
Term
PS4s
"...on familiar roads with PS4s, tyres and, you know, all those things, you know, and it was amazing."
PS4s are a type of tire made by Michelin that are great for sports cars. They help the car grip the road better, especially when driving fast or around corners.
PS4s refers to the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, which are high-performance tires designed for sports cars and performance vehicles. They provide excellent grip and handling, making them a popular choice among car enthusiasts.
Company
Porsche Centre Chester
"...I was actually speaking to a guy at Porsche Centre Chester,..."
Porsche Centre Chester is a place where you can buy and service Porsche cars. It's an official dealership that helps Porsche owners with their cars.
Porsche Centre Chester is an authorized dealership for Porsche vehicles, providing sales, service, and parts for Porsche owners. Dealerships like this are essential for maintaining the brand's standards and customer service.
Car
Porsche 962
"...I did bid on a 962 on Collecting Cars once, so maybe I'll just, just so I could say to people in the future, I tried to buy a 962 once, didn't come off..."
The Porsche 962 is a famous race car that was built for endurance racing. It has a unique shape that helps it go fast and win races.
The Porsche 962 is a sports prototype race car that was developed in the early 1980s. It is known for its success in endurance racing, particularly at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and features a distinctive aerodynamic design.
Car
James May 907
"...I thought, well, I've bought the car, so let's go with it. So yeah, so that's so when I say I bought the James May 907 by accident and people think, oh, that's funny, Max."
The Porsche 907 is a classic race car from the 1960s that was designed to be very light and fast. It was used in many famous races and is known for its unique shape.
The Porsche 907 is a race car produced by Porsche in the 1960s, known for its lightweight design and aerodynamic shape. It was successful in various racing events, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Term
Sport seat plus
"mainly the seats, which we've talked about endlessly, having the Sport seat plus. I thought, you know, if I get another one of those..."
Sport seat plus is a special type of car seat in some Porsches that gives you extra support when you're driving fast. It helps keep you comfortable and secure while you drive.
Sport seat plus refers to a type of performance-oriented seating option in Porsche vehicles that provides better support and comfort during spirited driving. These seats are designed to hold the driver and passengers securely in place during cornering and aggressive maneuvers.
Car
Alpine 110
"And the Speciale was in there. And Alpine A110."
The Alpine A110 is a small sports car that is known for being very fun to drive. It's designed to be lightweight and nimble, making it great for twisting roads.
The Alpine A110 is a lightweight sports car known for its agile handling and performance. It pays homage to the original A110 from the 1960s and is designed for driving enthusiasts.
Term
extended leather
"We talked about the extended leather, because that is unusual. So the extended leather on it goes all the way up to the bottom of the windscreen."
Extended leather means that the car has leather covering more areas inside, making it look nicer and feel more luxurious. It's not common for leather to go all the way up to the windshield.
Extended leather refers to a premium interior option in cars where leather is used on more surfaces than in standard configurations, enhancing luxury and aesthetics. In this context, it extends all the way to the bottom of the windscreen, which is not typical.
Term
MOT
"I said, it hasn't got an MOT. I assume that's part of what's going on here..."
An MOT is a yearly check to make sure a car is safe to drive and meets environmental standards. If a car doesn't have an MOT, it can't be driven legally on the road.
MOT stands for 'Ministry of Transport' test, which is a mandatory annual test for vehicle safety, roadworthiness, and emissions in the UK. A vehicle must pass this test to be legally driven on public roads.
Term
major service
"a major service, I'd call it a recommissioning service in May last year, when loads of stuff had been done,"
A major service is a thorough check-up for your car, where mechanics change fluids, replace filters, and inspect important parts to keep everything running smoothly.
A major service typically involves comprehensive maintenance and checks on a vehicle, including fluid changes, filter replacements, and inspections of critical components. It ensures the car operates efficiently and helps prevent future issues.
Term
gearbox
"as well as a major service, gearbox, oil engine, oil, loads of stuff."
The gearbox is the part of the car that helps change gears, allowing the car to speed up or slow down. It's an important part that connects the engine to the wheels.
The gearbox, also known as the transmission, is a crucial component of a vehicle that transfers power from the engine to the wheels. It allows the driver to change gears, affecting the car's speed and torque.
Term
engine oil
"gearbox, oil engine, oil, loads of stuff."
Engine oil is a liquid that keeps the engine parts moving smoothly and helps prevent damage. Changing it regularly is important to keep the engine running well.
Engine oil is a lubricant used in internal combustion engines to reduce friction, protect against wear, and help cool the engine. Regular oil changes are essential for maintaining engine health and performance.
Term
recommissioning service
"...this recommissioning service had been done, and big jobs had been done..."
A recommissioning service is when a car that hasn't been used for a while gets checked and fixed up to make sure it's safe and ready to drive again.
A recommissioning service refers to a comprehensive maintenance check and repair process conducted on a vehicle that may have been inactive or underused. This service ensures that all systems are functioning properly and that the vehicle is safe to drive.
Car
Tesla S Model
"Yeah, right. Yeah, I feel like the S model, they can't go too far down from where they are ..."
The Tesla Model S is a fancy electric car that can go really fast and doesn't need gas to run. Instead, it uses batteries, which means it's better for the environment. People talk about it a lot because it has cool features like self-driving capabilities and a simple, modern design.
The Tesla Model S is a luxury all-electric sedan that has set benchmarks for electric vehicle performance, range, and technology since its launch in 2012. It features advanced technology, including autopilot capabilities and a minimalist interior design, making it a significant player in the automotive industry. Discussions around the Model S often focus on its impact on the electric vehicle market and its role in shifting consumer perceptions of electric cars.
Select text to request an explanation
How are you, sir? Are you ready for today's pod?
I'm ready for a bit of chat, a bit of Porsche chat.
Yeah, yeah, it should be good, should be good.
Your car's a little bit higher in the background than usual.
Is that, is that like raised on the ramp?
It is.
Oh, look at that, wheel off as well.
Wheel off, it's up in the air.
Yeah.
Getting prepared for engine out.
So I'd join you.
Excellent, excellent, yours being voluntary, mind, yeah.
It's coming out in sympathy.
I love that, I love that.
You funny guy, funny guy.
What are you up to then?
Show us your IMS.
It's all fine, mate, it's all fine.
I've got a small oil leak and a few other little bits.
I just want to have a little touch around to make sure everything's good.
But you can't get to the oil cooler with it in the car very easily.
It's a real bitch.
So yeah, need to pop the engine out.
Which I hope goes well.
So yeah, just doing some preps.
Good man, good, yeah, ready for the driving season.
Nice to see you doing some tinkering.
Yes, it's been a while actually.
It was really therapeutic actually doing some nice to sort of, I don't know,
takes your mind in other places, gives you time just to think about stuff.
It's really cool.
Yeah, yeah, because I've seen on your Instagram,
you're kind of doing a bit of spannering like in the evenings
after like the working day and stuff.
So I can imagine that's your downtime.
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah.
Just not being doing huge stretches, just sort of half an hour.
Just getting one bit done.
And it's quite good actually when you do that
because you don't rush into things,
you don't get to carry it away and screw things up.
So just take your time.
Yeah, yeah, good on you mate, good on you.
Very good, very good.
This, before we kind of get right into the starting the podcast officially,
are we planning for this bit to go out in video
because we are doing video now for this new series, right?
Yeah, yeah, okay.
So I might have a problem there.
I put this hat on earlier
and I sort of, I've committed now.
I can't take it off.
It's horrendous under there mate.
So yeah, it'll stay on, it'll stay on.
But yeah, there we go.
Look, it's going to be really nice to dive into this episode.
Shall we get the show on the road?
This is NineWorks Radio,
brought to you by the NineWorks Marketplace
and powered by the Driven Not Hidden Collective.
Sign up now at NineWorks.co.uk.
Welcome everybody to NineWorks Radio.
It's the second episode in the series with visuals.
Woohoo!
Hopefully this time.
We had a bit of a stumbling block last week
which delayed the podcast coming out for a little bit.
So do apologise, do apologise.
All good, all good.
Good things come to those who wait.
Indeed, before we start,
we should mention that this podcast is sponsored by Heritage Park Centre.
We'll hear a little bit from them later on in the episode.
Top work, Andy B, top work indeed.
What's new in your world, good sir?
What's new?
Well, just as I mentioned earlier,
before we officially started recording,
I'm taking that thing apart.
What else is new?
What's new in your world?
Well, if not a lot to be honest,
like many paces walked,
many trains endured and all the rest of it.
So yeah, that's absolutely fine.
There was on the car front,
which is far more interesting and apt for this podcast,
in terms of like news,
quite an interesting car collection coming up in the world of auctions.
Yeah, Mr Walker.
Yeah, yeah.
He's selling off some of his wares.
Yes, yeah, yeah.
Bit of a surprise to be honest, I feel like that's come right out.
Was that a surprise to you?
Yeah, yeah, like for me,
not with my finger on the pulse, shall we say,
in terms of like what's going on in the world.
Yeah, bit of a surprise, I have to say.
Well, there was a few months ago,
he posted up on Instagram that he was going to have an open house
selling a load of bits off,
which sounded all a bit surprising.
And I think it was, if I remember rightly,
this is sort of really digging back deep in memory
that there was talk of selling off his garage.
And I kind of heard that before.
I can't remember where and when,
whether that was from his own mouth
or through a room or whatever, I don't know.
I can't really remember.
But I wonder if, you know,
he put that call out to have an open house
and then it got cancelled last minute.
So I'm wondering if said sale of his garage
didn't come off as he thought
or somebody had a little word in his ear and said,
are you sure you should just be selling this stuff off
like a garage sale
and maybe do it a bit more officially
and get RM Sotheby's involved?
I'm not sure.
It would be interesting to see.
Anything to do with Sotheby's
just reminds me of Only Falls and Horses
in time on our hands
when they finally become millionaires.
I wonder if that will happen with Magnus
and, you know, the 67S is going for four million
and he falls backwards.
I don't know, you know.
Yeah, I wonder if it's a reflection of,
you know, if you put Magnus in the
like bracket of like collectors,
I guess he is with, you know, a shed load of cars,
but I get you and I have seen it over the years.
People build collections
and then there kind of does come a point
where you kind of maybe feel like you've
you completed it.
Yeah, you've checked out
and then kind of about from there,
it's refining.
I think Jerry Seinfeld quite famously said,
you know, for now he's car collection.
It's about the cars he loves,
not about cars he likes.
But you have to go through that process, don't you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You have to, yeah, enjoy something
or fall out of love with it
and then realise what you do love.
Yeah, yeah.
Expensive way to go about it.
