A Jeep Wrangler is an SUV made for driving on rough roads and trails. It’s built to be tough and is known for having removable doors and a removable roof. People talk about it when they want a vehicle that can handle both normal driving and off-road adventures.
The Miata is a small two-seat sports car made for enjoyable driving. It’s known for being light and easy to handle, so it feels responsive even without being a big, powerful car. People often choose it for weekend drives and track days.
The Lotus Exige is a small, lightweight sports car made by Lotus. Here it’s being hauled in because it was crashed and needed repairs, showing how tricky it can be to transport damaged low cars safely.
“Salvage” here means the car is badly damaged, but it might still be repairable. It’s the difference between “totaled and scrapped” versus “could be fixed.”
A trailer is how you move a car without driving it. They’re pointing out that the wrong kind of trailer can be a problem for low sports cars, especially when the car is damaged.
Suspension is what connects the wheels to the car and helps the wheels stay aligned and ride smoothly. They’re saying the crash damaged the suspension so badly that the rear wheel wasn’t pointing straight.
A crane is a machine used to lift heavy things safely. They’re saying they needed one because the damaged, low car couldn’t be moved off the trailer the normal way.
An “homage” is when a new build is designed to pay tribute to an older, famous car. The host is saying this project is trying to look and feel like the classic 930 Turbo.
The Porsche 930 Turbo is an older, iconic turbo 911. The host is saying the modern Singer build is trying to capture the look and vibe of that classic 930 Turbo era.
This is a nickname for a classic bumper shape with a ribbed, segmented look. The host likes that the build keeps that original style detail instead of deleting it.
Fiberglass body panels are replacement car body parts made from fiberglass. The host is saying some owners swap them in to change the look of the bumper area.
Term
impact bumper look
“Impact bumper” is a term for older bumper designs that were shaped to meet safety rules. The host is saying some owners remove that look to make the car resemble earlier designs.
A restomod is an old car that’s been updated with newer parts so it drives better. The comment here is that some super expensive restomods don’t get driven much and mostly stay as collectibles.
Hagerty is an automotive-focused media and insurance company that publishes research and reports relevant to classic and enthusiast car owners. Here, it’s cited as the source of an article about theft trends affecting car shipping.
The Lotus Elise is a small, lightweight sports car. People mention it because it’s the kind of car enthusiasts might ship to another state for events or ownership.
Cargo theft is when stolen goods are taken while they’re being shipped. If cars are included in those shipments, it directly affects people trying to move a vehicle across the country.
Car shipping brokers are middlemen who help arrange transport for your vehicle. They may contact you with quotes and try to win your business, but you still need to make sure the actual carrier is legitimate.
Company
Horse Powertrain
Horse Powertrain is the company the hosts say will supply engines for future Lotus cars. They’re connecting it to planned models like the Emira and the Type 135.
The Lotus Emira is a sports car made by Lotus. Here, the hosts are talking about a future version that’s planned to use a new set of engines from another company.
The Lotus Esprit is an older sports car made by Lotus. It’s known for being a distinctive, fun-to-drive car. The podcast brings it up because they’re talking about what Lotus plans to replace it with in the future.
Aramco is a big Saudi company that invests in energy projects. Here, they’re also backing an auto partnership, which can help those car plans move faster.
Modularity here means the company builds engines using a common “kit” of parts. That lets them make different engine versions without starting from scratch every time.
“Eight speed” means the automatic transmission has eight different gear ratios. That can help the car shift in a way that feels smoother and can improve efficiency.
A hybrid V6 is a car power system that uses a V6 engine plus an electric motor. The electric part can help the car move and can also store energy for later use.
“Lighter motor” refers to reducing the mass of the engine/motor assembly. Lower weight can improve vehicle responsiveness and handling because it reduces inertia and can help the car feel more agile.
“More compact” means the engine/electric system is physically smaller. That can help designers fit everything better in the car and sometimes improve how it drives.
The segment describes a market and product strategy shift: companies that planned to go all-electric are now reintroducing or expanding internal combustion engine families. This is often driven by demand, cost, supply chain, and regulatory realities.
ICE engines are the traditional gas/diesel engines that burn fuel to move the car. In this segment, they’re talking about a renewed investment in those engines.
A manual transmission is the kind of car where you shift gears yourself. You use a clutch pedal to change gears, and it often feels more connected to the car.
“Analog driving” means the car feels more like a traditional, mechanical machine. You get more direct feedback from the steering, pedals, and—often—manual shifting.
They’re talking about a trend where enthusiasts want cars to feel more “hands-on” and traditional, not overly computerized. Manual shifting is part of that idea.
The BMW Z4 is a two-seat sports car from BMW. The point here is that BMW has been moving away from manual transmissions, and the Z4 was one of the last places you could still get one.
A hot rod is a car that someone has modified to be more fun and more exciting to drive. It usually means upgrades beyond stock—like making the engine and handling better.
The MGB is a classic British sports car/roadster. A 1978 one is a late-model version, and it’s famous among hobbyists because it’s relatively straightforward to maintain and modify.
A fastback Mustang is a Mustang with a roof that slopes smoothly toward the back. It’s a recognizable body style that many people associate with the classic Mustang era.
The 1999 Honda Civic is a common, practical compact car. The host is just using it as background for how they started out with a normal daily driver before moving into enthusiast cars.
Concept
depreciating vs appreciating car value
They’re talking about whether a car’s value goes down or up over time. Some cars get cheaper as they age, while others become more desirable and can be worth more later.
The Porsche 914 is an older Porsche sports car with a quirky look. The host is saying it surprised them by driving really well, which is what started their Porsche obsession.
Car
Land Rover
Land Rover is a car brand known for more rugged, outdoorsy vehicles. The host is saying they bought one after the Porsche 914 and that led to more Land Rover ownership.
A Porsche 911 (964) is a specific older generation of the 911, from around the early 1990s. People talk about it a lot because it’s still a classic 911, but it has more systems and complexity than the earlier ones, so some cars develop leaks and gasket problems.
“It leaks” means the car is losing oil or other fluids. On an older car, that usually points to worn seals or gaskets, and it’s worth fixing because low fluids can cause trouble.
Valve adjustments are maintenance that keeps the engine’s valves opening and closing correctly. The host is saying they did this kind of work themselves, which is a big part of enthusiast ownership.
Rennlist is a Porsche-focused online community. The host is saying that places like this helped people feel comfortable working on and owning older Porsches.
Pelican Parts is a company that sells Porsche parts and also has a strong online community. The host is using it as an example of where enthusiasts go to learn and get parts.
“Fried eggs” is a nickname people used for how the Porsche 996 headlights looked. The host is mentioning that, back then, people complained about the headlight styling.
The Honda Accord is a very common, everyday car. In this context, it’s being used as the “normal” comparison point for how much value a car loses over time.
The Ferrari LaFerrari is a rare, very special supercar that also uses electricity. The hosts are basically saying it’s so striking you’d want to admire it.
The Porsche 918 is a supercar that also uses electricity along with its gas engine. People like it because it’s not just a showpiece—you can actually drive it regularly.
Porsche’s VIP program (as described here) was a customer allocation scheme: buyers received VIP status for a set period, which then translated into priority access to limited-production cars. The key idea is that it wasn’t just “buy a car,” it was “get first allocation” so you could secure rare models as they were released.
The Porsche 918 (the 918 Spyder) is a special Porsche supercar that uses both a gas engine and an electric motor. They’re discussing a major service interval on one, which is a big deal because these cars are rare and not many people have done that exact service yet.
“Paint to sample” means ordering a car in a custom color by matching a specific color reference. Here, they’re trying to get Porsche to approve a custom color choice for the car.
Term
Vizac package
The “Vizac package” sounds like a specific Porsche option bundle tied to the car’s appearance or trim. Because the transcript doesn’t provide what it includes, it’s best understood as a named factory option group rather than a general feature.
“Ruby stone” is the name of a particular paint color. They’re talking about it like a specific, meaningful option—basically the exact color they want for the car.
In enthusiast slang, “daily” means a car used for everyday commuting rather than a weekend-only or track-only machine. It’s a practical category that helps explain how the owner balances multiple cars.
This sounds like Porsche’s special program for making a car more custom than normal. Instead of picking from the usual options list, you can request more unusual combinations—usually with extra approval steps.
“Special Wishes” is Porsche’s way of letting customers order a more personalized car than what you’d normally choose off a standard options list. It’s a formal program to get custom details approved and built.
“Exclusive manufacturing” means Porsche will build your car with more custom details than a typical order. Here, they’re using it to create a very specific color combination inside the car.
CXX is Porsche’s way of offering deeper customization than the usual options list. The idea is that you request special options and Porsche decides whether they’ll approve them.
Term
factory paint the wheels
“Factory paint the wheels” means the wheels are finished at the manufacturer during the build, rather than being refinished later by an aftermarket shop. This matters because factory paint is typically integrated into the production process and can be more consistent in color and finish.
Alpina is a company that makes special versions of BMWs. The hosts are saying Alpina cars often use standout colors like green and blue, and that other brands are becoming more open to bold color choices too.
Term
color combinations
“Color combinations” here is about how paint and interior/exterior hues are coordinated to create a cohesive visual theme. The host uses nature as a reference point, arguing that matching colors seen in real landscapes helps avoid mismatched or overly artificial palettes.
Maritime Blue is just a particular Porsche paint color. They’re saying it was rare back then, and when they finally saw it on the car, it looked amazing compared to pictures.
“Slate gray 6601” is a named/numbered paint color used on Porsche cars. They’re saying not all slate grays look the same—this one has a subtle green tint.
Paint-matched wheels means the wheel color matches the car’s paint. It’s a styling choice that makes the whole car look more coordinated.
Concept
Sonderbunch build
This is Porsche’s special custom-build process. The car starts as a normal version, then a specialist shop takes it apart and rebuilds parts of it—especially the interior—so it ends up truly one-of-a-kind.
Here, “re-skin” means changing the visible surfaces. They take the interior apart and put new materials/coverings back in so it looks different from the original.
An assembly line is how factories build lots of cars in a repeatable, step-by-step way. Custom orders don’t fit as neatly into that process, so production gets slower and more complicated.
A brake caliper is part of the disc brakes that squeezes the brake pads to stop the car. If someone wants it to look a certain way, it can affect other custom choices too.
A shift knob is the handle you grab to move the shifter. The point they’re making is that even small custom details like that can force the factory to change more than you’d expect.
Concept
Desert Racer
“Desert Racer” is an off-road racing style meant for rough, sandy desert terrain. They’re saying the customized Porsche had that kind of theme.
“Baja” is off-road racing in Baja California, known for long, tough desert courses. They’re connecting that racing background to the car’s desert-racer theme.
