The Porsche 959 is a special, older Porsche built for very high performance. It’s known for advanced technology and is now considered a rare, collectible car. The podcast brings it up while talking about the kinds of Porsche vehicles that come in for service.
Car
VW
“VW” is shorthand for Volkswagen, and here it’s the car the speaker’s friend’s Porsche engine was swapped into after the Porsche’s front end was damaged. That kind of engine transplant is a classic garage-project story, especially in older enthusiast circles.
Topic
Porsche mechanic career timeline
This part is about how the speaker’s Porsche job and racing involvement grew over the years. It’s basically a career story connected to Porsche work.
Boost is how much extra pressure the turbo adds to push more air into the engine. More boost usually means more power, as long as the engine can handle it.
Choosing a lower gear changes how fast the engine spins at a given speed. That can make the car accelerate harder because the engine is already in the right RPM range.
The rev limiter is a safety feature that stops the engine from spinning too fast. When you hit it, the car briefly limits power so the RPM doesn’t go past the safe limit.
They mention a 1965 Ford Mustang GT. It’s a classic American performance car, and the “GT” usually means it’s the sportier, more performance-oriented version.
They’re talking about a Porsche 904, a vintage Porsche race car from the early 1960s. It’s a rare, valuable collector car, which is why they regret not buying it.
They’re talking about the Porsche Boxster. It’s a sports roadster designed to drive well, and they’re saying they prefer that kind of feel over newer, more computer-heavy cars.
The Chevrolet Suburban is a large SUV made for carrying people and cargo. It’s the kind of vehicle you can use for everyday driving and still have plenty of space. The podcast mentions it as part of a real-world garage, not a special-purpose car.
They’re talking about the Porsche Cayman. It’s a mid-engine Porsche (engine placed closer to the middle) that’s known for fun handling, and they mention older generations they’re interested in.
A parts manager is the person in charge of ordering and keeping the car parts a shop needs. If you have a specific Porsche part, they’re the one who helps make sure it’s available.
Term
distributorship
A distributorship is a local business that handles getting a brand’s cars and parts to the area. It’s basically the brand’s regional hub.
The Porsche Cayenne Turbo is Porsche’s performance SUV. It’s bigger and more practical than many other Porsches, so it can fit more people and stuff—like a dog—while still feeling sporty.
Porsches can cool their engines in two main ways. Air-cooled engines use airflow to keep the engine from overheating, while water-cooled engines use coolant and a radiator. People often have strong preferences because it changes the engine’s feel and upkeep.
The Porsche 996 is a 911 generation that’s known for being more modern in how it runs and feels. The speaker is basically saying the newer 996-era 911 is easier to drive than the older air-cooled cars.
The Porsche 356 is one of Porsche’s earliest famous models. The speaker brings it up to contrast the classic feel with newer 911s that they say are easier to drive.
In Porsche repair talk, the “tub” is the car’s main body structure (the body shell). If the tub is tweaked or damaged, it can prevent parts from lining up correctly—so he’s saying Porsche parts usually fit without modification unless the body is bent.
LIVE
Welcome to Porsche Patter with Bracken Helms, the show where we hear Bracken and his distinguished
guests from the Porsche community patter on about Porsches and all things automotive.
Porsche Patter is sponsored by Circuits Explore. Circuits Explore creates authentic automotive
apparel made for life-minded automotive enthusiasts. The links for Circuits Explore are in the
show notes. Okay, let's get to it.
Keith Waterman, part one. So I was doing these interviews and I remember someone coming up to
me and saying, oh, you should go interview Keith Waterman. And I'm like, who is this person out
in Modesto? I mean, who important can be out in Modesto, California in some little shop?
I'm like, okay, so I go and show up and I like went to a shop like a couple of times before I
interviewed him just to like talk with him. Yeah, he is this guy like in Modesto, but it's like
he's been in Modesto his whole life. Like he's got all these stories. I don't feel like I captured
all of them just going some of the time when I wasn't recording. I mean, I just like the aspect
of like these old people that grew up with them where they were, they were cool because they were
Porsche and you didn't see them very often, but they weren't like looked at like, you know, old
classics yet, like these people still just drove them and it's like if something happened to it,
and they didn't fix it. Like if they got a wreck, it's like maybe they put it on the side of the
house for a couple of years before they fixed it. Like not that that's like an awesome thing to do,
but I mean, just the way he talks just like it's just it's still just like a car. But it's even
like the way he talks about things. Some of these names like I wonder all I wonder how many people
he like really knew because it's like on accident, he just kind of drops these names. And I'm just
kind of like, that's kind of a big name that, you know, he didn't mean to even drop. He was just
trying to tell a story. He just happened to say the person's name. I actually call them a couple
of years. It seemed like it was like a year ago, but it must have been more because I called just
recently and said because I still have this number from forever ago. I did this interview
forever ago. I mean, this is when I was still doing like transcribing interviews for a PCA
newsletter. I wasn't even like the thought of publishing them in a magazine came away later
or having access someone setting me up to do that. You know, a newsletter, I could only have a few
questions. So I didn't come up with a lot of things and my interviewing skills were not that great.