Yeah, well, or maybe not
because I think probably Magnus
bought a lot of those cars
that are a lot less than they're worth at the moment.
So, yeah, it'd be interesting to see what happens.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
And again, just, you know, indicative of,
you know, everybody has their own journey
and Magnus, you know, I think a lot of people
think of Magnus as that kind of
Porsche stalwart of the brand, you know.
Yeah.
And I'll always give him credit
for showing a new audience
or introducing a new audience to old Porsches.
Yeah.
Absolutely, that whole kind of loft
renaissance, it lies at his door
and he should take a lot of credit for that.
But, yeah, you know,
he's a human being like everybody else
and they probably get to a point where you think,
I just don't need these anymore.
So, just having a brief look
through some of the cars that have been released
because I think it's going to be in stages, the lots.
Oh, you've seen some detail?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
I didn't know there was detail out.
Yeah, there's like a couple of cars
have been released.
Okay.
So, you've got a 2.7 Carrera MFI
that'll be a US spec one, by the way.
Oh, no, MFI, beg your pardon, it won't be US spec.
Yeah.
It'll be the RS engine if it's MFI.
The Minerva Blue 911 Turbo, the 76,
the 65 911 that's been magnest.
Well, you know, we need a word for that.
Yeah.
The 67S, his 996 GT2,
Irish Green 66 911,
that is absolutely my pick
of these early cars that have been released.
The very best GT3 of all time,
obviously everybody knows is the 996.2.
And then the, you know, the flat nose,
red flat nose, big intakes and whatnot.
So, yeah, they're kind of a half a dozen,
they're kind of tummy ticklers aren't they,
just to get people going.
But what's interesting, what I really respect
is they're all offered with that reserve,
and they all seem to be like it's normal money.
There's no, in terms of the guide price,
there's no like Magnus tax on top,
which, you know, they are,
they're cars at the end of the day, you know,
we're all just custodians of them.
So, I quite like that.
My pick of those cars is that Irish Green 66 911,
beautiful, offered about reserve guide price,
100 to 150 USD.
Beautiful.
So, yeah, we're keeping eye on that,
but that's quite an interesting development, I would say.
Does it say something about 160 lots,
so including memorabilia and all that sort of stuff.
So, it'd be interesting to see what stuff
is pulled out the closet, wouldn't it?
I'd love to see some of the memorabilia.
A pair of stinky old Nikes.
Yeah, yeah, I think there'll be a few
bizarre ones in there.
Yeah, that should be interesting.
Yeah, yeah, and that's the thing, you know,
it's an opportunity to just dive into
some pretty cool stuff, I guess, you know.
So, yeah, really good, really, really good stuff.
Really good stuff for Magnus.
Elsewhere in news, just want to bring things
a little bit closer to home for us physically.
Just want to mention that Lakeside Classics,
one of our partners on the known works marketplace,
they're now doing storage.
So, and I've seen it as well.
Henry has built an amazing empire over there in Shropshire.
He's got a lovely showroom, as you know.
The workshop has expanded quite aggressively,
you might say, yeah, last 18 months or so.
I think there's at least half a dozen ramps in there.
If not more, I think it's a good size workshop.
Quite possibly so.
And yeah, now there's a storage facility,
which is really handy because they are on the cusp
of some great roads in Wales.
It's easily less than an hour to get from the Lakeside showroom
to one of my favourite roads in the UK,
which is the Elan Valley Road.
So, yeah, well, yeah, this is it, yeah.
And so, yeah, if you are in London, for example,
and you want to go to Wales for the weekend,
but you don't want to do all that boring bit of zipping
along the M4, which I'm sure was created
just to put a load of motorway services down there.
I mean, how many services do you need on a motorway?
But, yeah, you know, you can keep the car
just literally on the cusp of all the great roads.
Go and have some fun.
Give it back to Henry and Danny and the team,
and they'll look after that car until your next fun mileage.
So, yeah, speak to Henry and the team at Lakeside
if you're interested in a pretty compelling storage concept.
Sounds good. Sounds good.
Have you heard the news about the electric Boxster and Cayman?
I have, yeah.
I think there's a few outlets have repurposed that.
Do you want to kind of give some light on it?
Yeah, from what I've seen,
the new guy, head of Porsche,
what his name is, I've forgotten.
Lightner.
Yeah, I think he's only been in office
about 33 days or something.
And, yeah, there's rumour,
or is it better than rumour
that he may be dumping the electric Cayman and Boxster.
I mean, we've all been kind of calling for it, haven't we,
and hoping.
Yeah, we've been on,
have you seen all the placards on the motorway bridges, you know?
Say no.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, so there's a high possibility that,
which seems mad, doesn't it,
because I just spent years developing it.
There's no Cayman or Boxster in current production.
Yeah, it blows my mind that that could happen,
but then, I guess, all the investment,
but hasn't the investment in the factory already happened?
It has to, when you're building these cars,
you have to consider infrastructure alongside it.
I think there's a bit of kind of context that's perhaps key.
The only difference between this and what's happened previously,
if you look back in the history books at Porsche,
is this has been quite a public,
if it does materialise, quite a public U-turn.
Porsche has tried many projects in the past,
looking at off-road cars way before the Dakar.
I remember the Panamericana Concept,
which the company gave thought to.
The biggest one, probably, for years, people forget this,
but for years, Porsche was trying to shoehorn a V8
into the back of a 911.
They were trying to bin off the flat six.
And, you know, the stillborn Project 965
is quite a famous example.
That was meant to sit in between the 959
and what was the 964 Turbo.
All shelved, all stillborn,
and there are plenty of mules at Porsche that still exist
that offer a little bit of an insight into these projects.
Yeah, the only difference with this one is it's very public
in the here and now, I would say.
But I love the idea of looking at everything.
It's good business.
The outgoing CEO or ex-CEO now, Oliver Bloom,
said that the Porsche model currently doesn't work,
so some drastic decisions need to be made.
And I think everybody listening to this podcast
will agree that putting an internal combustion engine
back into the 718 is absolutely the right decision.
The right decision.
In all the commentary I've read on this from the public,
I've only seen one person, one singular comment that said,
I'd be really up for buying an electric or EV 718.
So you've got to listen to the buying public.
Got to listen.
Yes, I'd seen, I think it was road and track,
broke the story, drive got hold of it,
Evo got hold of it over here in the UK.
I did email the press team at PorscheGB for comment on this.
Haven't received a reply, unfortunately.
So as yet, yes.
So we're left to speculation for now.
I've said previously on the podcast,
chatting with the director of suspension and chassis at Porsche,
previously said, can't wait to show us the EV 718.
So as far as I was aware, that car was ready to go.
And that was very nearly two years ago.
So it's definitely a U-turn of some description,
whether it gets binned out right or not, we'll see.
But it's got to be the right decision, got to be.
Yeah, good, good, good.
Right then, yeah.
Before we get into our main topic of conversation today,
which is bringing back an old friend onto the podcast,
who's strapped on some buying boots in the off-season.
We're really excited to hear Max's story.
It's worth pointing out, thank you for all the lovely feedback
on the new feature introduced last week, which was the Carnundrum.
We've had positive engagement from you guys and girls
in the driven or hidden collective.
Some people have been brave enough to bring their own Carnundrum forward.
So that is definitely here to stay.
And we've got an interesting one to pose later on in this episode.
I do just want to say for those that have gone beyond the Carnundrum
scenario and have strapped on the boots in the DNHC,
it's been a busy, it's been a busy week handy for buying cars in that group.
I always try, yeah, always try that.
The boot room conversation or thread on the WhatsApp community is so handy
and so nice to see lovely new metal gracing the DNHC collective garage.
So I want to say big congratulations to Adrian with your wide-bodied C2S993.
Oh yeah.
Looks a lovely car.
Jim stepping into a 981 Boxster.
Neil has stepped into a 981 Spider in the off-season
and that has came from our Marketplace partners RPM Technic.
There's some choice mods that Neil's done with the car there.
Darmesh has gone for a 987 Cayman
and Heather has gone for a 996 Turbo
from, again, our numerous Marketplace partners at Porsche Center Bournemouth.
So congratulations to all on your new steers.
Have good.
Shall we?
Shall we bring Mr. Max Newman on to talk about his latest purchase?
I do think it's worth saying.
So we recorded this actually last month, wasn't it?
We could have waited to have a chat with Max
and we were really grateful that he gave us his time.
But I remember in the conversation we realized that we hadn't kind of introduced it
so it's probably worth us just saying now that Max has added, for now, to his stable
brought a 997.2 Carrera S with a famous previous owner.
Bought it off that person.
Shall we leave it at that and dive in?
Let's do it.
Nine Makes Radio is brought to you in association with Heritage Parts Center.
Get up to 10% off your basket for all manner of Porsches
from 356 to 997 inclusive
plus the mid-engine and transaxle Porsches
by using the code NineWorks10 at HeritagePartsCenter.com
That's the code NineWorks10 at HeritagePartsCenter.com
We've got a third amigo for this part of the podcast,
somebody who everybody the world over will recognize.
It's Max Newman.
That's what he looks like.
Very slender, Max Newman.
How you doing?
I'm good, mate. Look at you.
You're a slim gym.
Got all the tech, slim gym, because it's like, you know,
it's face for TV, you know, not just face for radio.
Got my background, got my best sweater on, you know.
It is what happened when Andy threatened to start doing visuals.
You were like, right, here we go.
I'm on it.
I'm on it.
Yeah, bought a new car, got a new jumper, went on a diet.
No messing.
No messing, no messing.
We'd love to dive right in then, Max.
So there's a really cool story around you.
You've obviously laced up the buying boots again, slipped them on.
Yellow card for not buying via the marketplace,
but you've got a stonker and the story attached to it is awesome.
So we're really grateful for you spending some time with us
to share it all, really, mate.
Well, I'll take the yellow card,
but it's sort of a little bit of a harsh yellow card
because the whole thing was kind of an accident.
So it wasn't really premeditated.
But, you know, you're right, I didn't buy through the marketplace
and I do apologize for that.
But it was just a funny old situation, you know.
I was looking, I was looking on the marketplace
because I decided that I was a motivated buyer
of a new Porsche sports car to come on to the driveway.
A couple of things, as some of the DNHC guys will know,
I sort of decided that I wanted to go 911 again.
So there were a couple of catalysts for that,
neither of which had anything to do with the car
that I owned at the time, which was the Boxster.
But I, first of all, I drove a 911,
which hadn't done for quite a long time,
famously Ben's 997 GT3,
which was just brought up a whole load of emotions
that I thought I'd packed away safely in the attic
and never to come out again.
And it just made me obsess over 997 GT3s
in the way that I used to.