Brand
Zondervoge
Zondervoge is a company they had to work with to get the right interior materials. For a custom build, you don’t just pick a color—you also review sample materials and design mockups first.
Renderings are basically computer pictures or mockups of the car’s design. They help you see what the custom parts will look like before anything is built.
The Porsche 928 is a Porsche sports car designed for comfortable long drives. It’s known for having a different layout than some other Porsche models, which makes it stand out. People talk about it because it’s a classic, collectible GT car.
Recommissioning means getting a car back into a proper, usable condition—like refreshing it so it’s ready to be driven again. They’re talking about doing that for a Porsche 918 as a new kind of project.
The Carrera GT is a very high-performance Porsche supercar. It’s the kind of car people talk about because it’s rare and built for serious speed and driving performance. In the podcast, it’s brought up as one of the big-name cars someone was researching.
This means they’re rebuilding the engine’s valve timing system, using four camshafts. It’s careful, precision work because the cams control when the valves open and close.
They’re saying the car comes back with basically no driving on it—so it’s like it’s fresh again. It’s meant to signal the recommissioning was done without putting miles on the car.
It’s a custom program where the company builds a truly unique car for you. You usually have to pay for the whole development, and the company still has to approve the final idea.
A “full carbon chassis” means the car’s main structure would be made from carbon fiber. Carbon fiber can make things lighter and stiffer, but it’s harder and more expensive to engineer.
The Ferrari Testarossa is a classic supercar made by Ferrari. It’s known for its bold, recognizable look and for being a famous performance car from past decades. The podcast brings it up as a car someone wanted to talk about but didn’t get to fully.
“Non-drivers” means people who might be around cars but don’t really drive them. The hosts are saying they’re different because they actually drive the cars.
To “flip” a car means buy it and then resell it soon after for profit. The hosts are saying some people treat rare cars like investments instead of driving them.
“Heritage” here means the brand’s history—its famous past cars and design ideas. The hosts are saying Porsche uses that history to keep fans interested.
Brand
B and W
“B and W” means BMW. The hosts are basically saying BMW should take some lessons from Porsche’s strategy and history.
The host is talking about what happens when fewer car fans are actually driving and caring about the cars. If people only buy cars to collect them, the community of real enthusiasts can fade.
The host is saying some cars start being treated like collectibles—people want them for their value or status. When that happens, fewer owners drive them, and that can hurt the brand’s culture.
NVH is a measure of how “smooth” a car feels and sounds. It covers things like road noise, how much the car vibrates, and how rough it feels over bumps.
NVH is how much a car makes noise, how much it vibrates, and how rough or smooth it feels. Engineers work on NVH so the car feels refined and the driver isn’t distracted by annoying sounds or shaking.
Throttle pedal throw is how far you have to press the gas pedal to get full power. How that pedal movement feels can change how easy it is to drive smoothly.
A flywheel is a heavy spinning part that helps the engine run smoothly. If it’s lighter, the engine can feel more responsive when you rev or when you use the clutch.
Clutch engagement is how the car “grabs” when you release the clutch pedal. If it engages smoothly and predictably, it’s easier to drive without jerking or stalling.
A cable shifter uses a cable to connect the shifter to the gearbox. Some people like the direct mechanical feel; others don’t because it can feel less precise or consistent.
The deadband zone is the range of input where a system produces little or no effective response. In steering, it often refers to the small amount of steering-wheel movement before the front wheels noticeably react, which affects how “connected” the car feels.
Throttle-by-wire means the gas pedal doesn’t move a throttle cable directly. Instead, sensors send signals to the engine to control how much power you get.
The Porsche 911 R is a special 911 meant to feel very connected to the driver. Here, the discussion is about how its throttle response is controlled electronically, which some people feel makes it less “direct.”
Heel-and-toe is a driving technique for downshifting smoothly. You briefly raise the engine speed while braking so the car doesn’t lurch when you put it into the lower gear.
Rev matching means you set the engine speed to fit the gear you’re about to shift into. That helps the car shift without jerking and usually makes it feel smoother.
In this context, “analog experiences” means enjoying cars in a more hands-on, mechanical way. Instead of everything being filtered through screens and electronics, you feel more directly through the steering, pedals, and engine sound.
LIVE
Welcome back to full throttle talk, everybody. I'm Blair Smith,
Shenu. What's up guys? Shenu Mapleton here. Good to see you.
Well, we're excited for this because we've been teeing up
this idea that we're going to bring on a guest and we have
an awesome guest today who's going to give us. I'm so excited.
I'm so excited about this Blair. Yeah. Well, he's going to give
us a peek behind the Porsche VIP special wishes like curtains.
So, the access to Porsche and their best customers is coming
at us today by way of a good friend of mine and he's going
to talk about a special project that they are doing with
Porsche right now that's never been done. So, stay tuned for
that. But before we dive into a little bit of news and what we
did in cars this week, any chance you've heard from Tim this
week, Shenu. I got an email. I got a dispatch from Puerto Rico.
Well, I have not gotten an update. So, please tell me what
you had to say. Here it is from Tim Harris. Lifestyle update
from Puerto Rico. I met Daddy Yankee at my local karaoke bar.
He wants me to help rewrite virtual insanity by Jameriquai.
He found out I'm from Ohio and thinks I'm well suited to add
some real country western flavor. I had to recruit MC Chattie G
to help me with the production on this. So, the Jorts are gone.
I've transitioned to Wranglers. The Reeboks are being displaced
by Tacovas. See you guys soon. Tim Harris.
Welcome to Full Throttle Talk, the podcast where horsepower meets
conversation from supercars to classic legends.
High-revving tech to motorsport mayhem. We covered all.
Straight from the driver's seat, whether you're a gear head
eraser or just love the thrill of the open road, you're in the
right place. Buckle up, hit the gas, and let's go full throttle
into today's episode. Tim's definitely having more fun than
being on our podcast. So, Tim. I think so.
Send us pictures next time, you know? If you get any, we're
loving these updates. Jameriquai is a real talented guy, you
know, Jameriquai. Thanks for the update, Tim.
Excellent. What'd you do at Cars this week, man?
You know, we had a canyon run that started at our shop last
weekend, and I took, we had a bunch of cars, I don't know,
15, 20 cars, and we mostly load us, of course, you know?
And so, we, I normally take people on a particular run that's
my absolute favorite. It's a little bit easier to get to as
well. But this time, we decided to go to a slightly different,
you know, a couple of different canyons, which were really fun
as well. So, we had a good time with that. What did you drive?
The Miata? I drove the Miata. Yeah, I drove the Miata and had
a good time with that. Yeah, how are you getting along with the
Miata these days on these drives? This is new for you.
Yeah, it is. I mean, look, it's fun. The car is quick. You know,
it's just, it's fun to drive, so I enjoy it, you know? And I
can't say that it's the fastest I've go through, you know, but
it's fast enough, you know? And so, we had a good time.
It feels fast. Those things feel fast. And that's a big part of the
party. It does, yeah. And so, and on that particular, you know,
those canyons that we drove, it was a lot of fun. But related,
actually, I had a passenger in the car with me and he had come
all the way down from Idaho. He, he trailered his crashed lotus
exige down because he wanted us to repair it. I think his
insurance company, a jester up there, was saying they were
going to total the car. So, he brought it down to us to have a
look and, you know, it's a car that can be salvaged. I mean,
definitely has some real damage. But the real issue that I want
to talk about today is something that I think would affect a
lot of different people that are trying to move cars around
themselves. So, this guy, he went to his local U-Haul and
picked up a trailer. And that trailer is shown in the image
behind me. And, you know, they sell these different, or not
sell, they rent you these different trailers. And the
one that is kind of the car hauler is really not suited for
sports cars, particularly low, you know, cars. And this car,
the rear wheel was not quite straight because the suspension
was damaged pretty badly. I'm still getting this thing off
that trailer. Oh my god. It was like one of those, you know, oh
jeez. You needed a crane to just lift it. We needed a crane.
We needed a crane, but it was one of those things where I was
like, oh my god, this may not end well, you know. We may end up
damaging this thing worse than it already is, you know. But no,
fortunately, we got it off, just takes a little bit of patience
and some dollies and some, you know, floor jacks and some
jack and things around and some, you know, planks of wood and
other, you know, monkey business that you got to do. So my
warning to our kind listeners, you know, our good enthusiastic
listeners is be careful with these U-Haul trailers if you
want to move around a sports car. You know, they sell a toy, or
they rent a toy hauler type trailer too, which has, is all
flat. And that seems to be, in my mind, the more ideal one to
use if I were going to rent one. So yes, we're in a caution.
Well, we can't all live down in God's country, Shenu, you
know, Southern California. So it can be a real challenge to get
cars to you. And we're going to get into a quick news story
about theft of car shippers and some of the watchouts for
that. So, you know, it can be a little bit stressful at times
to figure it out, but sounds like we know now not what to do.
Yeah. So you, but you had, I mean, you got an amazing image
behind you right now. I do. Yeah. So tell us about your, your,
your week, because it looks pretty damn exciting to me.
Yeah. So both the Porsche dealers in Salt Lake, they're not
affiliated, different ownership groups. They, they both built
new buildings very recently. So one of them just had a friends
and family open house. We're bringing on a guest, as I said,
in just a few minutes. He's one of those VIPs that they made
sure to have some of his cars here and some of, you know,
make sure his presence was there. But so they had a just
open house, really nice event, a lot of nice food. My buddy
who's coming on, he texts me and said, hey, I'm running down
there, come with me. So it was really cool. The highlight to
me was seeing this singer turbo study, which again, this is a
964 like they all are. But what's cool about this
car, and I haven't followed this particular model as closely
or this build that they've done, but it really is an homage to
the nine, 30 turbo, which is obviously, you know, unlike the
long hoods, which was the Porsche classic, they take a nine,
64 and now make it, you know, that inspired by the
nine, 30. And they did a really good job keeping it in theme
and of the same design philosophy. As you can see in this
picture, they even keep the accordion style bumper look,
right, right. But I love that. I love that detail. I think that
detail is so cool. You know, it's very subtle, but it's, it's
so cool. One of my favorite things was that that they, you
know, because so many guys, I love G bodies. And I love the
way they look, not just the way they drive. And yeah, like, I'm
indifferent about the accordion bumper, but I do love generally
the shape and the way those things look. But so many guys get
those cars and want to put fiberglass, you know, body panels
and change it all up to remove that impact bumper look. So it's
so cool to me that they embrace that. Now, when you look up
close, you can tell it's like a modern version of it. It's not
the same. I don't, I doubt it absorbs, you know, impact the
way, you know, the cars were designed to. Maybe I could be
wrong and have to look into that. But it was super cool,
gorgeous car, you know, next to a particular friend of mine who's
going to tell us some things about Porsche next to his 964 RS
and the yellow speed yellow 4S 993 that belong to their
family, you know, collection as well. So anyways, it is it was
super cool. I'm always gravitating towards the old
cars and less to the new, but they had a good mix of both of
them and fun to feel like a Porsche snob for a few minutes.