I just had like a few questions. I listened back to it and I'm just kind of thinking,
why didn't you have him elaborate on that? Maybe he had something brilliant to say. Maybe he was
going to talk about someone else. It's like, come on, Bracken, but I was just bored the other day
and I was just listening to some, I was looking through all the recordings of all the people
that I've interviewed and I came upon this. So I just started listening to it and I'm like,
okay, yeah, this is a bad recording. And I didn't, wasn't very good at interviewing, but it's still
like, I don't know, it seems special to me. Like some of these, some of these people that have been
in the business for ages, I mean, this guy's old. And so to hear some of these stories,
even though I did a lousy job is I'm like, I'm still going to publish this if people don't like it.
Don't listen to this one, which I should add some other disclaimers. If you don't like crappy audio,
you want to skip this one because this audio is really bad. But anyway, so I did call him recently
and he, you know, he answered it first and he couldn't really hear me over the phone.
So then like, I don't know if it was a sister or someone that's taken care of him,
got on the phone and like, so I'm talking to her and I'm telling her about myself. And
I used to go to a shop and, or I've been there a couple of times and she kind of gave me the
okay to do this and to publish this old one because I said, well, maybe I should do like a new one,
see if I can get him to elaborate on some of these. And he's like, he's been retired for like
couple of years now. And like I said, I reached out to him. It didn't seem like that long ago.
And he was still just like, I'm busy. I don't know if I can put some time to the side.
Don't for this. I'm like, well, you've done it before. But it honestly seems like that was
like a year ago, but she's telling me, I can't remember what she said. She's been retired for
years. Like, okay. But I was like, okay, well, maybe I can come in or maybe I can come add this
a little bit more because I'm listening back and I'm like, I can definitely add to this.
But she's like, no, he's got like, he's old now. He's got like, he's got early onset of
dementia and stuff. And I'm like, okay, because she's like, yeah, it's, I don't think it's going to
a Porsche service and return shop. Okay. And what cars do you request to Porsche?
Mostly just Porsche, probably 90, 95% Porsche. We do a few BMWs. Once the Walden Mercedes
virtue will come in. Usually they come two at a time.
What at first attracted you to Porsche?
Oh, I was in high school. One of my friends took me to a Volkswagen dealership in San Jose
and had a speedster on number four. He told me, he said, I'm going to have one of those one day.
That kind of got my interest going. And then I found myself in the Seattle area,
looking for a job. And I was driving a Volkswagen and I done some work on it. I thought,
I can work on a Volkswagen. So I found the distributor ship, went down and
they hired me and been there about a week and a half and this smart mouth kid come in
driving a 58 coupe. And one of them, who was this flunky in here? What'd you hire him for?
Going on. And anyway, he and I end up becoming really good friends and did a lot of
collaborations with his Porsche. One day a truck ran over the front end of it. We pulled the engine
out of that stuck it in my VW and had a lot of fun with that till his car was fixed. But I feel
like I kind of grew up with the cars. And how long would you say you've been in the business?
Since 1960. Okay. How has your business changed or evolved?
Well, I'll go back. I moved to Long Beach when I got out of the service because
after Kennedy got shot, business, everything fell on its face in Washington and had a friend that I
had worked with coaxed me into coming down Long Beach and going to work there. And the dealership
I went to work for told me since I was driving a Porsche, they were going to make me a Porsche
mechanic. And I've dug my heels until they told me they were going to sponsor a race car.
And then I got interested in 67, we got the race car. And in 68, we won 18 races out of 21 starts.
Okay. So it's in Seattle, you're working on Volkswagen?
I did some of course work very low. I was. And why were you hesitant about it in Long Beach?
Because of course, your owners are sticky and for sticky and I've learned to get along with them
pretty well. Well, I was going to ask what did you do prior to Porsche stuff, which I guess would be
the whole year. I'm milk cows. Basically farm work. I guess. Okay. Hold milk. In your opinion,
what is the most exciting car you have dealt with? Yeah, I think the 96 twin turbo.