I thought I'd managed to put that to one side
having realized it's probably not the 911 for me.
So it really got that, it really reawoke that.
And part of that was 997 GT3 specific,
but there was a broader 911 thing to that as well,
because I hadn't owned 911s for a long time
but not for a couple of years at that point.
And the other thing there was when we were in Norway,
as some folk or no, I took the McCann to Norway.
I thought that was of the two cars that were available to me,
which was the McCann and the Boxster.
I thought given the grunt work that we were doing to get there,
I thought the McCann was probably the right tool for the job.
And when we were convoying across Europe,
I felt a little bit envious looking at the train of 911s ahead of me.
The McCann was brilliant for the trip,
but there's something about seeing 911s on the road, isn't there?
There's an intent and a way that a 911 looks going up the road.
And I felt a bit envious.
And that reawoke another thing for me, actually, which was 991s.
Because I owned a 991 for three years,
I never got round to taking it to Europe,
because of the lockdown period that I owned it and all that sort of thing.
I thought, maybe I've got some unfinished business in a 991.
So I thought, I think I'm going to have to deal with that.
So I thought, I'm going to have to buy a 991.1 probably,
S or GTS.
So that's sort of what I was looking for.
But then I went and found a bit of a curveball,
because I thought, well, if I buy a 991.1, I'm probably going to buy a PDK car,
partly because there's more of them around,
but there are many, many, many more around than there are manuals.
Also, I've got some reservations about that seven-speed manual,
although I've only driven one car with it.
So I actually can start looking at the mid-engine cars.
And I thought that maybe I'd quite fancy that Cayman 4-liter GTS.
Because I've not had a Cayman, and I quite fancy a Cayman, I think they're nice cars.
And I thought, well, that would allow me to have a manual car.
Anyway, so I was sort of knocking those two ideas around.
I thought, I'm ready for a change. I fancy a change.
I really want a 991, but do I want a manual car?
Maybe I should try a Cayman 4-liter because I haven't had one.
And I think that would avoid the gloominess that I was feeling sometimes in the Boxster,
which I've talked about before on the podcast.
When you have the hood up, there's not a lot of glass area.
And sometimes, because I use the car a lot and do big journeys in it,
I thought, I'm not always keen on this feeling.
In a Cayman, you don't get that because there's much more glass.
So I thought, actually, maybe that's the car for me.
So I was debating with myself endlessly about where my priority was.
I thought, is my priority being able to change my own gears,
or is my priority having the engine a bit further away from me at the back?
Because I thought I probably can't get both.
See, I was aware of the existence of 997s having owned one before.
I'd put the GT3 back to one side again.
I thought I could probably afford a 997 GT3.
But again, I just don't think it's the car for me.
I don't think it's the right 911 for the way that I Porsche.
You know, I think I need, I like to use my car all year round,
all where there's for any reason.
And I thought I could probably do that in a 997 GT3.
But then I thought, actually, maybe it's probably, as a GT3 ownerly,
you probably, you approach, you use GT3s in a slightly different way, don't you?
Even if you think, I'm going to use this car all the time, wherever the weather.
That's quite a big commitment to actually do that in reality.
Yeah, definitely.
And there's just an interesting theme to touch on quickly, Max,
which you're covering expertly.
And this is why I already know the car that you've bought is the right car for you,
because you're considering your lifestyle choices.
You're not just kind of going in with, I want X.
And a lot of us do it, you know, particularly aspirations of owning GT product.
I want a GT3.
But like you said, if you're, if you're portioning all year round
and you're not really going near a track, it's the wrong car.
And you can spend a lot of money before realizing the mistake has been made.
So actually what you've done, which is like just awesome.
And like the seasoned pro you are, you've really considered all aspects of your
Porsche lifestyle to identify the right car for you.
Perfect.
Yeah.
And I feel really grateful to Ben from the Collector for letting me drive his car,
for giving me that epiphany and moment of or afternoon and evening of total joy
to be able to drive a 997 GT3 as fast as I wanted on familiar roads with
PS4s, tyres and, you know, all those things, you know, and it was amazing.
Maybe that's enough for me.
If it's not the right car for me, I'm happy to have had that experience.
I'm very, very grateful for that.
So by this point, I'm not looking at 997s, partly because there was a school of thought.
Again, I discussed with a few people that if I now get a 997 that's not a GT3,
having owned a Carrera for a long time, then maybe there's going to be a bit of,
you know, you sort of been there, done that on the one hand.
Maybe it's going to be disappointing because it's not a GT3 on the other hand.
So I sort of wasn't really thinking about 997s at this stage.
I'm also 997.2s, manual ones, few and far between, not because they didn't want to
make and sell loads of them, but in that short, relatively short period that they
existed for it was the financial crisis, wasn't it?
So if you look at the production numbers in the back of your old T911s,
the numbers on that big relative to other, you know, mainstream production,
Carrera 9-11s, so they're quite expensive.
So I sort of put that to the back of my mind.
So I'm looking for these cars, and I actually did.
I was actually speaking to, and apologies again in advance for this,
don't just cut me off the call.
I was speaking to a guy at Porsche Centre Chester,
because I saw a Cayman 4-litre GTS in crayon that popped up on their approved used.
And it had not very many miles, but maybe a lot of miles from one of those cars.
It had like 30,000 miles, like less than 35,000 miles, like more than 30,000 miles.
Loads of really nice spec, and it was 57 and a half grand, which was obviously
quite a lot of money, but I thought for that car, for the car that you're getting
for that money, I thought, God, that seems, you know,
that feels like value for money for me.
And I got excited about the matchy-matchy thing.
I thought I could have two crayon cars, or one crayon and one chalk for American listeners.
He hates it. He hates the idea.
Double crayon.
Imagine. Imagine.
So I was thinking, I was really motivated to make a change, I suppose, as part of it.
And I suppose just an elephant in the room, I realised that whilst I was really enjoying
the motoring that I was doing with the top down, because the Boxster was the first
open-top car I'd ever owned, and I was really enjoying some of my top-down motoring,
but I realised that going forward, my motoring wasn't defined by needing to have the top down.
And also, you know, nothing's forever, is it?
You know, none of these decisions are forever.
So I thought, you know, there was one point where I thought, God, I'm always going to
have to have a drop-top car now, and I thought, stop being an idiot.
You know, you enjoy it, but it's not, you know, one of the things that defines the way you
go forward with motoring.
So that wasn't an issue.
So I'm talking to this guy at Porsche at the Chester, nice lad.
And I was actually thinking, God, maybe I could do really quite fancy this car.
And whilst I'm talking to him, the James May 997 comes up on Collecting Cars,
which is interesting, but in many respects, kind of irrelevant, partly because it's on
an auction site, so it's basically sold as seen.
And that's, you know, they're not, you know, the way that I buy cars is quite cautious
and sensible.
You know, I like to buy, you know, well-researched cars from safe, sensible people,
you know, like people on the marketplace, like my 997 and my 991, and the Boxster,
funnily enough, all three of them, in fact, all came from marketplace dealers.
So I thought, OK, so that's an interesting car.
And looking at what the things that we all think we know about James May, it should be
a fairly well-looked-after car.
So in terms of risk, does that reduce some of the risk of buying an unseen car and effectively
a private sale?
I thought, maybe it does.
And then I thought, well, I did bid on a 962 on Collecting Cars once, so maybe I'll just,
just so I could say to people in the future, I tried to buy a 962 once, didn't come off,
but, you know, I got pretty close.
So I thought, well, I could put my hat in the ring, and it's just a bit of fun, isn't
it, you know, because it's, you know, there are a lot of people talking about it, and
it is sort of my kind of car.
And I thought, you know, I've got log on details, I don't need to.
So I thought, I'll go and log on, and I'll just get involved, because then, you know,
I can track the auction that'd be quite interesting.
So I started doing that.
And then, you know, you look at the history.
I mean, I didn't, because I wasn't that serious about it.
I didn't really look a great deal into it.
But people were pulling it up on the fact that, you know, whilst James May specced it originally
from Port Centre West London, traded in his Boxster, and had owned it from New, which was
15 years at that point, and only done 31,000 miles in it, there were periods of time where
he didn't use it very much at all.
And that was reflected in the case of that car in history by not being serviced.
So it didn't have, you know, those cars are on two-year, 20,000-mile service intervals,
aren't they?
And it didn't have a consistent two-year service history, you know, though, periods where
nothing had happened.
That was clearly putting people off.
But I was like, yeah, you know.
I didn't really think too much about it, because I wasn't that serious.
So I had a little go at the bidding, and it was all good fun.
And I was bidding with, you know, against some other people.
How many bits did you put in?
Maybe seven or eight.
I put a few in the end, because I ended up getting a bit competitive about it, as it turned out.
Because I had an idea in my mind, bearing in mind, I'm looking at this Cayman, which
is 57 and a half grand.
And I looked at 997.2s, which had been for sale, which mostly were PDK, because there
aren't very many manuals.
So I thought, OK, in my mind, I would pay, I think, what's the most I'd pay for that
car?
I think I'd probably pay £55,000 for that car.
You know, that seems, you know, it's a lot of money, but they have been on a little steady
uptick in the last few years.
That seems reasonable to me.
So I ended up getting a bit competitive with this other person.
I think in reality, I imagined that he was sitting like Lee is opposite me, and he was
waiting for me to do something, and I was waiting for him to do something, and we were
swearing at each other, and we heard we were squeezing little effigies of each other and
that sort of thing.
I think in reality, he'd probably just put a maximum bid in, and every time I bid, the
bot put his bid in.
But I didn't realise that at the time.
So I was bidding up, and I was bidding £9997, because I thought that was funny.
So I was bidding £5997, £51997, £52997, and I accidentally slightly overbid and I bid
£55997, and that was the bid that got me to the top.
I'd been at the top a few days earlier.
You know, people will generally know that collecting cars auctions run for seven days.
So this was running from a Tuesday to Tuesday, 7pm, 7pm.
So on the Friday morning, I ended up being top bidder at £55997.
So I've gone £997 over my top budget, because I got a bit carried away.
I thought, oh, God, what have I done?
That's nearly £1,000 over.
I thought, that's it.
And that's me done.
That was fun.
I thought, I'll just leave it at that.
Enjoy the adrenaline rush for a bit.
I enjoyed the adrenaline rush.
I thought, that's enough for one of those cars.
He can outbid me for a credit and I don't care.
So I kind of forgot all about it.
Because when my old 997 went on to collecting cars, the guy who bought it off me,
two weeks later, he put it on collecting cars.
So I watched that one quite closely.
This is in sort of like 2021, I think it was.
And it all happened on the last day.