Yeah, well, that that's silver on that turbo looks so cool. I
wonder which shade of silver that is, you know.
Yeah. Well, sadly, and we'll talk to my buddy Derek about, you
know, it's a brother of his that owns a lot of these cars, but
he's the mastermind behind the collection and he's nice. He's
the brains behind his family member. So, but this guy, we
talked to the owner. This is not his singer. And we said, Hey,
what's this thing like to drive? And he said, I don't know, I
haven't really driven it much. And Derek and I both, you know,
fall over like, dude, what are he said? I mostly just driven it
to the dealer and back and I haven't really gotten on it.
And so fortunately, we're going to hear from a Porsche guys
who really drive their cars or this particular. Well, I mean,
look, that was the tragedy behind it. Yeah, that is probably
the fate of most of these hyper expensive rest of mod cars.
Yeah, they're barely being driven. They're certainly not
getting hooned. You know, so yeah, that doesn't come as a
surprise. But you know, back to your your comments about the
styling, I really feel they nailed the styling on that one.
I think they got the proportions are really, really good. I
don't think it's got any whacked out like different scoops or
wings or vents or anything that makes it look cartoonish. This
like the original classic singers to me, those are the very
best I feel that they've done. You know, they are the featured
mark at Goodwood this summer in June, July, sorry. And so,
you know, I'm kind of excited and interested to see what the
heck they're going to be, you know, revealing and unveiling
there because I think there's going to be some big news
being introduced there, right? And so anything else at that
open house that kind of caught your attention? No, dude.
Well, one of Derek's brother's cars was spectacular and he's
got an ST maybe I'll put a picture up a little later that
they did special wishes on and we're probably going to get
into that car. But just phenomenal spec and I'll let
him talk about that. But no, this the singer was
spectacular, you know, the the attention to detail what they
do the interior that this was really cool because while I'm
not the world's biggest 930 fan to drive hard to find a
better looking vehicle ever in my opinion than a than a 930.
So anyways, this is super cool, but we we should probably
move into some automotive news before we bring Derek on and
I just wanted to touch since we teed it up a little bit, wanted
to touch on the shipping issue that you had brought an article
to our attention that Hagerty had just put out that there's a
growing trend of a theft shipping theft regarding cars and
getting them shipped across country and a very famous
victim of that said theft was Shaquille O'Neal. Yeah. I
wonder what he was shipping probably not a Lotus Elise.
I can imagine. Two of them that were joined together.
Yes. Nose to tail so he could fit. Exactly but they stated
that cargo theft has increased over a thousand percent in
the last five years costing the trucking industry roughly
$18 million per day. That's crazy. $18 million a day. Now I
think if I read that correctly, the cargo included cars. So
it's other things, cars as well as other things. Yeah. So I
have shipped two cars recently and what what I will say is I
didn't do as much homework as I should have done. I did reach
out to a number of brokers. They all compete. They all become
extremely obnoxious. For those of you who have never shipped a
car across country, beware if you go fill out a survey online
and that basically goes to they send that lead, your info to
a bunch of brokers and they all hound you. I mean this is a
dog eat dog world and so you will get blown up by dozens of
these people and they play lots of games. They tell you what
the price is going to be and then they try to get you to
commit on the spot and after you commit, then they go find a
driver for you. And that's how the bulk of them work. I do
think there are some wholly owned companies where they own
their own fleets and and drivers. The the the the
Reliables, the the porcelest carriage, the what's some of
the other big brands that that are pretty pretty well known.
You know, those are the ones you're going to pay a bit more
for those guys, right? Because we ship a lot of cars. We've
got a lot of customers are sending us their cars and
we're shipping cars back to them. And so we deal quite a bit
with that. And the truth is, you know, these the larger
companies, they are really good. They typically own their own
trucks and so they show up, everything's neat, tidy,
professional. Brokers are dealing with all these
independence. And so yeah, be careful. I think based on that
story, that's that's something for everyone to watch out for.
So yeah, or just forget Shenu's recommendation. Just go to
U-Haul and get one of those since you can drive the wheels
up on and just take it to Shenu or yourself. Yeah.
Transport your car yourself. Yeah. Avoid all risks. The only
thing I will give by way of recommendation. Yeah, check
their insurance policy. Try to vet all this out. But make
sure you don't pay or commit anything until these brokers
give you the price from the driver because what they're
going to quote you upfront and what the driver is going to
they're going to negotiate with the driver is largely like
very different. So that's my experience. I've never been
ripped off, fortunately, but do your homework. Do your due
diligence and don't pay until the price is like 100% confirmed.
Yeah. No, I think that's for sure. You broke some interesting
news last week and you really did have this before. We
don't publish these podcasts the day we record them or even the
next day. There is a little bit of a lag and well, I think a
week, you know, pretty much a week, you know, and you brought up
this horse engine or horse engine. Power train, yep. Yeah.
Horse power train, Lotus, Geely, Renault. Yeah, it's amazing.
I mean, I think we nailed it, man, because this week it was
all over the place and everybody's going nuts with this
story and it's fantastic because, you know, I think we
absolutely broke that news, you know, and so not that we're in
the business of trying to be the first with this kind of news,
but it was kind of exciting to kind of, you know, unearth that
if you will. But this week, Lotus is CEO, okay, whose name
is Fung Ching Fung. He announced that, you know, that
they're going to be using these, you know, engines from horse
powertrain in a future Emira, which is slated to come in
2028, as well as the Type 135, which is the Esprit replacement,
okay? The Emira is supposed to use the V6 and then the Esprit
is supposed to use the V8, okay? And what's kind of cool
about this whole thing is this horse powertrain company that
we talked about last week, you know, joined venture between
Renault and Geely, but, you know, with funding and support
from Aramco from Saudi, Saudi Arabia, you know, they have
got, you know, in fact, I want to read off a quote I have here
from their CEO, Matthias Giannini, okay? It says,
obviously a company like horse powertrain is an innovative
company with a bunch of car lovers and I'm paraphrasing
this quote anyways. Yeah, they made a way for us to create a
V6 from our simple four cylinder technology, okay? You know,
Giannini is, you know, commenting that the modularity of
their construction methods, it means that all of its engines
can essentially be scaled up or down as needed. You know,
such modularity has also allowed for the creation of the new
V8 based on the V6, which will power Lotus's new supercar.
So, what's really cool here is that exactly as we were
thinking, that's how this is playing out. Interestingly enough,
the four cylinder version is also going to be used in
Caterham's Academy Championship race series. So, other people
are starting to use that. I mean, again, I wouldn't be
surprised if we don't see, start seeing these in Renault's,
certainly the Alpenes, but, you know, Lotus who basically
I told us that they're going full on EV, they've now officially
announced their focus to 2030 strategy, which is really,
they're trying to target volumes, they're trying to get
stronger margins. You know, they, you know, this guy,
you know, Ching Feng, he has basically their CEO has said,
look, China is going to be our primary volume growth engine,
right? So, that's where they're going to get their volume,
which is exactly another thing that I felt needs to happen,
because that's where all the people are. You know, Europe is
going to be kind of the racing playground. US is going to be
kind of anchored around sports cars and SUVs, which again,
that's kind of an interesting thing for them to say, because
they said that this V6 that's going in this future, Amira,
was very much based upon the popularity of V6's and manual
care, he just said the popularity of V6's in the Amira's in
are being chose are being selected with the V6 and the
manual gearbox, right? The irony is now is that now they're
saying, well, we're going to do this horsepower train, but it
comes, you know, with an automatic. So did I see a four
speed automatic? Was it in the report? I think it actually
is supposed to be an eight speed. I think that can't be real.
When I read that, I thought that there's no way. Yeah,
correct, correct. But then even again, they're saying that the
US is anchored around sports cars and SUVs. So what does that
mean? Like right now, you know, they can't bring in the SUVs
from China. So that's, you know, and I said this years ago,
you know, a couple years ago, I said they should be building
these SUV crossovers at that Volvo factory in South Carolina.
So I wouldn't be, you know, wouldn't surprise me if that
doesn't get tooled up to build lotuses because they are
really counting on more volume. Okay. And it isn't going to
come from just selling sports cars. So, but now here's the
thing that I'd like to quote from him, okay, from this Lotus
CEO. And I quote, we are obsessed with engineering,
obsessed with performance and obsessed with building drivers
cars. And that is what this grow, that is what will grow this
business. Okay. And a quote. So, you know, he's, he's stating
these things. And so it feels good that they're not giving up
on that. I don't know that we're going to get exactly what we
would like. But like the manual gearbox, they seem to have
kind of lost their sight on that in my opinion. But, you know,
we'll see, we'll see how it all plays out. I mean, the good
news is they're saying, hey, look, we're, we want to make sports
cars, we want to be seen as a company making drivers focused
cars. So that's all good stuff. How the details of how that
will play out. Well, time will tell. Well, and I believe when
I read that, they also called out the fact that, which I
thought was unusual, but didn't they say this hybrid V6 is
lighter? It's going to be a lighter motor as well, which I
think, okay, they, they seem to care about that, which is also
a positive sign. It really is. It's, it's not only lighter, but
it's also more compact, according to the CEO, you know,
that. And so that, that certainly helps, you know, Lotus,
because they can allow that in Mira to stay, you know,
reasonably small. And so, and then, and then if Kateram are
using the four-cylinder, you know, powertrain from horse,
that's, that's, you know, they have even less space. So maybe
that bodes well for a future lease exige, you know, size of
car from Lotus. Who knows, you know, I think the automatic
gearbox is not exactly light. So, you know, what they save in
the engine, they probably lose back, you know, with, with the
automatic, but we'll see.
Well, what I, what I find so fascinating about this, it was
just a few years ago when Lotus said, hey, it's, we've got
this, a Mira, this is the end of the line. We've got the
Electra or whatever the electric SUV is called. And they
said, this is it. We're going all EV. And here we are, what,
34 years later, and now we're getting news that they
are about to launch in the next year or two, this new family
of engines, a four, a six and an eight cylinder motor that
clearly they don't intend to do without seeing a long runway
with their ability to sell this thing. So it's crazy how
things have shifted.
Well, so that's the, you know, the clear indication, right?
Like last week, we were talking about, you know, a billion
dollars that GM is investing in ice engines, right? In fact,
maybe we should be plugging our newsletter there because
there are articles come out, you know, that one of us wrote
about that shift that's taking place right now from EV to
back to ice and hybrid.
You did. And I actually read that one and I was thoroughly
entertained. It was interesting, just a great summation of
what has happened and why, what the motivations were and
things have shifted.