I did the motor on that in 07. I guess the summer of 07. Anyway, I had the engine out,
or apart, I sent the turbos out and put another pound of boost in. And that car, he got up to
about 4500 RPM. It lit all four tires until it got to redline. I mean, it just about a half,
a second, probably a second and a half. And that car, it's fun. I mean, you go around a corner
in a second year and nail it. The one right down here, there's a little bit of a where the trucks
have kind of made the pavement a little uneven. And if you don't, if you're not watching it,
it'll get away from you. First time I drove it, I pulled out here off the Dale
Court on the Mitchell. And I pulled out, made a left turn. I've ridden a lot of turn roads in
my life. No big deal. And I'm sitting there waiting, traffic's clear, clear, clear. And
when it was clear, I nailed it. When I get to the two way left turn lane, I'll grab a second gear.
I hit the rev limber before I got to the two way left turn lane.
And I hit the rev limber in a second. I was like, wow, man, I hit third gear. And I don't remember
if I hit fourth or not. I looked down and it seemed like I was indicating a hundred miles an hour,
and I didn't ever stop. I hit the brake like I dropped a plow on the ground. I thought, wow,
that, I'd love to have that in a race car. So we had back in the 68, we would beat him with that.
So what cool cars have you owned? I've never had any. My first Porsche was a 56 Coupe. And
then I had a 51 Roadster. Oh, I had a 62 Coupe. And then a 61 Roadster. And then I didn't have a
Porsche. I got married and didn't own a Porsche again for several years. I've had several systems
I've had to business up in there for 21 years. But nothing that, you know, nothing to be excited
about it. Just another car and fix it. Somebody else wanted to order something to do and sell it.
I got a whole one box to rest now. But my dog can't get in it. So I don't drive it.
It sits at home. Hey, I'm here to introduce you. This is the boss.
Hey, dog. You bring him to work every day? Yeah. Yeah, he comes to work every day.
So what is your favorite car you've owned? Man, that's a hard question. Probably my 61 Roadster.
It got replaced by a 65 Mustang GT and I still have that in my car at home. But it's not as
driver at this point. Any regrets selling? For example, I was regretting not buying.
I worked at a dealership in Harbor City. It was Kenman Porsche. And they had a 904. I was
shop foreman. And I had to take that car out and exercise it once a month. Little children's
drive it out. I could have had it for $6,200. Let me regret there for not buying.
But as far as owning, I don't think I have any regrets for the cars I've bought and sold.
Like I say, I wish I had had the foresight to have bought that 904. That would have been a huge
investment. Yeah. If you could have any car today, what would it be?
Oh my word. I got the sport truck. I drive. We have a Mercedes. And we got a Suburban.
And I got the Boxster. I don't care for the new cars so much. I don't know how they're all
computerized and I don't do computers. That's why I got a kid working here. He does. They are
fun to drive. I have to admit that. But I don't have as much of a lid for it as I used to.
What is the next fun car you could see yourself owning? The next fun car,
Cayman. The 987 or one of the new ones, 981. I haven't been in one of the new new ones.
We were up in Oregon a year ago and I stopped by the distributorship up there. I wanted to go in
and take a look at what they had and talk to the parts manager and the service manager.
And that was the day the Mekong came out. And they were showing that to me.
They treated me like I was royalty almost. When I went in there, I told them I had a
Porsche shop. I'd worked on them since 1960. And they treated me like I was part of the family.
I've told them a couple of times since. Meeting them with Porsches, kind of like being in a family,
it seemed like. Anywhere you go, you're running to somebody with a Porsche or
know somebody who's got a Porsche. You're going to run into a lot more of them now.
Seems like some of that camaraderie is going away now that they're building so many cars.
But maybe not. I don't know. The SUVs, if I had somebody else to pay the bills on it,
I'd probably have a Cayenne Turbo. I mean, just got more room in it. My dog could get in it.
Well, I'm not necessarily saying the cars themselves. They're building so many.
My neighbor has one. He could tell you about his own car. He couldn't tell you about anything
about Porsche. It impresses the other neighbors. That's all he cares about. Not that there hasn't
always been that, but there was also a little bit more because they were rare.
So you kind of had something in common with someone else.
Well, that'd be better for shop owners. One of the worst things about being in business
is you go online. Well, I can buy that here for such and such. Well, can you put it on?
You go over to a restaurant. Here's my steak. Fix it for me. Wrong.
You know, you can't mark the Porsche part of, you know, if you get 25-30%, you're doing real good.