Not only on the last day, it happened in the last hour.
So I thought, well, I'll just forget about it.
And it got to the end of this, this is the Friday morning.
On the Sunday afternoon, I had a look at it and I'm still top bidder.
Yeah.
So nobody did a pissed up bid on Friday night.
Nobody did a hangover bid on Saturday morning.
And no one had done a board Sunday afternoon, noon bid.
So I thought, well, that's a surprise, isn't it?
But I thought, still, it doesn't matter.
In the meantime, I emailed the guy at Port Centre Chester,
because he was obviously trying to close me on the deal.
And I said, look, I can't remember what his name is now, apologies.
I said, I've got to be honest with you, I am interested in this Cayman
and he sent me pictures of it and it was all, you know, having a good chat.
I said, but I've, you know, in the spirit of full disclosure,
I am at the moment top bidder on the James May 1997 on collecting cars.
So I need to, you know, I can't buy both cars.
So I just need to let that run through.
But it doesn't matter because I'm not going to get it.
But I just need just to, just so you understand that he was like,
okay, thank you, appreciate that.
So it got to the Tuesday morning, I'm still top bidder.
Again, no problem.
And then Tuesday afternoon, still top bidder.
I've got PP and Ben messaging me like, you're still top bidder on that.
Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it.
And so six o'clock on Tuesday evening, I was going into my gym class,
six to six 45, and Mandy said, you're still top bidder.
And the guy's like, you're still top bidder.
Yeah, yeah, don't worry.
All happened in the last hour.
So I came out of the class at six 45.
I looked on my thing, still top bidder.
I thought, well, it's all going to happen in the last 15 minutes.
So I went for a wee, I was washing my hands, you know, all very relaxed.
Came out.
I've won the bloody auction.
I thought, ah, fuck.
Apologies.
I thought, ah, no, you can choose to edit that.
I thought I've bought the bloody car.
I thought, oh God.
You know, you've done that, man.
You know what you've done?
You know, your night of passion, getting a bit overzealous on the bids.
You've had too much fun for too long, and now you've had the baby.
Do you know what I mean?
Exactly.
Exactly.
So I was, you know, I was really quite, I was in a bit of a state of shock.
I was a bit nervous.
What have I done?
Yeah, exactly.
I did.
It was a bit.
Yeah.
But then I thought, well, you know, I do, I mean, it's a 997.2 with a manual gearbox.
S.
Not manual.
That should be, you know, as if you, you can make a judgment that you think it's going
to be a good car.
You know, people are making a judgment the other way that it's going to be an absolute shitter.
Because it hasn't been serviced, you know, you know, all of those things that you'd expect
people to say.
I said, but if you take the other view, okay, maybe it's a good car.
But I still am feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing.
So I got in the car.
I spoke to Mandy quickly because she was watching it.
She said, oh, congratulations.
You've got the cars.
Yeah.
Hey, brilliant.
I'll be home in 20 minutes.
And then I thought, I've got to speak to someone.
Who can I speak to that's going to help me here?
Help me.
It just can't be done.
I thought I need to speak to Pee-Pee, you know, mister buying, selling from collecting cars.
So I phoned up Pee-Pee and Pee-Pee was like, don't worry.
He said, don't worry, Max.
He said, I think you've done a really good thing here.
He said, remember, he said, remember, and I hadn't thought about this at all, which
is a worry given the industry that I work in.
Remember, tomorrow is the budget.
It's the autumn budget.
So there are a lot of people who are not doing anything.
They're not spending any money at all until the budget is out and they understand where
they are, you know, with pensions and personal tax and all that sort of thing.
So there's a real budget paralysis.
So that's one reason why people haven't been bidding.
And in scenarios where people are nervous and people don't do things, people who do
do things often come out on top.
And I think that's you on this occasion.
So don't worry about it.
I think you've done a good thing.
So that made me feel a bit better, but I'm still quite nervous.
So I phoned up Ben and he was like, yeah, well done.
He's knocking us.
I was like, mate, I'm feeling really quite nervous about this still.
So I spoke to him for quite a long time and again, he taught me around and taught me
down.
So I thought, OK, so I went to bed and I didn't really sleep very much at all.
I'm still really quite nervous about it.
In the morning, I felt a bit better about the whole thing.
I thought, well, I've bought the car, so let's go with it.
So yeah, so that's so when I say I bought the James May 907 by accident and people
think, oh, that's funny, Max.
I kind of did.
So that is really interesting.
The first question I've got, Max, is why a 997?
But it kind of feels like the 997 chose you from the bidding process.
But in all jokes aside, it might sound like you've almost reconciled with yourself
and the decision in retrospect.
Why did you end up wanting a 997.2 Carrera S?
Well, 997 was kind of the elephant in the room in so far as when I'm sitting there debating
with myself whether a 991.1 PDK or a Cayman 4-liter GTS manual is the right car because
I'm asking myself whether having a sweet manual gearbox or a rear engine is the priority.
You could say, well, obviously the right car for you then is a manual 911.
But I got myself into thinking that I didn't think that I could afford any manual 997s that I wanted
because what I really wanted is a 997 GT3.
And I had a 997 for nearly 10 years.
And I loved that car and I loved all the experiences.
But I had all of the memories.
I'd done all those things. I've been to Europe with it so many years.
It's my only car for quite a few years.
So I didn't have a hankering for another 997.
But I had this thing about the 991.
I thought I could get that 991 was so good and I didn't get enough out of it.
So I was really focusing on that.
And in value terms, that's such a difficult word to quantify, isn't it?
997 Crayor S.2 and a 991 is kind of like the same price.
And I thought a 991 is such a more sophisticated car
and I've got more to do with a car like that.
So I should be really focusing on that.
So it was almost like the elephant in the room and I just put it to one side.
And also, you just don't see them.
So I was looking for them.
I had searchers set up for them, but they just didn't come up.
So for the James May car to come up at that time, it was interesting and made me curious.
But I still didn't think that seriously about it.
In some respects, it was the car that I should buy.
I sort of thought that I wouldn't buy it for those reasons,
even though I was in danger of buying another mid-engine car at that point.
You almost sound like you had the right word.
You hadn't fully made your decision.
You weren't quite ready to actually make the plunge,
but you were sort of like 75-80% through the thinking process
and what you were going to go for, but not quite ready to actually do it.
Would that be right?
Well, I sort of ready to do something.
I mean, I don't know what would have happened with the Cayman at Porsche and the Chester.
Would I have gone further with it or not?
I don't know.
You know, because that happened, it's hard to imagine what the other thing would have done.
I was spending a lot more time.
I've been looking really, really hard for a really nicely specced 991 Carrera S.
I was looking at GTS, of course, and some people said,
you've got to get a GTS, but I really nicely specced 991.1 Carrera S.
They're just lovely things, I think.
The one that I had before was over the period of time that I owned that car,
I learned about things that I wished that it had,
mainly the seats, which we've talked about endlessly, having the Sport seat plus.
I thought, you know, if I get another one of those, I really want that seat.
And things like PDLS Plus and other nice things.
I thought, because I'm not in a rush, although I've decided I'm definitely going to make a change,
I'm not in a rush to make a change because I love the cars that I own,
so I can wait.
I'll be patient and I'll wait till a really, really sweet 991 C2S,
maybe with aluminum windows around for those touring vibes.
You know, I thought I can wait till something really good comes up.
So what I would have actually have done, I'm not sure,
because this 997 thing happened.
I know it sounds like a strange...
I appreciate this may sound a bit strange to people,
but it did just sort of happen.
Happened.
Without sounding too hippy about it, you've identified the sort of car that you'd like,
and I would argue there is an overlap between 997 Carrera S
and Cayman 718 GTS 4-litre earlier.
I wouldn't say there's something that one car can do that the other one cannot.
They're in there in that kind of ballpark, if you like,
and then it's kind of up to you which one you'd like.
So it's certainly not a reckless decision.
It just sounds like, yeah, you've pretty much chiseled down
what you'd like from a Porsche.
And then your car, because it's no longer the X James May 997,
it's the Max Newman 997,
and it's kind of just popped up and gone,
Hi, I'm here, and you'll do.
And then kind of chose at you, really, you know.
That's kind of how I view it.
But right off the bat, obviously, it's early days,
you've owned it for a couple of weeks now,
and I would want to talk about the collection and everything else,
but just very quickly, you know, what's it like to step back into your 911 again?
Yeah.
Well, I've done, I think at the weekend I went over 500 miles.
So, you know, when did I get it?
I might have got it on the 1st of December or something.
I think I forget exactly when I picked it up.
It goes quick, doesn't it?
But I've done 500 miles on the trip,
a computer that went over 500.
And I mean, I've got to say,
actually, to not quite the same degree as when I got into Ben's GT3,
which is a .1, it feels so familiar.
You know, I did nearly, I did 60,000 miles in my other 997,
and I know I sold it in 2021, which is a few years ago.
But, you know, it's sort of hardwired into my synapses,
you know, the 997 thing, you know, like 996s are for you and Gs are for you.
You know, they're just part of you almost, aren't they?
So, when I got into it, it straight away felt so familiar and so comfortable.
You know, the layout, the seating position, where the steering wheel is,
are the pedals, the gear lever,
the thing which is interesting about this car being a Gen 2,
as opposed to my old one and Ben's one being .1s,
is how different the interior on a Gen 2 is in terms of the materials
and the look and feel, you know, it has that black rather than the grey.
But I think, I don't know if I'm just imagining this,
is the material quality different?
Was it put together a bit better?
I'm not sure, but it feels, it does feel different.
You know, it feels like a, yeah, it feels like a better screwed together car.
You know, it feels a bit more modern.
You know, it's a late, it's an October 2010 car.
Mine was a September, I think mine, my other one,
my dot one was registered on the 27th of September 2004.
So that's really early 997, isn't it?
You know, that's back from summer holiday,
2005 model year production begins and the 997's off and running.
So I've gone from super early to quite late.
You know, there would maybe be another year of 997 production after that,
probably in a few registrations into 2012 in this country.
So our book ended 997 and it does feel, you know, it feels much nicer inside.
And there are some quirks to that particular car,
mainly around the specking of extended, extended leather,
which I think probably adds to that.
But I think it's probably a gen one, gen two thing.
So that aside, just the way that a 997 goes down the road and the driving position,
it just sort of felt like home.
Lovely, absolutely lovely.
Reinforcing your decision as well, I might add.
So you've bought the 997, you know, what was collection like?
It can, you know, yeah, without kind of going into the administrative process too much.
How did you, how did you go forward?
Well, so the lad who was always called, also called James from Collecting Cars,
he got in touch with me the next day.