Right. You know, there's a lot of people willing to just throw,
you know, sling arrows at that these car companies saying,
oh, you know, going all EV was such a big mistake, but you
know, what they don't really clearly understand. And I hear
this on podcasts, these enthusiast podcast people like
bitching and moaning about the, you know, portion losing all
this money because they committed to EVs and this and that.
And it's like, you got to understand the backstory.
And so like to the point of when you make a commitment to do
a powertrain, it's a long-term commitment, right?
So horse, you know, they were formed in 2024, okay, two years
ago. So these guys have been thinking ahead, okay, even though
all this, you know, this shit hit the EV fan, you know, just
recently, you know, as far as, you know, in the public
relations and in the media, these guys have known these
things and they've been planning for, for alternatives.
And when it comes to powertrains, the capital investment is,
is huge. And so you have to take the long view on this.
Otherwise you don't have a business model that's going to
pencil out. And so that's exactly what we're seeing
happening. And so for anyone that is, is realistic and takes
kind of a bit more of a business, you know, view on and
perspective on the stuff that you just got to, you know,
got to look at it that way and understand. So anyways.
Well, it's positive news. We're not, we're not all, all
negative over here. And I, for one, I love a manual
transmission, but listen, these are baby steps. These are
wins. And they're not, they're not going to build this and
not have all their competitors, i.e. Porsche and the
likes take notice that, Hey, this is just what we've got to
do to compete. And it bodes well for enthusiasts.
What we have to convince these, you know, OEMs is that
there is a segment of us who aren't chasing, you know,
the fastest car possible. We're chasing the purest car
possible, the analog driving experience. So we feel like,
okay, ice, we're clawing ice back. Now we got to figure out a
way to claw manual back a little bit, right? You know,
BMW just can't, they built their last Z4. And so that's the
last two-seater that they don't have any other two-seaters,
right? And that was a manual. You could always get that car
in a manual. Yeah. So anyhow, it's. Well, speaking of
drivers, we're going to bring my buddy Derek on who has a
lot of interesting stuff to say. And he is one of us. He's a
true car guy with a fascinating story of Porsche and
interacting with them at a level most of us will never get
experienced. So let's bring him on. You ready for that?
Awesome. I am so, so excited about this. Cool. Yeah.
Okay. We teed it up. We've got Derek on the phone with us.
Derek, let me introduce you just briefly here for our
audience. I met Derek many, many years ago and we became
buddies because Derek is about as good as guys come,
frankly. So he's got a lot of cool stuff to talk about, but it
pales a comparison to the individual and the human that
the guy is. So we could do another podcast about how to
be a good person. And Derek, you'll be back for that. Okay.
Appreciate that. But you know, well, and then I found out
Derek's a car guy. So it was, it was really fascinating. We'll
get into your, you know, some of the cars that you've owned
in your background with cars, but it, so you've got a really
fascinating story to tell. You're a smart guy as well. You
see cars, you know, how we do and that, that'll make for a
fun discussion. So to start us off, Derek, why don't you tell
us a little about your background, maybe, you know,
with cars specifically. And I told you, you, you've restored
and worked on, wrenched on MGBs with your dad. So give us a
quick rundown of your life with cars that led you to the
topic we're going to dive into. And Derek, if I could just
interject, you know, welcome aboard. You are our first
guest. That's how amazing you are. You're the first person we
chose. So, so thanks for being here. And not our last guest,
meaning we're going to have more, but we're also going to
bring you back because there's just too much to talk about.
So, so where did it all start? Tell me. I know a lot of it,
but I'm excited to hear more. Yeah, I mean, I've got endless
stories. Well, it's, it's, it's kind of just genetic, I
think. I mean, you guys feel the same way. I'm sure it just
starts early on. I come with the tail end of a big family. And
my dad, he thought he liked cars and never wrenched on cars.
But I think that kind of got me started and we'd look at
hot rods as a kid, you know, like you do with your dad. And
when I was about nine, I started talking to my dad and like,
look, I really want to do a hot rod with you. Can we do that?
So that goes on for a couple of years. By the time I'm 11,
we commit like, okay, we're going to do this. So I start
literally every Thursday on my bicycle, going to the gas
station, looking at thrifty nickel, trying to find a car. So
this was like early bring a trailer. It was all thrifty
nickel, just trying to find something. And we find an old
MGB. Actually, we found a fastback Mustang and I didn't
know what that was. My dad, I asked my dad is like, what's
that thing? He goes, well, the roof kind of slopes back and
I'm like, oh, that sounds super ugly. I definitely don't want
mistake. Obviously. Anyway, we buy it, we buy a 1978 MGB and
like 1800 bucks, barely ran, you know, needed everything. We
bring it home, put it in the garage. And my dad was not
mechanical. So my parents basically like, all right,
there. It's all you like, figure this out. Yeah, get after it.
Yeah, get after it. So I had some tools and I sit next to
thing. I literally looked at this thing for three hours. I sat
my garage on a stool. So you know, staring at this MGB
thinking, whoa, like, what do I do? Like, how do you get
started? And I literally just go on YouTube. I'm sure there's
honestly, right? No, that's the funny thing she knew. So this
was back in this would have been in let's see 94. Okay, I'm
staring this thing like, okay, where do you even start? There's
nothing like, and at the end, at the end of this three hours,
and this kind of defined the rest of my car journey. I sit
there and I'm like, okay, some guy designed this thing. I'm
going to figure it out. I'm just I'm in I'm going to figure
this out. So I just start tearing into it and I start going
and going and going self teaching. I'd have to ride my
bike to Barnes and Noble to look at manuals and come back
and do a thing and then go back and it was just how you did
it, right? So over the course of four or five years, restore
this thing and I did an old truck and it just kind of got
everything going. And at the end of high school, you know, I
got really good grades in school. But I'm thinking, okay,
either I'm going to go to college or I'm going to go be a
full time mechanic. But I'm like, I got good grades, maybe I
had to go to college. So I go to college and became a
mechanical engineer, but I've continued wrenching on cars and
I just can't stop. Like, I really, really enjoy it. You
know, I spent my career in aerospace, but I do cars and
motorcycles, you know, just to kind of clear my mind and I
just enjoy learning and you're in a motorcycle is to Derek,
all of it. Oh, my God. All right. Like, this is
this is not going to end. We're going to have like, you know,
many, many conversations. Do you write? What do you write? I
do. I do. I've got a couple of decotties in a KTM. Nice. Love
it. Yeah, mostly adventure bikes at this point. Yeah. Well,
adventure bikes, but then he's got he's got one for the wife
and old to car Paris to car. Oh, yeah. And he's got CT
trail bikes, Hondas for the kids. I mean, Derek's garage is
one of those, uh, you know, just grown man playgrounds.
Excellent. All the neighbors, you know, go over to dare.
Anytime I stop by his house, there's always some congregation
around Derek's garage because he hangs out there and the kids
are helping him ranch. That's pretty fun. I was there the
other day and his boy is what? Axel's 10 or something. And
he he comes up and he said, Hey, dad, is it this air filter?
Is it this air filter? And you know, he's in servicing the
lawnmower. So he's got a bunch of chips off the old block too.
And yeah, it's good. Good. We have a good time. We have a
good time. So Derek, when I met you, you had a really cool car
and you know, you'll be the first to say because it's true.
You beat everybody to the punch with Porsche. So where did
the Porsche interest start? I mean, yeah, by the way, I mean,
this this is kind of funny. So my wife and I got married in
03. And I had had $0 like no money at all. But she had a
1999 Honda Civic. We got married and it was a fine car.
Actually, a very good car. We probably should have kept it
just never bought cars. But we got married. That was our only
car. And I told my wife, I'm like, you know, if we sell it,
it's depreciating. So this kind of started the whole game,
right? If we sell it now, we could probably get something
else that's not appreciating, you know, the thing we kind of
do. We sell that and I find I'm like, I think I'm going to try
to take $3,000 and buy something. So I found an old 914.
And I thought they were the craziest, goofiest, ugliest cars.
The picnic basket Porsche, right? Yeah, right. Absolutely.
So anyway, I went and drove it. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is
unbelievable. Like they drive really well. Steering feels
amazing. Everything's great. So we get her an old Land Rover.
That kind of started us down the Land Rover train. And then I
buy an old 914, which I ended up owning twice. So I and I
commuted daily in that thing 100 miles, 50 miles each way in a
1974 914 2 liter. And no one wanted 914s at that time, like
at all, all. So I, you know, and I just love that
car. I ended up selling it and getting a E 36 M3, which I
daily for five years. And I was looking for a sedan manual, you
know, I wanted manual seats, everything, everything. And I
daily that thing and it was phenomenal did that for four or
five years. And then I was like, okay, I got to figure out the
next thing. And I sold that. I'm like, I really want to own a
911. I've never even sat in a 911 at that point. Wow. But I
start researching, looking at everything. And I find this 964
out in Denver. And the guy was a total stud, looked like a great
car. I researched everything. I knew all the service records,
you know, everything. Beautiful black old career for 1990.
Anyway, my buddy and I we get on an airplane, we fly out there
and I've got to check. Oh, yeah, you've got it right there.
Yeah, my background for those watching. Yeah, that is that is
Derek's 964. Yeah, this is funny, because when I bought that
thing, so that would have been in like, let me think 2012 ish,
something like that. Yeah, literally, everyone hated the
964. Like, everybody, everybody did not want it. And you
should know, you probably remember, if people are like the
964, it leaks, it's got gasket issues, they're heavy, they're
complicated, nobody wanted it. So they were very cheap. You
know, it was not expensive. So I looked at this thing. I was
telling my buddy, buddy the other day, I'm like, I was trying
to figure out what car to get. And I'm always like, looking at
the math on everything. And I'm like, man, do I buy a Honda
cord? I'm like, no, they're kind of expensive. And they
appreciate I better just get a 911 because, you know, they
won't appreciate that's probably all I can afford. So
anyway, I fly out to Denver with this check in hand for this
career four and I handed to the guy and he goes, don't you
want to test drive it? Like, no, I know exactly what it is.