Yeah, I've talked to Jim at Easy. Yeah. Yeah, he's just like online. It's completely just
drove him crazy. What, 82? He just says people call him all day long and pick his brain,
but no one wants to buy from him. They just pick his brain, get his knowledge,
and then just go buy somewhere else. Oh, is that right? That's what he kind of says.
He says online, it's kind of, he's not in love with it. I talk to Jim every now and then.
Oh, I like him. Yeah, I do too. I've got to say, I've known him since 83.
Probably 82, I've met him. Okay. Air-cooled versus water-cooled. What kind of an answer are you
looking for? Do you like air-cooled or water-cooled? I prefer the air-cooled. Okay. I do those in my
sleep. I love the way the new ones drive. I mean, you ask me if I'd rather drive a new 996 or 991
as opposed to a 356 or, you know, a 911 SC or Carrera. I'll take the new one any day.
You know, they handle better. They're not as tricky to drive. You can make more mistakes and
they'll forgive you for it. And the air conditioning works a lot better. At my age, I care about things
like that. PDK or manual? I've only driven a couple of the PDKs. I've never got built at home in one.
We've got two or three of them to come in here. I would like an opportunity to get used to it.
I think if I did, I don't think I'd ever go back to a stick.
But at this point, I don't have, you know, it doesn't fit like a glove.
Favorite air-cooled car? Favorite air-cooled? Man, it all would depend on what area of life I was in.
Right now, I probably, probably my favorite would probably be a the 96 twin turbo.
Favorite water-cooled? And having never really owned one. I don't know how to answer that question.
All the newer stuff, you know, the air conditioning works good. The shifter is smoother. The clutch is
smoother. Braking is improved. Probably the newest thing I could afford with what I would pick.
And either a Cayman or a 911, I might go for the 911 because it's got a little more room inside.
What's the last question? What do you mean like different parts of your life with the air-cooled?
Well, when I was young and foolish, you know, I'd jump in a car and my roaster throw the top down
go for it, get there, or you could say the stoplight would flip when the top is up.
Palm Springs, 1965. Easter week, I was in Palm Springs and my little 61 Roadster had a blast.
I'd probably never get more plays around my car than I did that 61 Roadster.
It was fun. I was at an age where I could enjoy every bit of it.
What do you like about working on Porsches? What do I like about working on Porsches?
You know, that's pretty much all I know. And if I buy a Porsche part, I buy it from Porsche
and it fits. I don't have to grind it. You buy any other kind of car, buy any body part for it,
you've got to elongate the hole or you got to tweak this or there to make them fit.
And if you buy a part for a Porsche, unless the tub is tweaked, you bolt it on and it's done. It fits.
What do you like about the air-cooled cars?
I know. I know my way around them, you know, inside out, upside down, you know, whatever.
What do you like about the water-cooled cars?
They're just not as temperamental. They're more forgiving. You know, technology has come a long way
from, I haven't done a lot of the work on cars since about, oh, about 97, 98. I still go out there and get
dirty, but I've had a couple of people work for me and I just don't spend as much time turning
wrenches on them. So I don't know them inside now. If I go out there and ask Clint, where do you
get the list? Well, oh, you get that from underneath. Oh, yeah. I mean, I've done, you know, I've had
transmissions out and engines out, anything else on it. I mean, there's just nuts and rolls and
even stuff like that all my life. Thanks for joining us for today's episode. If you enjoyed the show,
please subscribe, comment, like and share with your friends. Feel free to send questions or
suggestions to the email in the description of the show. Special thanks to our sponsor,
Circuit64. Goodbye for now. We hope we can get together again for our next episode. Now get
out there and enjoy the cars and the people.
About this episode
Keith Waterman’s Porsche Patter interview (part one) blends garage life, long-time Porsche history, and a few great driving stories. Bracken recalls tracking down Waterman in Modesto and publishing an older, rough-audio recording—made special by Waterman’s lived-in perspective. Waterman talks about how he fell for Porsches via a friend’s Speedster, his decades in the trade since the 1960s, early racing success, and the thrill of a modified 996 twin-turbo. He shares his favorite ownerships, regrets (missing a chance at a 904), and why he prefers older, less computerized cars.
Keith Waterman is an old timer in the Porsche world. He owned Euro Trends, which is a Porsche shop. He has worked on Porsches since 1960.
In this episode we talk about: -How he became a Porsche Mechanic. -Cool cars he has worked on. -Cars he has owned. -What he likes about working on Porsches. -What he likes about air-cooled and water-cooled.