Congratulations, you bought the car.
I'm going to put you in touch with the vendor now, exchange details,
so you can get in touch with him and arrange payment and collection.
Sort of, you know, that is about it really.
So it connected us.
I can't remember if it's probably over email, just sending details.
So I emailed James May, he didn't get anything back,
and then the guy got in touch with me and said,
I think it's probably better to WhatsApp him actually.
That's how we've communicated.
So I started to WhatsApp James, we exchanged bank details.
I started sending money over and talking about collection.
So, I mean, I'm sort of, other than the perception that it gave me
about the potential quality of the car,
I'm actually not that bothered about the fact that James May owned it.
So I wasn't really, you know, the celebrity thing.
I thought, you know, I didn't really, I wasn't really bothered about that.
Other than it meant that I knew a bit about the car,
you know, most of the time, you know,
because there isn't a lot of 997.2 content online from back in the day.
There's not very much at all.
There's a really grainy Chris Harris video with a PDK car.
There's really not a lot else.
So the stuff that, you know, people will know about
when James May has had that car online, I pretty much seen them all.
So I knew about the car.
You know, I knew that it had had a little scrape on the near side.
Rio, from when someone was moving it for him, had been repaired.
I knew all of that stuff.
So I thought, I'd better have a look at him on Instagram.
I didn't like it. I like Instagram. I didn't follow him.
He's got two million followers on Instagram.
I thought, guys, that's quite a big deal, isn't it?
Obviously, I know Top Gear is the biggest franchise ever for the BBC
and the Grand Tour was massive as well.
But still, you know, that didn't really register with me.
So we started to get into that as well.
I thought it would be nice to meet him and collect the car from him
just from a Porsche enthusiast kind of do, you know.
I thought this is a, you know, I'm buying your car. You expect it from you.
Now it's going to be my car, you know, which this could be,
and this should be a nice handover moment from one custodian to the next.
And he said, I might not be able to hand it over, you know, life's pretty busy.
I suppose when you're on the telly life is pretty busy.
I said, no, I understand, but it would be nice
if I could meet you when we collect it, because that would be nice.
So anyway, so I paid the money. We arranged a collection.
He said, I'll be there.
So I went down to London to get it from him.
He said, come at tea time.
I wasn't exactly sure what that meant.
I said, Mandy, what's tea time?
Oy, casserole ink coming, lovely jubbly.
Well, that's what I thought.
I thought, am I getting blooming sausage chips and beans?
And then he said, no, that's not what he means.
Means in the afternoon for a cup of tea.
I said, OK, so I said, brilliant.
I'll come at tea time. I'll bring cake.
I said, Mandy, I'm selling going to bring cake.
She said, I'll get some cakes.
So I got cakes, took the afternoon off work,
got the train down to London.
And he said, come any time in the afternoon.
He said, but I'm full of cold.
Full of cold.
I thought, OK, fair enough.
So I got there,
managed to find his secret bunker in West London.
And he opened the shutter doors so I could get in.
And inside the bunker is what people have seen
on some of the videos that he's done there
in his underground bunker.
And as I opened the door, he's standing there with his phone
and he's got the DVLA, you know, change of ownership thing.
He's already doing that.
He said, what's your postcode again?
Come in.
I was like, OK, right.
Oh, hello.
That's the vibe.
And clearly he was full of cold,
but it was quite a business-like transaction.
So Mandy said you should get him to sign it.
Sign it under the bonnet.
Take your Sharpie, get him to sign it.
I thought, I'm not sure I'm bothered about that.
I'm not sure I want to scribble under the bonnet really.
It's not like you designed it, is it?
You know, he's only owned it.
So I didn't take a Sharpie.
And it was quite a quick transaction.
I nearly forgot.
I didn't get offered a cup of tea,
but I did give him the cakes, which he took.
He took the cakes.
He didn't share the cakes with you.
He didn't share the cakes.
He took the cakes.
No cup of tea.
He took the cakes.
The 992.2 Carrera tea that he's bought was in there as well.
The Lugano blue.
Is that the color?
That was in there.
So that's the car that he's replaced the 997 with.
And the Speciale was in there.
And Alpine 110.
A cranky old discovery thing.
Some motorbikes and that sort of thing.
So I was out of there pretty quickly.
I did ask him about the scrape on the side.
And he explained it as he's described it before,
other than when he was hamming it up for YouTube hits.
What else did we talk about?
We talked about the extended leather,
because that is unusual.
So the extended leather on it goes all the way up to the bottom
of the windscreen.
So normal extended leather on a 997.
On an S you get it anyway.
But it's dash and door tops, isn't it?
But it stops fairly quickly.
On this one it goes all the way up to the bottom of the dash.
And it's round the door opener bit.
The stitching goes round there.
Instead of stopping where the door handle is.
And then it's on the end of the dash as well.
You know, on that sort of flat side of the dash.
It's all there as well.
And the interior is predominantly ocean blue.
But that bit, that top, door top,
and the extended, extended leather is black,
which is quite unusual.
So I said, James,
it's quite difficult to see that in the pictures,
although you can see it.
So I had noticed that.
I said, James, it's interesting that it's black on the top.
I'd expect it typically to be all ocean blue.
And he said, yes, I expect it like this.
And it was really expensive.
But I expected it like this based on an experience
I had with the way that my Boxster was specced previously.
And I really wanted it.
So this was the main.
He said, the rest of the car is pretty simple.
But this is where I really went to town.
And it was a lot of money.
So it's basically a sport classic.
Small classic dashboard.
But I haven't got leather vents.
So we talked about that for a little while.
He gave me the indoor cover that was with it
and all the keys and all that sort of thing.
And he said, oh, and the brush as well.
The brush is in the glove box.
I thought for a minute what I was talking about.
Exactly, Andy.
So in some of the times when it's been on YouTube,
he talks about this brush that he uses to clean the vents
to get the little thing with the vents.
So that's a thing apparently.
That's in the glove box.
So then I'm out the door and on the road.
Kicked out without any cakes.
Yeah, I haven't had my cakes.
How long was this?
Eight minutes?
15, 20.
So I thought, well, I'd better pair my phone
and then I realized it doesn't even have bloody Bluetooth.
So it's got no Bluetooth.
And off I went up the, out of London and onto the M4
and off to home.
Unfortunately in the pouring rain, which was a shame,
because the car was so immaculately clean
coming out of the bunker.
It really looked beautiful.
And then in about 10 minutes, it was absolutely filthy rotting.
Yeah, caked and mucked.
But you know, there you go.
What are you going to do?
There we go.
And that was it.
Done.
Done.
Romeo done.
I was going to say that you obviously on the advert,
it alluded to the fact that it didn't have an MOT.
But obviously you were able to drive it away.
So I assume kind of in between the sale going through and whatnot,
there was a couple of things looked after.
Yes, yes.
So the MOT had expired on the 31st of October
and the auction went through in November,
sort of time second half of November.
As I said, I think it might have been the first of December
that I picked it up.
So I did say in the conversation after,
it was actually straight away to the guide
to change from collecting cars.
I said, it hasn't got an MOT.
I assume that's part of what's going on here
in between now and me collecting it, which it was.
So that was done.
I did look a bit more closely into the service history
at this point, seeing as I own the car.
I'm exaggerating slightly, but slightly.
And it had had quite a big recommissioning service,
a major service, I'd call it a recommissioning service in May last year,
when loads of stuff had been done,
radiators, condensers, pipes, lots of the big 997 stuff
that needed to be done, as well as a major service,
gearbox, oil engine, oil, loads of stuff.
So that didn't appease some of the keyboard warriors.
I did get sent, because I don't do forums.
That's not my thing and never has been.
So I did get sent some screenshots of people
on various forums talking about it,
saying what a horror bag it was going to be,
because it had this old oil in it,
and the oil would have turned to water,
and the engine was going to destroy itself.
The moment it was started up and all of that sort of thing.
Doom mongers.
Yeah, doom mongers, but that's forum, isn't it?
That's standard.
Doomsday lives on internet forums, doesn't it?
And I don't. That's not my world.
But I did take some comfort from the fact
that this recommissioning service had been done,
and big jobs had been done,
major service as well as some of the other items
that you'd need to attend to.
I did notice as well,
but didn't take it to its logical conclusion
that it had new tyres on the front.
So I had the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2,
which is the en-rated tyre for a 997.
But in the days that followed,
chatting a bit about the car,
I spoke to Chris at Rightune,
because I was at Rightune with the Boxster,
having that serviced,
and I was chatting to Darren Anderson at RPM,
and they both offered,
I think they could probably sense a little bit of anxiety,
in my voice,
they both offered to have a look at it,
to get it up on the ramps and just have a look over it
and see if there's anything glaringly obvious
that I wouldn't be able to spot,
that would need immediate attention
or that I should be concerned about in the end,
because it was the winter,
I ended up taking it to RPM,
and they looked over at a tech called Neil,
who got me into the workshop with Joe Arlard,
and they had it up on the ramp,
he had all of the under trays off,
we had a good look round it,
and he said, look, there are some things
that you'll need to look at over the coming period of time,
some wear and tear items,
but there is nothing untoward,
no immediate concern,
and nothing that I can see,
which reflects anything to do with the way that it's been used,
not very much installed and hasn't been serviced,
and there's nothing that makes me think,
because of that, there's this issue,
or any issue,
he said, I'll just put the under trays back on
and off you go, go and drive the thing.
It sounds like the recommissioning service that you described,
that hit all of the bits that are the sort of age-related things,
whether the car's done,
what, is it 15 years old?
Is it 15 years old?
Roughly.
When it hits that sort of age,
it doesn't matter whether it's done 35,000 miles or 135,000 miles,
those things like the crossover pipes
and the condensers, they're going to rot out,
they just seem to do that from my experience.
I think having had all of that done,
that's definitely put you on the right path for the future.
Exactly.
And I'd had a similar conversation years ago
with Pete Tyman down at Paragon,
because that's where my first 9-7 came from
and where I took it back every year.
And I did ask Pete once when I was paying a bill,
I said to Pete,
am I costing myself more money than other people
because of the amount that I use this car,
because I'm using it all the time,
I'm doing sometimes 17,000 miles a year in it.
And he said, no, he said, honestly,
it's just a different, you're wearing things out
and other people have things that perish and fail
because they haven't used the car.
But it all kind of works out in the wash
and everyone ends up spending the same amount of money,
but you're probably having more fun.
Or you're having a different kind of fun,
not more fun, a different kind of fun.
A mile, that's the thing.
But what Neil did point out to me,
the Tech at RPM was that whilst the front tyres
have been changed because they'd started to perish
at the edges, so they're 2024 age tyres.