I'm good. I had him to check and drive, you know, all the way
back and that started my love, you know, with Porsches. I
mean, I had the 914, obviously, but I did I daily that thing,
you know, I put 50,000 miles on it, which there aren't a lot
of people that have put 50,000 miles on a 964, you know, in
recent, you know, history, but I drove it in winter, I drove
it in summer, I drove it on the track, I did all my own
maintenance, you know, valve adjustments, everything. And at
that point, it was interesting because the enthusiast base
was really energized, right? So there was, I mean, you
remember she knew, but in on Rennlist and the other Pelican
parts, these cars are approachable and affordable at
this point, right? So there's a massive enthusiast base
that's fixing these things that doing upgrades and I'm
involved in all of this. I mean, that was that was an
incredible time, but they didn't they weren't expensive
cars at that point. Yeah, there are a couple of generations
old at that point, right? So they had kind of just kind of
dropped off, you know, people were still griping about 996
and fried eggs, headlights, and, you know, and so it was, you
know, because Singer came on in 2011. Okay. And so they hadn't
started buying up, you know, 964, you know, inventory, you
know, and so I think you're 100% right that 964s were still a
good deal at that time. Yeah, well, Derek and I were young
guys when I met him and he he had his E36M3 and you know, I
had come off my experience living in Germany working for
BMW and so, you know, I'm real fascinated by this guy and
we're just getting our family started, whatever and he's
like, Hey, you got to come over, I've got something you
should see and you know, when you're talking this really
intimidating stuff and big stuff for these young guys, I
mean, it's still we still geek out over it. So I remember
going over there and I see this car and I was like my mind
was blown. I'm like, Derek, what is this? I mean, I knew it was
a 911, but like, this is the coolest thing ever and we jump
in and I'll never forget the first time he took me out in
it. And so, you know, he was early to these cars and you
know, so you've seen Derek from your 914 to 964 to we're
gonna get into all the experiences you've had since
then and where Porsche stands today. But so how did you go
from being the 914, you know, wrench, you know, trying to
hedge against Honda Accord depreciation and 964 911 to being
one of Porsche's favorite customers? You know, it's kind
of interesting. I don't know if he's told you the kind of
this story, but it's kind of funny, very unique. I don't
know that anybody else is in this position because it's just
kind of odd, but very cool. So I'm the youngest of 11 kids
meaning I have 10 siblings, right? Nice. I've got an old
brother that's 14 years older than I am. Okay. And you know,
he's while he's off conquering the world, he started big
companies, you know, did really, really well. I'm off
pursuing engineering and doing my cars on the side and all
the stuff. You know, he's into cars, but he's not wrenching on
cars. So we're always, you know, talking cars a little bit.
He buys I help him buy an old. Let me think this was about
in about a long time ago. He bought it. He bought a 69
Camaro that he was commuting in every single day. I mean, it was
just amazing with big block helped him with that. Well,
fast forward a little bit in 20, I want to say 20, 12, 13,
something like that. His executive staff bought him a
458, which was super cool. Wow. So he's, he's like, oh man,
maybe I should, you know, I do like these, these cars are
kind of fun. So, you know, we start doing that together
a little bit and then come the trifecta, you know, the P1,
the 918 and the LaFerrari that come out, he calls me up and
he's like, all right, he's like, Derek, I'm going to buy one
of these things. What would you do? And I'm like, well, look,
and right now at this point, I'm, you know, heavy into my
964 and I'm driving it all the time, right? And it's absolutely
robust. I'm just super proud of the brand. It's awesome. So I
tell my brother, I'm like, look, here's how it goes. If you
want to just look at it, get the LaFerrari. I mean, that's a
very pretty car. If you want to track it, probably get the P1,
but if you want to drive it, like legit drive it, it's got to
be the 918. Yeah. And he's like, look, man, I'm going to
daily this thing. I'm going to drive it every single, yeah,
there it is right there.
Anyway, so he gets the 918, Visok package and I
mean, it's an incredible car and he literally dailies this
thing. So that started this kind of relationship with
Porsche. And if you remember back in the day, they launched
this VIP program to try to sell these cars where you had 10
years of VIP status. And during these 10 years, you get
first allocation of whatever you want at any given time.
Well, I think there may be a few people that even are
listening to our podcast that may not remember, but they
actually had a hard time selling the 918s. 100%. Yeah. And so
they kind of said, hey, look, if you take one of these, you're
going to have VIP status, which gives you access to our
rare cars. And at the time, I don't know that anyone
realized the plan that Porsche appeared to have and what has
subsequently happened, which is one cool car after the next
right from ours to STs. Totally brilliant. Yeah.
You said something there that how many guys can say this? You
put, you know, that many miles on a 964. Did you just say your
brother daily a 918? Yeah, daily. So this thing, this thing
has, and I'll tell you more about the 918 story, but it got
up to 13.5 or 13.8 miles. In fact, we did a, we did a service
on it in this was maybe two years ago, the 12,500 mile
service, which no one's ever done. So we show up and they're
like, yeah, it's time for this 12.5 service. I'm like, okay,
what's involved? They're like, don't know. No one's ever
gotten there. So we gotta figure this out. Pretty funny,
actually. I want you to, we'll get into the 918 a little
bit later in terms of, so yeah, keep going with this.
Yeah. Well, what I would say is, okay, so now you're, you're
one of 918 VIPs, you know, and, and the cool story about this
too, that you can weave together is this is connected
family as well, because this, this guy who's had great
professional success, 14 years between siblings is an
eternity. So like you guys didn't grow up together. I've
got a brother's 10 years older than me. And listen, I've
got a younger brother who's like, I think 14 years younger
than me too. So I can, I can kind of relate. That's a big
gap. It's a big gap. So older brother kudos to him because
you know, there can be an older brother, little brother
syndrome for sure. But he's looking at, oh my gosh, my
brother is, my little brother is kind of a savant. And Derek
is, I mean, he can, not just the mechanical side, but he'll
tell you what wheels go on, what race car and you know,
stuff that I can't, you know, be bothered with. And it's
like, so he really kind of engages you and enlists you
saying, Hey, maybe I'll lean on my little brother's
expertise here to kind of guide me through this.
Yeah. So we would, well, so funny thing when we bought
that, that 918, I say weed, but obviously he's buying it,
but he asked them, he's like, can I do this paint to sample
thing? You know, we'd heard about it. And they're like,
No, can't do paint sample. It's like, okay, that's kind of
annoying, but whatever. So we did, we did liquid silver,
which is a great color, Vizac package, you know, fantastic car.
The 918 is, you know, truly epic. Anyway, fast forward. When
did the, when did the two RS come out? Is that 18? I want to
say something like that.
18, 18, 19. Yeah.
18. Yeah. So that's the next, that was the next big purchase
was the two RS. So he's getting ready to do the talk to
RS and calls me up. He's like, all right, Derek, they're
going to let me to finally do this paint to sample thing,
you know, as a VIP. So whatever color we want to do,
let's do it. And he's like, he's like, what would you do? And
I'm like, look, the only color you can do is Ruby stone. I
mean, you have to do Ruby stone. And he's like, Ruby stone,
what the heck is that? And obviously, I'm big into 964s at
this time. So like, yeah, the bucket list car for me was the
964 RS in Ruby stone, right, which didn't exist in the
United States. So I'm like, look, you just have to do Ruby
stone show. I show my picture. And he's like, Oh my gosh, I am
all in. Let's absolutely do Ruby stone. So we did a two RS
in Ruby stone. And that was his second daily. So he's
trading between these two, this Ruby stone RS. And it was
awesome. And I think, you know, it's hard to know for sure.
But I think there's only two Ruby stone GT two RS is out
there. You know, this is before people were doing that
color. But now it's become very mainstream. But that was not
a thing. I mean, people were not looking at that. I think
there was one in like Dubai or something like that. Okay,
anyway, so that that was cool. So we start doing this. And we
then then comes the 911 R, maybe that came first, whichever,
whichever was our first and 16 are first and then the two RS,
I guess. Yeah. So we start getting a few cars. And we're
just putting them in the collection. And you know, he's
trying to rotate through. Well, he calls me up one day. This
was, you know, probably in 19 something like that. Actually,
his wife called me. And she's like, Hey, we're kind of having
a hard time like keeping up with all these cars. I'm like,
well, how can I help? What do you mean? She's like, I don't
know. But would it be okay if you just keep one at all time?
I'm like, like you serious? So I call my brother, I'm like, Hey,
what do you need help with? Like, obviously, whatever he's
like, look, man, if you could just drive one of these, like,
just rotate through to make sure. So I'm like, you for real,
like you want me to drive these cars? I'm like, Yeah, like,
okay, I'm in. So I start rotating through these things. And,
you know, we live in a good neighborhood, a good, you know,
middle class neighborhood, but this is way out of place for
where we live. So, you know, I start rotating through these
things. And, you know, I'd show up in a 918 or I'd show up in
two RS or whatever. And the neighbors are first like, What
the heck is going on at Derek's house? But eventually, the
word gets out, what's going on? I'm just kind of helping with
this collection. Anyway, so we just keep rolling down and it's
a we just start picking up cars, we start picking up cars on
bring a trailer, we do, you know, we're just having a total
blast with it. And eventually, the collection gets, you know,
fairly large, a lot of old Porsches. And we've just gotten
some really incredible cars. Well, with Porsche, with Porsche
specifically with a factory, we start getting a little more
bold with the stuff that we want to do. So the first one that
we kind of, you know, got one a little bit wild on, I guess,
was that Turbo S Blair, that was probably it, right? That
Turbo S. You might be surprised to know that I have a picture
of that too. Oh, that's amazing. So we're a straight man
here. We got Blair the straight man. So you're not
watching on YouTube. This might be one you actually want to
jump over and look at that interior of these cars. So
okay, so she knew this was pretty funny. So we're talking
about this. I'm at the zoo. I remember I was where I was on
the phone with my brother, but he's like, Okay, I'm gonna
eat this Turbo S. He goes, I want what we what I want to do
is like, I want to kind of shock people when they open the
door, like, let's get an incredible color. And let's just
make sure that when they open the door, it's like, Whoa, what
the heck did you just do? So I'm like, All right, let's pick a
really incredible color. So, you know, we're looking through
everything and we come across all the green, which is such a
beautiful color. And at this point, through exclusive
manufacturing, they would allow you to do this, the bright
blue interior, which is, what was it called? Whatever was
called their bright blue at the time. So I told him like,
Hold on real fast, Derek, exclusive manufacturer. So you had
ordered enough of these cars. Did you have to get a separate
allocation to work with the exclusive manufacturer program
because that's different than special wishes, which we'll get
into, right? Correct. Yeah, exactly. So I think it was due
to the VIP status that they're like, Okay, you can do the
exclusive manufacturer, whatever you want to do. So we start
playing and our local dealers awesome, like the guy that
supports us as a total stud and he's massively into these
cars too. And those are the colors too, just like I do and
just gets excited about it. So we just we're going back and
forth and you know, okay, what can we do to make it super
unique? So we go to exclusive manufacturing, we're like,
All right, we want to do this bright blue interior with all
of green. And then there's the CXX, which is the it's kind of
like the customized version of exclusive manufacturers, not
quite Saundra bunch or what kind of is I guess, but the CXX
that are like these special options that you have to go
apply for. So we picked like three or four things on this
Turbo S and we're like, Okay, here's what we want to do. I
mean, things like if you have like a say you have a six speed
manual transmission and you want the the numbering to be in
the same color as the leather, then you just tell them like,
Hey, I want it blue instead of yellow and they'll, you know,
if they approve, they'll do it or you want to have the factory
paint the wheels or you want to do, you know, the 12 o'clock
indicator on the steering wheel, they'll do they did those
kinds of things for us. So this kind of started to give us a
taste of like, all right, they're they're willing to do
things for us if we ask, right? So this was the first one that
we really, you know, did. And that's a really cool car. It's
fun too, because it there's like only two camps. You either
absolutely hate it or you absolutely love it. Did you
guys see those Ferraris that were recently auctioned off on
me comes, you know, about 33 months ago, was the
Bachman collection. Yeah. Yeah. And they so I know that
brought insane money. Yeah, that you know, I know that family
what a sweet family, you know, the parents, they're all
legit Ferrari people. And so they like, like your family, it
seems Derek, your brother, they were able to they had such VIP
status at Ferrari, they could order some very, very unusual
color combinations. I mean, Phil used to get I knew them
personally and Phil would order he would get the very last car
from a particular series. And so almost all their collection
was was the very last, you know, serial number. So it's
kind of cool. Yeah, that's really fun to do this stuff though.
So I remember when it showed Blair, he's like, oh man, Derek,
it's so bad. He called me and he said, you got to come down
and see this turbo. I said, you got you got to see it in
person and I like it. what you've done. Yeah,
I love the fact that the dash looks like it's still black, right?
Correct. Yeah, because they wouldn't let us I'll tell you more
about that. They wouldn't let us do the dash and blue at that
point. And I think that's where I think that was a good call
because I think the black won't reflect the way the blue would
you know, yeah, that's fair. Yeah, exactly what they told us
actually. Yep. So if you remember Alpina foreshadowing that
they're getting more and more lenient with absolutely. It's
gotten really, really cool. It's got very good. Well, so if you
remember Alpina, you know, BMW Alpina, right? Absolutely.
It was always green and blue and they always looked so amazing.
They had that green and blue stripes or they had it on the
seats or the exterior, whatever. So I told Todd, I said, look,
we got to do this kind of Alpina theme because I've always
liked those colors together. And by the way, no one ever
touched that. So we go full steam ahead and I was a little
nervous like, oh man, this thing's going to be either
amazing or disgusting. I don't know which one it's going to be.
Anyway, it shows up. I'm telling you, Shanu, this is a car
you got to get in and drive. It's like it looks great to me.
I like it. It's unbelievable. So I show Blair and he's like,
oh, I don't know. So I said, look, just come down, come drive it.
We get in and Blair, how long did it take you to just absolutely
fall in love with it? Well, I will say you had to stare at it
for a second. And then it was like, true. Then we went for a
drive. And then by the end of it, I'm like, Derek, what a
tragedy that would be had you done brown, which was my
original thought like this deserves like a saddle brown or
something. Yeah, which everybody does. That would have been
the same. Yeah, safe choice. Exactly. So it took me a
little bit, but I 100% at the end was like, I can't stop
looking at it. It was like, it's crazy. I mean, it's great.
And I love all the creator when you drive it.
You know, I told my brothers, yeah, go ahead. Oh, no, I was
going to say just like, when you see so many silver or red or
black sports cars from a particular model, after a while,
you're like, ah, you know, so when something special like this
shows up, it's like, whoa, look at this, you know, yeah, it's
kudos man. That looks great.
When you drive it, I told Todd, I said, look, man, I think
the reason it makes me feel so good is it's the same colors
you see outside. It's like we've got a blue sky and green
mountains. There you go. Anyway, it's it was
cool. You really can look to mother nature for inspiration
when it comes to color combinations. It's amazing.
You know, like if mother nature, you take a picture of a
mountain and look at the vegetation, the rocks,
everything. And if you can use that as inspiration, you will
not go wrong. So you're the point person now between your
brother and Porsche, right? So and he's he's a busy guy. He's
got a ton of stuff going on family professionally. And so
you guys start getting a little bit of notice and attention
from Porsche corporate. If I'm not mistaken, right? Like so.
So where does this continue to develop? Which is we're
culminating in this project that they are taking on for the
very first time ever, which we'll let you talk about in a
few but so when we bought that turbo s we actually did three
cars at the same time. So we did a GT three. I don't
know if you have that but but I I love the colors on the 964
like they're so cool. Ruby stones amazing. We've already
done that. Mint we've never done but Mint's cool. People do
do that but I told my brother I'm like look the next one I
want to see in person is maritime blue which no one was
doing. I'm telling you no one was doing maritime blue at the
time at all. Okay. So we're like let's do maritime blue on
this on this GT three and it shows up and I'm a little
nervous. I'm like I've seen only pictures of maritime but it
shows up and it's just a stunning color. So we did a
maritime blue GT three and then we did GT three touring. Oh
yeah, there it is. Dude, Blair, you are very good. I'm
impressed. So that that's a great car. I mean such a great
car. The next one we did was a GT three touring which was this
was the you know first GT three touring and we did that. I
wanted to do something a little bit kind of more classy I
guess not not that these aren't classy but something kind of
unique. So I I always liked Steve McQueen's old 911 if you
remember that the color of that was slate gray 6601 and
there's multiple slate grays out there but the 6601 has green
in it. The 77050 whatever the other one is is really just
gray. It looks like primer almost but the 6601 has green in
it. I mean it's a really gorgeous color. So we did we did
that one with a guards red not just red but the guards red you
know that looks like bright lipstick red interior. I mean
and we did paint matched wheels on that one. I don't know if
you have that one Blair but we did color matched wheels with
the 6601 and it's like we've now sold that. I don't know who's
driving it but whoever's driving it is has got to be super
happy because it's it was just straight up gorgeous that car.
So that was a lot of fun. So we're kind of playing with them at
this point and having a good time you know we're we're
starting to just you know get a little bit of attention from
Porsche. They're like hey there's these kind of unique cars
going to Lehigh Utah. Anyway that that's kind of where we got
to at that point and then the next the next car we were going
to do let me think would have been the car I think at that
point probably. So at this point we've you know we've done
CXX and we've we've done some cool stuff but we're talking
to Porsche and they're like you know what we could do a full
Sonderbunch build on this thing like really really really
unique. So we start we just we just start the process with
Sonderbunch and we're like let's let's do it let's run and
Sonderbunch is kind of hard because they don't run that
many cars. It's like it's like a specialist workshop off the
factory. So when these cars come through they actually have
to get built per like a pretty standard spec and then they
get pulled apart. They get pulled off the line disassembled
literally interior gets pulled out. Yeah. So like our our
interior on our car I think it started as
black to be honest but the first time it went through
sure and then they have to pull it pulled apart and then
re-skin everything. Right. Wheels are the same way. Yeah. But
we got an allocation for Sonderbunch. We were super stoked
about that and we did that one. That's exciting. You have a
picture of that one Blair. I don't I'm looking so so when you
look at the approach. Go ahead. Yeah when you look at producing
these very special wishes type cars you can't just run that
down the assembly line. It requires so much you know so much
change you know so many you know different things that need
to be done to it and it is so absolutely inefficient. Right.
So that's why you know they that sounds like a really smart
idea on Porsche aside. Hey we're going to build you kind of
just a standard car and then we're going to take the damn
thing apart and then you know naturally they're charging you
for all that extra work. Yes. All of it. The base car can be
produced very efficiently. It doesn't screw up their
logistics. You know the factory operates very smoothly
inefficiently. They don't get pissed off because believe me
having worked at a car factory they will be pissed off when
that you have to you know change one little thing because
this guy wants the shift knob to be you know to to to match
the brake caliper or whatever the hell is being requested.
Right. Yeah. So I've got a picture of that Blair if you
want. Oh yeah yeah yeah do. Yeah. Tell me tell me if you
can see that. Oh yeah there it is. Oh wow cool. Okay so we did
we did well this was obviously Desert Racer you know style car
and my brother happened to race Baja. He raced Baja for you
know five or eight years trophy truck like big time racing.
Nice. So we both got really excited about this one but we're
like you know what let's try to do kind of a desert type thing.