So the ones on the back have really loads of tread,
but they've been on there for 10 years.
So I thought about that afterwards,
Lee, you and I talked about it about what I should do.
I'm actually, as we record, I'm going back to RPM tomorrow
and they're going to put two new Pilot Sport PS2 N2s on the back
and they're going to do a geo, just to standard,
to make sure it's straight.
And I've bought some Sun Sport grills
and they're going to put them in for me.
So I'm really looking forward actually to having,
because it has been playing on my mind slightly
because it's the winter and I've done my 500 miles
with 10-year-old tyres,
albeit with plenty of tread, they're still 10-year-old tyres
and that can't help but it's just a little earworm.
So I'm looking forward to having the geo
and getting those tyres on.
And then I really feel like I can get stuck into it.
Perfect scenario.
And obviously we've spoken just about the handover
and yes, you didn't get a cup of tea,
but actually you've bought a car from clearly a conscientious
previous owner, which has given you,
or set you up for success,
for like a great ownership experience going forward,
which is ultimately the most important thing, right?
So sounds like you've got a good car, mate.
Well, I think so.
I hope so.
I hope so.
I have actually done something in terms of modifying,
modifyingly talking about my sort of modifying here,
not like Brooke's kind of modifying, not proper modifying.
I've already got the NM Automotive CarPlay upgrade in there.
So the car has got PCM3, a standard of course,
so it's got touchscreen nav, albeit nav out of the arc,
but because James hadn't specced Bluetooth,
it doesn't, you know, there's no phone.
So that's quite limiting for me in the way that sometimes
I'd like to use the car for work and things.
So I really want, I know classic PCA PCCM plus
is coming at some point, I think, maybe this year for PCM3,
but I really wanted to get that done really, you know, promptly.
So I'd already talked at length to James Bullen about it.
He recommended that route and also someone who could fit it for me.
So I've had that done, had that done on Friday.
So I've now got Bluetooth, I've got CarPlay,
and, you know, that changes the potential of that car for me quite a lot.
You know, it gets it to where I kind of need it to be from a usability point of view.
So that's already done.
Brilliant, brilliant.
Getting the tyres on there off I go.
Yeah, yeah, and again, like the SunSport grills,
I know you had that on your 997.1 previously,
and it's, yeah, just like such a good, easy preventative measure for any 911, really,
just to offer that protection for your front rads
that otherwise are going to get absolutely peppered.
And obviously they're not foolproof, but they really limit what goes into those front grills.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
You know, and I'm going to be out in all weathers in it.
You know, we've got Northumberland coming up,
Nine Works Northumberland road trip coming up in March.
You know, I'm going to get, I'm going to say,
I'm going to get peppered by Ben Bailey, but it's going to be so far ahead.
I'm not going to get any of those stones, but I'm sure I'm going to get peppered by someone.
So, yeah, you know, it's a no brainer for me.
Some people say I don't like the SunSport grills.
They look ugly, but I don't care about that.
You know, I'm with you, Lee.
I want the benefit of that protection in there.
So, yeah, it's all good.
I'm really looking forward tomorrow to getting the tyres on and getting the geo straight.
Not that I think the geo is out, but I think just having those two things done,
there'll be an element of placebo effect in there,
but there will be some tangible benefits as well,
I think, especially at this time of year.
And, yeah, just really get, really get, really get into it.
One of the things I noticed having had more modern cars,
I suppose, from my last two, you know, the Boxster 981 and the 991.1 prior to that,
getting back into the 907, it feels, I don't want to say it feels old.
You know, that was my first thought, you know,
the control weights and everything feel old,
but that's not a very helpful description, I don't think,
especially to someone who owns, you know, an SC.
But actually, the controls all feel long.
You know, the pedal travel and the accelerator and the steering, you know,
people will be like, oh, you've gone from E-pass back to hydraulic, you know,
you winner, champ, you know, isn't that brilliant?
And actually, no, not really, that's not really, you know, a thing,
it's about the length of the controls, you know, that's a big difference, you know,
that the more modern car, everything's so much more,
and that is partly to do with E-pass in the way that sort of stuff's calibrated,
but everything's much sharper in those cars.
You know, my first, I saw Dickie Meaden the other day,
and I was talking to him about it.
I said the first time I tried to heal, because I learned to heal and toe in my 997.
And I said the first time I tried to heal and toe in this, it was just like, boo.
I said, I couldn't have missed it anymore.
And that's just because those, you know, and actually,
I sort of wonder, I'm asking myself, do I prefer that more modern, you know,
the shorter, sharper weighting of the controls?
I'm not sure, maybe.
Maybe I do. I don't know. It's just different. It's different.
It's not better or worse, but it's noticeably different.
So I'm sort of relearning that way of driving.
Talking of that, we mentioned the spec earlier very briefly.
What is the, and you said it was quite basic, what is basic and what have you got?
You've got a sunroof?
You're a sunroof lover.
I do like a sunroof. I do like a sunroof.
So I haven't got a sunroof. So it's, yeah.
So it's 997.2 C2S manual, as I say, October 2010.
So 2011 model year.
It's got the Carrera Classic wheel on it.
So the five spoke, not the Carrera Sport, which is the one that looks like a mini light,
which we really like, but it's my second favorite wheel.
Easy to clean.
So it's got, it's got no sunroof.
It's got no sport chrono.
It's got no sports exhaust, no Bluetooth.
It has got a rear wiper and it has got a limited slip diff.
And that's about it.
And it's got, it's got ocean blue interior, which I love.
I've always fancied a Porsche blue interior.
I'm sure I read something that you said that you used to perve over a white with a blue interior.
I did, I did, I did.
When I, when I, when I had my 997 and I was looking for other 997s and other cars,
I used to, that for a time, the sale there was, I'm not sure if it was a week without looking at classifies.
No, no, I don't go a day without looking at classifiers for this.
But I remember particularly loving almost the car that I bought for sale,
other than it had the Carrera Clat that had the mini light wheel on it, but it was white.
And it had the ocean blue interior, which I thought just worked so well together.
It wouldn't work on a black car, would it?
I love black cars as you know.
It would work on a silver car, I think, but it works really well on a white car.
That sticks in my mind because I really, I really loved it.
And I did go to Porsche Experience Center once.
I think it was the second time that I went.
So 997.2 was the car, was the current 911 at that time.
It was my second time when I did an hour and a half just in the one car.
And that was a Gentoo 997S in Carrera White with the mini light wheel and a full red interior.
You know, everywhere, red everywhere.
It was a PDK and I hammered that thing.
I drove that thing as fast as I could.
It was amazing.
It's still one of the best bits of most enjoyable bits of mooring I've ever done.
So, you know, I've always, you know, white is not, I don't think white is a color that I'd ever spec.
Yeah.
But I have got an affection for white 997 Carreras.
I think they look very crisp.
It does, it does look very crisp.
Yeah, it does.
I mean, like you, Andy, I think ultimately I prefer the way a Gen 1 997 looks from the outside.
Particularly the rear lights, I prefer those.
But the interior of this car, and it's not just about the extended, extended leather, sport classic, hashtag.
I think it's just a Gentoo thing.
I think there is, there's a tangible difference.
And it's definitely an elevation there, isn't it?
I think so.
I think so.
Even though the actual structure of the dash and all of the components is the same, there's just that material feel and the color makes a big difference.
Yeah, it really does.
And there's a simplicity to it that I really like as well.
You know, I, I mean, even with my other, my old 997 had sport chrono on it.
And I used to, I was going to say worry, but that's, that's an exaggeration makes me sound even more anxious than I really am.
I used to wonder if I was in the right mode.
And so I don't like to have a lot of choice in a car.
I don't like to have a lot of buttons and settings to press because I wonder if I'm in the right one.
You know, even in a car like the McCann, where you can, you know, you can personalize some of that, have an individual setting, and I do have that.
But I, I really like the fact.
And, and I did actually reason when I had that car that on manual 997, it doesn't matter whether it's got chrono or not.
Other than maybe making it a bit easier to heel and toe.
So the fact that there's no chrono, so I don't have to decide whether I'm going to push sports or not.
The fact that it doesn't have a blooming start-stop button.
So you don't have to press that.
You know, you literally, the only thing you have to do is turn the key and put it in gear off you go.
There's nothing else to think about.
Actually, I don't even have to worry about whether I should have the sunroof.
Is it nice enough to have the sunroof open?
I'm not sure.
I think maybe it is.
No, there's no bloody sunroof.
So, you know, if it's raining, I put the windscreen wipers on.
That's easy.
But otherwise, it's just literally getting a drive.
And there's a, there's a simplicity to that, which I'm really enjoying.
And actually the, which I didn't get with the box, sure.
And I wouldn't have got with the 991.
Definitely wouldn't have got with the 718K.
And there's a, there's a dovetail between the 997 and the McKen, which I hadn't really thought about, which is really good.
Really, really good in terms of the, you know, that, the 997 feeling to me, old, older.
Yeah.
And the McKen being really modern and the weighting of the controls and the tech and all of that sort of thing.
You know, there's that, as a pair, as a pair, there's a really nice space between, between the two, which I wouldn't have had.
Yeah.
It's a, it's a really, really nice pairing.
And actually, Max, you know, just discussing the spec, and I know you and I've spoken about this away from the podcast.
But if you think about your car, you know, manual and that six speed gearbox is a phenomenal gearbox in the history of 911s, by the way.
And Porsche generally rear wheel drive manual, non sunroof coupe, limited slip differential as well on yours.
Don't forget.
That is, I remember you saying it's got the comfort seats rather than the sports seats.
Yeah, still, still haven't got the sports seats.
If it had the sports seats, because it's a, it's a real purist driver spec.
And like you said, quite paired back in it in some ways, if you like.
I personally feel like that is sports seats away from perfection of just like proper quintessential purist 911.
So well specced from new congratulations to the previous owner.
And, but you know, what a lovely car that is to inherit.
And the other thing I'd just like to mention about, you know, inspiration is all around.
I remember, was it a week before Rensport reunion back in 23?
And you and I were at that Gunther Works party.
And yeah, that lovely white 997 in the car park gen two, it was slammed when it had an amazing stance on it.
Yeah, just beautiful stance.
And you saw it and you said, look at that, look at that.
And then we carried on walking.
I lost you for a bit.
And I found you later that evening, just standing in front of it.
And I remember you, yeah, you were standing there.
You just, you know, hands, you had your camera in your hand, hands by side.
And you were just like staring at it.
And I wandered over and you were like, look at that.
That just looks so good.
And yeah, look lo and behold, two and a half years later, that sort of thing.
As you come back to sit on your drive in a way, you know, I'd forgotten about that.