So you know we're looking through the colors and I've
always liked Bahama yellow and again this is a color people
just weren't doing. So I we looked at him like okay Bahama
yellow is going to be amazing but let's figure out the
interior shot. Let me see if I can figure out it gets the next
picture of your Blair. Now this this oh yeah that's a great
shot of Bahama yellow is like almost orange-ish with a hint
to a little tan in it a little bit of brown and it really kind
of a sedate color but we're like okay let's do something
Oh my gosh. Yeah check that out here. That's wild. Wow. So can you
believe that? So what happens? You're you're a guy down at
Lehigh who I've met a few times. He calls you and says hey we
can do special wishes or Zondervoge with you if you want
to do it. Well so this is this is kind of cool thing because
he really had to go to bat forest just to get us the right
contacts because when you're doing something like this they've
got to do renderings and leather samples and you know all of
the things that you'd need to do to to build a car so we had
to contact at Zondervoge that was you know we'd run ideas
past her and say okay this is what we want to do this is what
we're thinking for we want to do like a tartan insert but you
know what what can you pull together because again none of
this stuff was being done this is not that long ago but it was
not being done. Not that no one had ever done it but at that
point it just it's not like there's tartan samples you can
go look at well today you kind of can right? Well so she sends
us samples of tart of tartans that we could do and you know
this is a mamba green color leather so they had to do it
they literally had to do this is leather to sample so they had
to do a run of leather in the dye for us just this car. I mean
it's it's epic. I wish I had another picture of the back
too because we actually had them you know the car has no
back seat but we had them impulsor the back area seat area so
it's got leather all the way across it says special wishes I
mean it's it's really a cool cool cool car but the the green
and the the Bahama yellow are just incredible like it again
it's like you never ever see it I've never seen it done but
it's it just looks good and it feels good and what kind of
feedback are you getting from them in Germany? Oh this this
was funny because yeah yeah I'm glad you asked that so at this
point so they kind of knew who we were but we're just kind of
like another group doing Saundra bunch this car like kind of
broke Saundra bunch not really but they were dying they were
like oh my gosh what the heck is happening with this the car
like those colors are epic and Tanner who's our contact here
Lehigh's total stud he he goes over there for a different you
know trip reason that he's talked to these guys and they're
like people cannot get enough of this like in the factory in
Saundra bunch they see this car and they're like we cannot wait
for this to car to be built to be delivered because it's just
like epic epic so this was the first one that really kind of
like open their eyes and help them realize hey these guys are
serious they want to do some cool stuff anyway that's the
that's the car isn't that cool Shanae? It's amazing man that
thing is wild I think I got one more shot you can see the dash
yeah what an interior holy smokes it is it is truly epic so that
led to another very special project that you've done that we
just saw the other night um yeah so tell us about the build on
your ST okay so at this point they're like they
really like us as customers like we we know the people in
Saundra bunch like they know who we are we know who they are
and they they want to do cool stuff right so we uh the ST
allocation comes around and everybody's getting the feedback
that you can't do paint a sample on ST which obviously they did
do some of those but most of them were not you know you
couldn't do that you know we we'd already gotten we'd already
gotten the sport classic at that point and you know a couple
other cars but the ST comes around and uh we I'm trying to
think of the order of operations here we've done a a
helicopter which was kind of a cool project my wife's my
brother's wife was like hey let's get a helicopter like I
know it's kind of weird but we we just we designed a helicopter
and and did a uh we did it like an old envy a goose the
motorcycle that my brother's got in his window but instead of
doing which was silver with gold instead of it had a had a
brown seat but we did a purple interior on
that thing and it's like epic it's very very cool so you
know we're kind of just like having fun with these colors
well the ST comes around and we're talking we're like you
know what it would be super cool if they could do a leather
to sample in purple right because again that's not
something you ever see like you see it's funny because we did
this not that we forced the decisionary thing but now you
see purple is an option right that was not the case well so
we we have them do a leather to sample for us in purple and
we're like okay we got to figure out something truly wild and
but beautiful because we knew the ST was like the pinnacle of
modern 9-11's so we at this point um uh do you have a picture
that ST I think I might play if you don't I uh I certainly do
thought you'd never ask Derek oh here's a shot of it well
okay so so this is oh you've got it right there yeah yeah
same pick but okay anyway so at this point Sonder bunch is like
they're so cool I mean it's a it's a bunch of car enthusiasts but
they approached us and they're like hey you know would it be
okay if we did renderings for you you know so like so we can see
this so true 3d renderings and they sent us like a deck of all
the colors that we're looking at and you know just really really
white glove service which was incredible so as we're going
through this uh we're we're able to pick colors and you know
everything we can imagine well we knew we wanted to do purple
interior that's where we started mm-hmm you see that
shenanigans yeah we knew for sure we want to do a purple
interior but we didn't know what we were going to do on the
exterior yet so we looked at a bunch of things and they came we
they came well they renderings come back and we're like yeah
they're pretty cool but like looks like we're trying a little bit
too hard so we're going through and I'm like you know what
Todd I just gotta have him do one more rendering I'm gonna do
moon jam because I think moon jam is like a super understated very
cool color and it's an interesting color because
sometimes it doesn't look very good like it with silver wheels
frankly I think moon jam is pretty boring but I'm like I
think moon jam with viola purple metallic will just be pretty
epic so this moon gem color is that the same as moon stone
same okay okay yeah so they brought a friend of mine has a
podcast and he there's some guy that is the moon stone kind of
like you know authority and and they've done some you know
documentary and they brought a bunch of cars together that are
moon stone you know yeah he's he's been trying to find all the
the moon stone cars out there in the 928 and he travels the world I
think I've seen that documentary looking for for moon stone is that
what it's called or moon jam whatever it is yeah yeah now it's
moon jam right just like ruby stone is now ruby star kind of
same kind of thing right oh anyway so yeah so we do we do um
they get the renderings and do everything for us and and honestly
with when this thing showed up I was a little nervous because I
I love viola purple metallic but I'm like I don't know how good it's
going to be on those wheels I don't know how it's going to look
it like blew us away it's it's um let me see if I got a picture I don't
know if I have a picture of the outside there's a good shot of the
leather truly gorgeous I mean it's just truly gorgeous but they
they let you do the dashboard on this car right wasn't yes if you look at
this this was kind of fun and I think they were just like
maybe they're just being super kind or maybe they just got into the purple I
don't know but there we have a a colored dash which they do not let you
do because the feedback we always got was it's going to reflect on the dash
it's going to reflect on the dash well as purple was subtle enough I guess
that they they didn't feel like it would reflect onto the onto the windshield
so it's got we've got purple you know everything purple shifter purple
steering wheel it's yeah I mean it's just it's a stunning stunning car
so it's cool as anything surprised you so now you have all these contacts
you're dealing with Stuttgart all the time like anything
surprise you as you like dig in with these guys and and design these one-off
cars I mean there's a huge corporation we're talking about and you have access
to there I think what kind of I think pleasantly
surprised me is that these are just car guys and girls like they just like this
stuff so yeah funny thing about this car so we we sent this through through
Sondervansh we got the same feedback everybody was super stoked well our guy
at Lehigh happened to be over in Germany again he comes back and goes you're not
going to believe this but the Porsche family just did the same thing after
they saw your car but they did it on a Dakar so there's a moon gem Dakar with
a purple interior I think they did white wheels which I think was probably a
mistake but don't tell them I said that but the interior they are they're avid
listeners of this podcast right I'm sure they are exactly I think they'll tune in
but they have secrets out already right exactly but yeah it's a it's they're just
they're just really cool I mean just they want they like the same thing we do and
they've been great to work with well really really great we we we're getting up against
a little bit on time but so so tell them now this project how it came to be and you guys
are going to be like the maiden voyage to what you've never done before yeah the 918
so this is kind of cool so coming back to the 918 so I I reached out we've got
relationships there already I reached out to them maybe this was probably three years ago
and I said hey would you guys be having any interest in doing a like a recommissioning on
the 918 because nothing no one was talking about that it was not time for it yet anything like that
they got back to me said look and why'd you ask him that Derek like what what was the impetus
for you and Todd to approach them with that I think it's I think I had just been reading about
the Carrera GT and that well at this point we looked at the 918 is fairly boring in colors
right yeah he wanted pts and they wouldn't do it yeah they wouldn't love to paint a sample so
you know I just reached out to them I said look would you have any interest in doing a 918
recommission right they hadn't talked about that at all it wasn't considered a classic
and it wasn't even on the radar being a classic at least for enthusiasts right
so they they get back to me maybe six months later and they're like hey we we think we we
want to talk like if you guys are serious let's talk about the feasibility of doing the 918
so this goes on for a few months we're kind of back and forth and they finally reach out they're
like okay if you guys are serious you guys have to show up in Atlanta and we need to meet you and
talk because this is a big leap to do a recommissioning you know pro program project we want to know if
you're serious so we're like that's kind of weird but sure we'll be there so we we fly out to Atlanta
which they have an incredible facility out of Atlanta they do a lot of classic recommissioning
out there great team out there too and and literally within five minutes our contact out there he's
like okay you guys are serious like this is amazing we're going through all the cars and everything
and you know their mechanics are incredible and we're talking about doing you know a career
of 4 cam rebuild with a guy who's you know been a mechanic for 60 years and just a great group out
there but they they approve us when we're Atlanta and the next day my contact reaches out he goes
hey we're talking to these guys and they they kind of put two and two together they know
what cars you guys have done and what you're interested in doing and they said they were
wondering if you guys would be willing to be the first like the launch customer they call the
lighthouse program the launch customer for the 918 recommissioning program because we know you'll
do a wild spec and it would be really cool for the program and if you're willing to do that then
we'll take the car and we'll ship it around the world and do you know it'll be at events and
and then eventually you'll get the car so I call Todd I'm like hey this is pretty rad like check
this out so he's like yes 100% let's do this we'll be the launch program so we are the launch
customer for the 918 recommissioning program nice yeah it sounds like they're doing that for
other models now too I thought I had read that recently so you guys were the trailblazers yeah
so it's pretty cool it the their threshold to be a classic has to be 10 years that's kind of what
they've said so okay once the 918 hit 10 years it was okay yeah we can do this so we've now
shipped the 918 back to Germany and we're in the middle of that process right now we're trying to
and literally it's going to be a zero mile car so everything everything is brand new it'll come back
at zero miles which is cool because this is a high mile car right well high for a 918
12,000 miles right yeah exactly right and and how much I mean we've talked about this you feel
a fair amount of pressure to like spec this thing especially the lengths to which you've
gone to to like make this happen but how much is your say they obviously have to approve it if
this is going to be there like billboard I mean it's all it's it's all us as long as it's feasible
you know because we're talking we're talking about all kinds of stuff like we
went when my brother was out in Germany this was maybe a year ago he was you know walking the
factory in the archives and everything and saunter bunch included and talking about like
feasibility on this car and there were some pretty wild ideas thrown out like wide body and
more power and all kinds of stuff so you know we've been going down all the roads trying to
figure out you know what really is feasible the in order for to be done in the time frame that
they need it done for this lighthouse program we're kind of restricted in how wild we can be
but there's another program that I wasn't aware of until about a year ago called the one-off
program that you maybe maybe you know about that but they will literally build you a car
so if and that's not for everybody you literally have to pay for the whole project to be you know
developed and you still might not be approved so you you go through this process right and then it
might not might not be approved but we've got that you guys saw that penske car that they did
that's exactly what that is 100 yes exactly but they will go even further than that so we're pitching
like wild stuff like hey what if we did a full carbon chassis 993 you know all kind all kinds of
stuff it's cool because they they have they have so much capability internally my my opinion is
they should have tried to buy singer in my opinion but you know that's just my thoughts but they can
do all of those things like they're they're really really good and the advantage they have is obviously
they have the you know factory engineering so they will do you know we're talking about ideas
on a different project too that we'll see kind of how far that goes but just an incredible group
to work with they're just awesome even one of the guys you know we're working with he was the
original designer of the interior on the 918 nice so yeah and it's just a total stud really nice guy
really really I mean you know you you touch on something that I hope will come to fruition
and that is brands like Porsche brands like Ferrari just honestly yes they can do this stuff
and and make some special very very special vehicles you know people enthusiasts even though we may
not be able to buy them ourselves we're still gonna be excited about the brand you know Ferrari
just today showed a one-off that's based off of you know I don't know the testarosa or whatever
heck it is I didn't get a chance to read the the article but you know that kind of one-off thing
is brilliant strategy I think it's absolutely brilliant strategy and you'll keep making the SUVs
all right just keep making them buy you know the the the droves but but but produce some of these
really special cars and even for those of us who can't afford it we're still going to be excited
and enthusiastic when we see that so yeah that's absolutely it's well what I will say is you know
we've talked about it especially we before Tim took his little hiatus you know with bad bunny we
we've talked about how Porsche has changed in some ways I mean we've just spent the last 45 minutes
or whatever it's been talking about how incredible the brand and the company still is that they're
doing this kind of thing right we've talked about how they've changed in episodes past too and maybe
Derek you can weigh in on this like it's become a place where a lot of let's call it non-drivers
non-car people non-enthusiasts have come but what I think is so incredible about you your brother
and for all those listening you think hey these guys are just snobs you know that have
way too much money and access to they literally drive the heck out of these cars and they are not
the Porsche of VIP that is trying to flip these cars and make a buck it's like yeah that's right
yeah that's awesome you know which that's been one of the knocks so you know talk a little about
Porsche today I think we've spent a bunch of time talking about how incredible they still are because
who does this B and W should be taking a page out of their book with some of their older stuff and
their heritage but yep you know and that there's some downside too to to kind of what's happening
and what what are your thoughts Derek as a as a long time Porsche guy who was in at the ground
level really yeah and look I am like died in the wool Porsche fan but I'm not just a Porsche fan
I'm a fan of all brands like if if someone if someone could do something truly remarkable
I mean I'm in it doesn't matter what it is American German British whatever so
so there's like there's like two sides of the story right it's really incredible to see Porsche
launch doing these really great things you know that's all cool the downside and it's a massive
downside and I think there will be a price to pay is the death of the enthusiast base right
because and she knew you know this because you're probably involved back in the day but
the enthusiast base is what drove Porsche and that's a hundred percent the case big time there's
there is no substitute no right that was their slogan yes yes right it's like we these were these
were hardcore enthusiasts that were building them and racing them and you know driving the brand
and and once once values started taking off and they become collectors items it's not a good thing
for the brand I mean truly not a good thing for the brand so that's what I worry about truthfully so
like you know Ferraris are interesting I'm not I'm not personally a massive Ferrari fan as far as
like the way the brand is operated I'm more in like Jay Leno's camp where and we've had Ferraris
in the collection and it's been a you know so so experience but that's that's been very diplomatic
you know for I'm trying to be very diplomatic it's been a terrible experience actually but the
reality is we I don't want Porsche to be that I don't want these cars like I drive
that ST it's funny like I'm looking at my window right now and I rotate through these cars and I
have in my office I've got a race parking you know platform whatever where I park and I'm just
rotating through these cars and it's funny because they're just driven all the time right so I drive
this ST I know how good that car is I also know it's weaknesses but I know how good that car is
and it needs to be driven just like the sport classic needs to be driven and the 918 needs to
be driven and when these things don't get driven and they just get traded I can tell you Porniger
I'm I don't know him but I know who he is I gotta imagine he's not happy with that kind of stuff
because as an engineer it's like you you go to great lengths to build the best of the best
right if you took your Lotus as an example and people just put it on a on a shelf and never drove
it that's a tragedy because that's a phenomenal car right and that needs to be driven and used and
needs rock chips and needs all of those things so I personally am not not impressed with the way
the market is going the company itself you know I think they're still pushing and trying to figure
those things out I've got personal preferences on where they would go with their product but
yeah overall it's a dangerous situation that's my opinion
yeah I mean listen that's always gonna it's this is the battle that you know so many brands as they
get bigger and more popular have to face right that the purity gets watered down okay to hit
this broader audience that's the natural thing that will occur it's happening to Porsche okay
there's just no way around it you know PTS I mean that was such a rarity back in the day
and I mean I have a tie over in my closet from the 90s that I've kept you know it's an
orange tie okay there was a tangerine early 70s 9-11 that I had seen back in the 80s or maybe
early 90s that I just fell in love with that color and this tie kind of matched that color and
Porsche had this paint to sample program back then which was like I think it was a $5,000 option okay
I've kept this tie this entire time thing one day I'm just gonna send this to him say look
yeah I need you to paint me a car in this color but I love that you know but that whole program
now has become wildly popular and I think they've got a separate line you know at the factory to
just manage all the PTS requests right so no 100% anyhow yeah I mean I think look the the way the
brands are going towards you know trying to build more cars hitting that broader audience
attracting people who are not necessarily drivers they're attracted to the car for the styling for
the colors for the options the the cachet the the status right you know I mean there's always been
status around Porsche or Ferrari you know no no matter what you know unlike Lotus you know but
the but for drivers those of us who love to drive you know one of the things Derek that I that that
Blair really told me a lot about you is is is your experience with noise vibration and harshness in
particular in aerospace so NVH as we call it right and so I know we're going to bring you back to
talk a bit about that but it almost feels like well that's where we're headed right now with this
conversation so I wonder if this might be the perfect segue because you drove the 11 of an
RS that Blair got from us and so I'd love to hear you know just your quick take you know hot take on
that and and and tell us a bit about this NVH stuff that you're doing just to give us a taste
because we're going to bring you back because we got to do a deep dive because I'm as excited
as I am about what you you know what what you've talked about today your NVH experience is something
if I'm honest I'm equally excited about you know honestly I mean this is the stuff that's like you
know kind of deep in my soul is you know how you interact with a thing a product so my background
specifically is an aerospace and I did you know artificial field systems for aircrafts and I'll
talk more about that next time we get together please yeah but they're it's really important the
way we interact with a thing is very very important and if you're talking about an airplane it's not
just a preference it's actually a safety issue right so when we design aircraft we have to make
sure that the pilot workload is not so great that he you know gets in a bad situation yeah
which means we have to use all of our senses at all times and they've got to be designed in very
specific ways so that that's my background and I'll tell you more about that next time but
it's uh that translates the way that I interact with a car so as an example when my brother got that
458 back in you know 13 or whatever it was I'm driving my 964 at the time and remember I paid
18 grand for this thing right so this is just my daily driver I'm driving my 964 and I go down I'm
like man I've never driven a 458 I'm super excited I go drive this thing and I drive it for like you
know 15 minutes but I get back in my car and I'm like man I'm a little puzzled my car is way better
like for what I enjoy it's way way way better so so I you know and when I say way better it's
it's way better in the things that are important to me right the way you engage with the car right
exactly 100 it's the way that I engage with the car so I'm very I mean Blair probably lasted this
but I'm very particular about the feel of a shifter I'm very particular about the the throw
on a throttle pedal I'm very particular about a clutch and clutch engagement and that
you know how light a flywheel is and I don't like I mean you're gonna no knock on your
lotus but I don't like cable shifters almost at all though yours is probably the best one I felt
yeah you know we don't have a choice there we can't we you know the gearbox is in the back of the car
so that's right so like in aerospace it's not this is not just subjective like hey we're trying to
sell this to a pilot who wants to fly this thing this is we we measure and record data on all of
these things that we hit our target at all times and it's the stuff that you can do when you've got
the understanding is is remarkable so I I was telling Blair the other day the the thing that
bothers me about the current car market especially the performance car market is the benchmarks
are terrible it's like no one cares if you have 2000 horsepower I've got a story about that too
but well that's another yeah let's get into that next time it feeds perfectly yeah he drove the
pin and farina bautista on track yeah trying to make a custer out of them but yeah save that for
the nvh and the lack there that'll be for another day but we'll put a pin in that one yeah yeah so
we my my personal opinion is it's possible too I think we should establish real enthusiast driven
type of benchmarks that show us like objectively how you interact with a vehicle because you'd be
shocked like when I when I got into your lotus I could I could feel the chassis through the seat
and that's a big deal right I can feel I know exactly what the deadband zone is in your in
your steering right I can feel all of that yeah I know how it waits up and because that's the same
way we approach aircraft flight controls and it's it's incredible so that's my whole background
so I'm very specific and I care a lot about it and that drives the way I look at vehicles like
I'm looking for specific stuff so anyway hopefully that if I had a dollar for every time Derek gripe
to me about the throttle by wire in the 911 R the 992 Tourings that he's like he's like Blair this
it is it is just too you know if it's become too digitized and synthetic and and you know
we both love these cars I've been able to drive some of these cars you know through your generosity
and they're awesome they're fantastic but there is something that has gotten lost and you know I
I what frustrates me is I you know I get surrounded by smart guys like you both the engineers
seems like you were the typical Porsche guy back in the day she knew about a 993 brand new right
she knew brand new no no I bought it used yeah but it was it was barely used this was
yeah that's true like but it seems like those were who those cars were being built for is yeah
yeah the two biggest car guys that I know that really understand the mechanical the technical and
that is the type of car you guys would flock to and so yeah I mean it's not just a Porsche
problem which is is the frustrating thing and this you know Derek taught me how to heel and
toe downshift into rev match and so he's helped me get over a lot of my angst about scary reliability
and maintenance and I still call Derek all the time like Derek my Mitsubishi Bravo just died it
won't hold an idol and Derek's running a company and I'm like what do I do I need like so he'll
talk me off the ledge and try to get me to think more like an engineer and you know but it's
there is a lot that has been well and it's caused me then to shift my focus more to these
engaging mechanical cars he's been a big influence for me in that and that's what led me to buying
your your your build she knew the 111 RS and and you know I'm not I'm not getting paid for this
and you've told me that's uh that's not your primary interest to sell those things it's like
but they are spectacular and I think that's the future is taking older cars making them better
remove using modern technology I'm too positively positively affect the things that we didn't love
about old cars and that's what I'm so thrilled about right now and it's and and it's happened
as a result of this Lotus that I bought for me well we are hearing more and more people talking
about this out there on the on the interwebs you know social media and stuff about this need for
analog experiences and so you know we've talked about vinyl records you know even though digital
can certainly be superior but there's a warmth right that comes from an analog experience and so
yeah listen Derek we have got to get you back because we have we just barely scratched the
surface of this NVH conversation so and not only that because he's got a lot to share with us
but they have a treasure trove of of other experiences and cars that you know hopefully
will kind of flush out as he talks about you know the cars that excite you know him and you
know his brother so yeah like Derek we can't thank you enough this has been awesome thanks Derek
we really enjoyed it man that was amazing yeah we look forward to the next one okay my pleasure
thank you guys okay thanks buddy we'll see you guys take care
About this episode
Porsche “Special Wishes” and VIP access take center stage, from VIP allocation mechanics to how bespoke programs like CXX and Sonderbunch work—down to custom-dyed leather and paint-to-sample constraints. The hosts also connect the obsession to analog driving: why enthusiasts chase “the analog driving experience,” how heel-and-toe rev matching matters, and how NVH and throttle-by-wire can change feel. Between stories of Miata canyon runs, hauling a damaged Lotus Exige, and car-shipping theft/broker advice, the episode ties rare-car culture back to actually driving.
This week on Full Throttle Talk, Blair Smith and Shinoo Mapleton go deep into Porsche’s most exclusive world: VIP customers, Special Wishes, Sonderwunsch builds, Paint to Sample, and one-off factory projects.
The episode also covers the Singer Turbo Study, why some high-end restomods barely get driven, the risks of shipping valuable cars, Lotus’ return to ICE and hybrid powertrains, and why the future of enthusiast cars may be less about horsepower — and more about feel.
Guest Derek joins the show to share his story from wrenching on an MGB as a kid to helping shape some truly wild Porsche builds, including a Dakar, ST, 918 recommissioning project, and more.
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