But when you said it, I went back and I found that picture that I sent you of it.
But yeah, yeah, that looked fantastic.
And it really did look cool, really did look cool.
So I did actually talking about the seat as I was sitting there with it starting up.
And he was, James was trying to get rid of me.
I did say to him, I sort of didn't, I sort of didn't want to say, so how come you haven't got the sport seat?
But I said, so, James, you've got the normal seat, not the sport seat.
And he said, yeah, yeah, I prefer that seat.
You know, it was just very matter of fact, you know, he said, I chose that seat.
It wasn't a mistake like the Bluetooth probably was.
So he said he chose that seat.
And actually, I mean, I'm telling myself because I've lost a few kilos.
I'm fitting better into the standard seat.
So actually, I'm finding it really quite comfortable.
But damn it, I did say I was never going to buy a poor sports car without a sport plus seat.
Didn't I? I've been quoted on that.
But you know, what are you going to do when you buy a car by accident?
You've got to take what you get, don't you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's worked out, Max, isn't it?
Yeah.
It's really worked out.
I must just share a little funny story, actually,
because I'd only remembered this like a week or so ago that I'd actually interviewed Mr. May before.
And it is without doubt one of the most bizarre and possibly traumatic interviews I've ever done.
So it was when I was at Fast Car Magazine, which pretty much says it all.
Fantastic, by the way.
And so, yeah, 2011, I don't really remember what was going on in 2011.
It might have been maybe a new Top Gear series or something, but via a PR company,
they get in contact so, you know, you can have a phone interview.
And it was, yeah, it was with Mr. May.
And I think it was like, you know, 10-minute interview.
So you get put through to, like, the PR person, you know, controlling it.
And then they say, you know, yeah, look, you've got 10 minutes.
And they sort of, like, either hang around on the line or whatever.
I was like, OK, cool, cool.
OK, I'll, you know, buzz you through to Mr. May now and then put him through.
So I was like, yeah, hi, James Lee, Fast Car.
And I was fairly new into the Fast Car office and I've rearranged the word slightly,
but it was basically said, you need to look out for the Depeh Doom train.
And randomly, when someone's on the phone, the deputy editor at the time,
he puts this ostentatious hat on in the office, puts this whistle in his mouth
that's not a full-on whistle but makes enough noise, rolls his t-shirt up to you
and then starts coming round basically going like a train noise.
And in any case, as soon as I started speaking to Mr. May, I heard this whistle go
and I saw the hat go on across the office.
I was like, oh, my God.
And yeah, then this thing came over.
And I'd gone, I'd lost it.
And Mr. May was going, what's going on?
I was like, my deputy editor is gyrating in my face and whistling.
And he was like, oh, oh, and to his credit, he didn't go anywhere,
but I had to basically interview him for what was in the end a very short five-minute interview
while the deputy editor was pretty much gyrating in my face while wearing this glittery hat.
And he was a big old bus as well on my ad.
So it was horrific actually, horrific.
Absolutely.
There we go.
That's probably, I mean, I did mention you two when I invited Jerry to come on the pod
and that's probably, he probably remembered that and he thought I'm not going on that bloody card.
I joined to him again.
I joined to him before.
It's a weirdo.
Yeah, yeah.
Maybe that was his most horrific and traumatic interview ever.
I mean, you think about it, you'd never have anything like that going on in an office these days.
Matt, what an awesome thing.
So you mentioned like a couple of plans and that for this year, Northumberland road trip as well,
which is excellent.
Anything else that you'd like to do with the 997?
Well, we've got some museum trip coming up later in the year.
So I shall use it for that.
Whether I've managed to get it into Europe before that, I'm not sure.
But, you know, I'm just going to...
Just going to supposedly run.
Didn't that used to be your thing?
No, I used to go...
I did used to drive to Italy every year with some friends of mine, with some foodie friends.
So to Northern Italy, to Alba, where the White Truffle Fair is.
So I used the 99...
That was one of the catalysts actually for me getting the 997, was for that trip.
So that did a lot of runs into Europe, which is why it's such a shame that I never got round to get the 991 out there.
So, you know, I'm just going to press this thing into service and use it, you know,
a few times a week, every week alongside the McCann, which is why the tech upgrade is so helpful.
And just enjoy it.
I'm going to put it into an annual maintenance cycle.
I think I'll probably use the May anniversary.
So it's going to have its MOT anniversary in, you know, the end of, you know, November or whatever it is.
Yeah, I suppose November.
But I think having had that recommission service in May last year, I think, and spring is quite a good time, isn't it?
Start of the season.
I don't really have a season, but start of the season.
I think I'll use May as my annual service opportunity, regardless of the miles that I do going forward.
So I think I'm going to start doing that.
I did with my, well, with the Boxster, but I did it on the 997, first of all, I did the IPD plenum and remap.
I was going to ask if you could get any more plans.
Yeah, and that sharpened both of those cars up nicely.
I mean, I did it fairly swiftly on the Boxer, but I'd had the 997 for five years before I had it done on that.
And it really, I thought that was a really good mod.
So I'm not going to do it straight away.
You know, once I've got the tyres and there's unsupport grills on, that's going to be me done.
I'm just going to start driving and enjoying it.
But I may do that.
But I'm just looking forward to just using it.
I mean, it is, there is a, I mean, let's be honest, you know, we all were not all of us, but I certainly came here with 911s.
You know, that's, that's sort of why I'm here.
And I do love all Porsches and I don't, you know, I'm not, I'm not partisan at all.
You know, I don't, I don't really like that approach.
You know, I know someone's probably going to sit there and think, yeah, I knew he'd hate that Boxster.
I knew he shouldn't have bought it.
Yeah, I knew he wasn't going to like it.
I knew he wasn't going to like it.
You know, I could tell, look, obviously, because he sold it, he's gone back to a 911.
He didn't like it.
I told you, didn't I?
Didn't I tell you?
I told you.
You know, there's going to be that, but that's just not, that's just not true.
You know, that's not, you know, I only buy stuff that I like.
I spend a long time thinking about it.
Certainly.
My thing is that I really like.
But I do have to acknowledge that, you know, the 911 is a thing for me and there is something,
there is something special about having a 911 back on the driveway without a doubt.
You know, I do, there is a feeling.
Partly, I suppose that was what, you know, when we were in Norway and there was the convoy
of 911s and I was in a McCann and, you know, another car that I love.
But, you know, there's definitely a thing.
And it is, I'm surprised how interested people are in the car.
I probably shouldn't be having looked at May's Instagram and realised he's got two million
followers.
But when I went to Bister to scramble Sunday before last, I went with Pee-Pee.
So I was in the 1771 parking space.
So I was within the technical site.
First person who walked past when I parked said, is that James Mays car?
You know, so it is, you know, I do, I do love talking about cars and Porsches, as you know,
clearly.
So the fact that people want to talk about it is really good for me.
You know, it's a bit like buying a brown 911.
You know, not many people had brown 911s when I had mine.
So people want to talk about it.
And I loved that.
So the fact that it's a conversation starter, I actually really like that.
You know, that's a fringe benefit for me.
Something else that was really nice actually coming back to the marketplace.
I went to one of Andre's legends do actually with a friend of mine from work who's just
bought a crayon 718 Cayman GTS.
Imagine if I had one as well.
We'd look like a right bloody pig anyway.
Jesus.
I mean, I was in the McCann on that one because the weather was so bad.
So we did look like a pair anyway.
But Mark Sumter of Paragon came to that in his incredible 911 Speedster, which was so
beautiful.
But Mark's genuine sort of joy that I've got that car, that I've bought that car.
He just, you know, I could have bought and there's a fair chance I would have bought
a car from Paragon.
You know, had I gone, you know, bought a car in the way that I normally do.
But, you know, he was, you know, really excited about the car and the fact that I bought it.
I mean, I had such a lovely chat about it.
I told him a story about the cakes, you know, and all that sort of thing.
And that was just a lovely moment.
You know, someone that I know really well, Mark, you know, and that enthusiasm for the
car.
You know, it's as enthusiastic as if I bought a GT3 RS, four litre.
So that was really nice.
So, you know, that sort of thing I love, you know, the community part of Porsche, you
know, which is, you know, what we have with nine works, you know, I love that.
And I know that you've put it so lovely, Max, when you said, you know, about it being a fringe
benefit as a conversation starter, you know, it's not bought for the sole intention of,
you know, stopping a car's and coffee.
But it's, you know, I know you value, you know, those kind of those conversations or just those
catalysts that get people having a chat when you go to these meets and bumping in someone
having a coffee, which is really nice.
I'm really looking forward to in time it being known as the Max Newman 997.
As you put miles on the clock and create new memories with that car, you know, I'm certain
that all of the memories that were enjoyed by the previous owner, you can have all of
that and more in your Porsche story coming up, you know.
Yeah.
And actually one of the, which was sent to me on a screenshot by JP from the collective
John Pearson, he's a 997.2 Carrera owner, also with the standard seat, which he's a big
fan of also.
He sent me a screenshot from the end of a thread of conversation about the car during
the auction with all of the doomsday stuff.
Someone commented something along the lines, I forget exactly.
I noticed that the James May 997 has reappeared in the hands of Max Newman of Total 911 and
NineWorks.
So hopefully we can look forward to some more content and journalistic activity with the
car.
So that's, that was nice to see that, you know, instead of all of the nonsense that
had been said before, because that's exactly as you say, Lee, you know, I'm doing my own
thing with the car now.
Yeah.
Very much so.
And, you know, again, we just look forward to you if you're very content to do so, sharing
those moments, you know, in a couple of snippets and whatnot going forward, Max.
It's very clearly a lovely car.
And for somebody that has a thing with 997s, it's lovely to see you back in a 997, mate.
Yeah, it is nice.
It's nice.
I'm back to being the 997 evangelist.
You can call me that again now if you like.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And again, kudos to any driven or hidden collective members or anybody just generally out there
where it's at the next bistami or whatever for walking up and saying, is this the Max
Newman 997?
Yes.
Yes, it is.
Correct, my friend.
Oh, my God.
Oh, dear.
Amazing.
So when's the bookstore up for sale?
It's gone.
Oh, is it gone?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's gone.
It's gone.
Wow.
Yeah.
When it happened, I thought, right, I need to move that.
Partly because I don't...
It sounds like a silly thing to say.
I was going to say, I don't want lots of cars.
Of course I do.
But not in my current life.
Not in my real life, sorry.
In my fantasy world, loads of cars.
As you know.
But in my real life, actually, it suits me for all sorts of reasons.
Not even financially particularly, although of course.
But just to have the one sports car.
Yeah.
You know, we have three, you know, for all that sort of thing.
So I was always going to sell the Boxster.
So having got the car and paid for it and brought it back.
I actually had a few ideas, but it actually went back to Cameron sports car.
Where it came from.
I spoke to Simon and he was very happy to have it back.
And that feels quite nice for that car, because it came from there.
So it's got some Cameron history.
Then I've had it and it's gone back to Cameron.
So someone else can buy it from Cameron and they can enjoy it as well.
So yeah, so that's gone.
Nice, nice.
You see, there's always a real vote of confidence, you know, where it's gone back.
Again, whoever buys that from you thereafter,
the fact that Simon has seen it previously,
is a big vote of confidence for the next buyer.
Yeah, great stuff.
Super.
All right, then.
Well, yeah, we'll leave it there.
Shall we?
Unless there's any other snippets, maps that you want to share?
No, nothing.
Isn't it the moral of the story?
Never take moral to this one.
There is.
Never take cakes to James May's house.
Bloody Nikon.
They were expensive as well.
Mind you, boys.
Fancy bakery in Oxford.
Yeah.
There's about 10 quid.
I think she's been tasty.
I don't know.
Oh, I don't know.
At least celebs, eh?
Yeah.
It just stands to reason on that note, Max.
Such a fantastic car that you've got.
Big congratulations personally and professionally on that.
That's so wonderful to see you in that car.
And yeah, look forward to seeing that grin
through the windscreen of your car very, very soon.
Thanks, guys.
Excellent.
A great story from Max.
I still can't believe he nicked the bloody cakes.
Yeah, that is absolutely...
No cup per tea, just cakes.
He nicked them.
Unbelievable.
That is classic journalistic fare.
Just take what you can get and get out of town.
Like, 100%.
100%.
Even if you're at the top of the food chain.
That's, yeah.
If it's in you, it's in you.
Yeah.
Very good.
Very good.
But I'd seen Max, again, shared on the collective.
Like, he's done some serious driving in that 997 recently.
Yeah, he's been used that, hasn't he?
Left the mechanic home.
So...
Yeah.
Must be getting under the skin there big time,
which is lovely to see.
Absolutely.
I believe he's...
His boxer is now at Cameron Sports Cars.
For sale.
So, yeah, if you're after a lovely silver...
I can't remember what exact colour it is.
Rodeum, I think.
Rodeum, yes it is.
Yeah, with a few choice modifications on it.
Go and see Simon at Cameron Sports Cars.
Definitely, definitely.
Yeah, one of the lots in the forthcoming Max Newman collection.
Yeah, it's a lovely car.
I still remember following you when you were driving it, Max,
in the passenger seat.
Yeah.
Watching it flow through those Oxfordshire back roads.
Beautiful thing.
Yeah, Rodeum Silver's stunning, I think, genuinely so.
So, yeah, that's a great car.
Waiting for somebody to take the mantle.
Indeed, indeed.
Shall we hit a conundrum?
Yes.
Yeah, love it.
We're liking this new feature.
So good.
It's so good.
It's nice, I think everybody wins with it, Andy,
to be honest with you, mate,
because content for us, we...
But lots of people, you know,
we tip things over in our heads,
they should have do this, they should have do that.
Yeah.
It's nice to just get a separate, independent opinion
from somebody else that might go,
yeah, well, have you thought of this?
And the conundrum last week from Geese,
I think was a great example of that
with our amazing specialist panel of hero drivers
just offering some insight into how they would do it.
Yeah.
No wrong answers.
Great chat on the WhatsApp groups this week as well.
Lots of people pitching in with ideas
and sort of confirming some views of the panellists
and a lot of others.
So, yeah, it was great.
Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely.
We've got a couple of conundrums,
but obviously we'll stick to the one a week.
Can we do the Alex Brody one?
Yes, let's do it.
Is that all right, yeah?
Shall I play it?
I love it, yeah.
Because I think listeners will enjoy it
because, well, Alex, it's gone underground.
It's gone underground.
Yeah, I love the little star.
It's brilliant.
Father, I don't wish to be identified by unrecording this
from underneath the covers of my bedroom
whilst the wife is in the next room.
Suffice to say this.
I couldn't be driving 996 C4S black.
I have to be said too much already,
but I'll carry on.
Really, after experiencing open air driving,
I want to get into a Boxster.
And for me, wise-wise and kind of tech-wise,
I think the 981 series is where I'm looking,
specifically GTS, although that is top-end of my budget.
So maybe an S that's well-specced.
Who knows?
I have looked at 718 as well,
but I think the 981 is my preferred car.
And I know it's a bit vain.
I do like the look and also the sound.
The sound just seems nicer with the flat-six
as opposed to the four-cylinder, more modern car.
So that's it, really.
I want to get into open air driving,
but I really don't want to let go of my C4S.
I can't keep both.
So do I stick?
Or do I twist?
Gentlemen and ladies, over to you.
You've got to go.
Thank you.
I think he was about to be rumbled at the end there.
That's a fantastic carnundrum from Mr A.nonimos.
Brilliant, brilliant.
What would you do, MBB?
Twist, twist, straight away.
Straight away.
Twist, yeah.
981, perfect.
Go for it.
GTS, stretch for it.
Just do it.
Do it, do it, do it, Alex.
I'm absolutely 100% there with you.
Get it done next week.
Then we'll just push immediately from that point of view.
How about you?
We're very lucky to have known Mr A.nonimos for quite a while now.
That C4S is the weekend toy.
It has a different mode of transport in the week.
There is legs, I think.
So a car that's fun and engaging and a delight.
I'm not saying the 718 is,
but I feel like the 981 with its flat-six engine
and soundtrack to go with
will possibly be a bit more of a reward
for your Sunday morning start-up.
I would actually say I absolutely hear what you're saying,
Andy B, with the GTS and stretch into it.
I largely adhere and say if you can stretch into that,
what a brilliant place.
I think you'll really notice a big difference
between your wide-bodied all-wheel drive 911
and your lighter rear-wheel drive open-top Boxster.
I think that'll feel pretty decent,
pretty quick off the mark.
But that said, I therefore don't feel a GTS is necessary.
I would say if you can find a lovely spec S
that will absolutely do the job
and you don't have to be as deep into it
in terms of the wallet.
So great move, definitely twist.
If you ever miss a 996, there's plenty of them out there.
You can always get back into one.
You might be surprised you can get an S
and I think as great as a 981 GTS Boxster is,
I think the S looks really good value next to it
because you get a lot of that package
without having to spend the extra just for that GTS badge.
Yeah, I agree with you.
But if you can stretch to it, stretch to it.
Why do I think stretch to it?
Because I think you will enjoy all the extra little bits
and I think the GTS will look after you
more than the S will in residuals.
I can't say it.
Yeah, do you think?
Yeah, I think the GTS is always going to...
Well, it's proven with other models, isn't it?
You take the 997 GTS.
I think the GTS has always stayed up there.
The S is on a little down, the GTS just stays up.
So, yeah, if you can stretch into it,
I think it will look after you in the future.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, I feel like the S model, they can't go too far down
from where they are and I think all of them could possibly
in the future use up the four-banger 718s
because in the enthusiast realm, they're so desired.
But I mean, here's an idea.
If you can't even air your thoughts out loud at home
on what you're going to do,
then actually buying the car is going to present
a sizeable problem.
So, get the S and then with the spare money,
go on a lovely holiday with the boss
because it sounds like you're going to have to pull
something out the bag, Mr Nonimoss.
I love it, mate.
Very good, very good, very politically correct.
Very good.
Right, OK, yeah, thank you for the carnundrum
and we will definitely be back with that feature next week.
Yes, love it, love it.
Good.
AOB.
AOB.
We have got a massive list of new members
that joined us over the Christmas break and since.
To go through everybody and sort of welcome them fully
would be a rather probably a little bit tedious
for everybody to listen and will take us bloody hours.
So, I think we'll just say hello everybody
that's joined us recently.
Thank you for coming aboard.
I don't think we'll list the names out.
I think we'll just say a big collective thank you to everybody
for joining the DNHC.
Amazing to have you on board.
Here, here, Andy B, here, here, obviously, as we've said before,
especially on our internal podcast, we don't advertise what we do.
We don't really advertise like the driven, not hidden collective.
We're quite happy if people find us
and we're not chasing the numbers side of things.
So, to have so many people join up in those fallow months,
like, yeah, massive, massive thank you
and we hope you'll really enjoy your collective experience.
Is that a wrap?
I think that's a wrap, mate.
Magic.
Good to see you.
Great to have Max on telling us a wonderful story
of the James May 997.2.
May you enjoy it immensely over the next however long you have it
for its next chapter.
I'm sure you're going to put lots more miles on it than Mr May did.
Yes, definitely, yeah.
Can't wait to see that car in the metal.
So congratulations to Max.
And yeah, thanks to everybody for listening
or perhaps even watching this new episode of NineWorks Radio.
For those listening to the podcast and going,
hang on a minute, I didn't know we can see those ugly mugs.
Like, where can they find us?
Do we know?
Do we know?
Oh, yeah.
It might be a little bit delayed in coming out on YouTube.
Maybe I'll get it out on Spotify.
At the minimum, we will get it out on our website
so that you can view it through the website.
Maybe that will be restricted to DNA seers initially.
Yeah, it's all a bit up in the air.
So do apologize.
We can't be very specific of where it is
and when it's going to pop up, but it will be.
And the software is working great.
So, well, it is now.
It is now, yeah.
We had a few teething problems last week,
but yeah, all is good, all is good.
Definitely, yeah.
The goal is to hit YouTube with it,
but whether it's on like the NineWorks,
it's called TV at the moment,
or we do a separate NineWorks Radio.
Radio, yeah.
Maybe another channel.
Yeah, we've got some things to work through.
All good.
Excellent.
Nice one.
Nice one, Andy B.
Always a pleasure, never a chore.
We'll see you and everybody else next week
on NineWorks Radio.
See you next week.
Au revoir.
You can also support us by leaving a five-star review
on your favorite podcast app and Google reviews.
Request an explanation for:
10 cars
Scroll for more
10 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
Help improve this episode
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark. Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.
Report incorrect info
Suggest better explanations
Flag missing cars
More from 9WERKS Radio : The Porsche and Car Podcast
4,000 Miles to the Arctic Circle: What We Learned About Our Porsches
Jun 1, 2026
The Man Who Owns Every Porsche Legend: Johan Dirickx on 911R & RS History
May 25, 2026
Better Than a classic 911? The Ultimate Porsche 356 Deep Dive
May 18, 2026
The 2026 9WERKS Awards Live & Grant Larson’s Design Secrets
May 11, 2026