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They’re talking about how a used car got more expensive over time. That usually happens when more people want them or when the market starts treating them like collectibles.
The Miata (MX-5) is a small two-seat roadster made by Mazda. It’s meant to be light and fun to drive, not complicated or expensive. People mention it a lot because it’s a popular starter sports car and it’s known for being enjoyable.
PDK is Porsche’s dual-clutch automatic transmission. It shifts very quickly, but the speaker prefers the feel of a manual with a clutch pedal and gear lever.
A gravel track changes traction and steering response compared with asphalt, making throttle and gear selection feel especially important. The speaker uses it to describe the kind of driving engagement they miss with an automated transmission.
A broker helps you find the car you want. Instead of you hunting everywhere, they use their connections and experience to help you get the right Porsche.
Air-cooled means the engine runs cooler using airflow, not liquid coolant. Many Porsche fans love it because it has a distinct character and it’s part of the classic Porsche identity.
Water-cooled means the engine uses liquid coolant to stay at the right temperature. It’s a different cooling approach than the classic air-cooled setup.
“Turbos” refers to turbochargers, which force more air into the engine to increase power output. The speaker ties turbos directly to why they prefer GT2 over GT3—more boost typically means more horsepower potential.
They’re talking about the GT3 versions of the Porsche 911. The speaker is saying those cars are awesome.
Term
truck motor
“Truck motor” is just a way of describing the sound—more like a heavy, low-rumbling engine than a high-revving one. It usually means something about the exhaust or engine setup is making it sound that way.
“Modified” indicates the owner changed the car from stock, which can strongly affect sound, throttle response, and drivability. With classic 911s, common modifications include exhaust systems, engine management tweaks, and suspension changes—each of which can alter how the car feels compared to other trims.
They’re talking about the Nissan GT-R as an example of a supercar that’s really good at everything. But they’re saying that after the initial wow, some people start to find it less thrilling.
“Shock on awe” (likely meaning “shock and awe”) describes the immediate, overwhelming reaction people have when a new performance car is first experienced. The speaker contrasts that early reaction with later opinions that can become more nuanced or even negative.
They mean they wanted a car they could really use—drive hard, race, and not worry about it getting worn. That’s different from keeping a car pristine for collecting.
The speaker is saying Porsche sometimes charges extra when you remove comfort features. The idea is that “track-focused” options can cost more, even when they’re removing things.
Time trials are practice/competition runs where you’re timed and try to be as fast as possible. It’s usually you against the clock rather than side-by-side racing.
The “old Targa top” refers to Porsche’s classic Targa roof concept—typically involving a removable roof section and a prominent roll-bar structure. The speaker’s emphasis on the roll bar suggests they prefer the more traditional look and feel compared with earlier modern roof designs.
“Targa” is a Porsche style that lets you enjoy open-air driving, usually with a removable roof panel. “Old school” just means the older, classic versions.
The Porsche Boxster is Porsche’s roadster—smaller and usually cheaper than a 911. Here it’s being brought up as another budget-friendly way to get into Porsche ownership.
This is basically saying the car was cheap, but it needed work. With older cars, repairs can add up fast, so you should expect some extra cost.
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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.
Rob King, part two. All right, one of the first things I want to address is I've had a lot of
friends and family say, oh, the last episode of Dwight Mitchell, he's pouring his heart
out to you and you just go silent. Don't say anything. So I dubbed in a spot where I address
this now. So if you go back and listen, you'll see that I've put that in there. But basically,
it just says, I always end with my guests saying the last word that's happened on every episode
you ever listen to. Okay, moving on. In this one, Rob talks about cool cars he's owned,
some of his favorites that he's owned. And then he talks about I love all three cars I own.
I know he owns the 993 Turbo. I know he has the 997 GT2. But I don't know what the third car is.
Like I should have asked because to this day, I don't know what he means by third car.
And then another thing, his name was brought up in a negative way. And so maybe it wasn't
appropriate for me to ask him that because he seemed like a little bit caught off guard.
Not that what I asked was rude, but he was caught off guard. I think I get along with everybody.
And all I can say is before I interviewed him, I knew him for a couple years. I stopped by to get
some SSI heat exchanges. And he showed me around his shop for like, it seemed like forever. It might
have been like two hours. That's when I like saw the singer. And then when I first went to do this
interview, super flaky of me. I mean, I live pretty far in the East Bay and he's in the North
Bay. So there's traffic. I wasn't anticipating all that. But it was kind of like, I wasn't there
when I was supposed to be there. And he was completely cool about it. Oh, not only was I late,
I like was in such a rush that I forgot my notes. And he was completely cool about it.
Then I came this time and I did this interview, the one that you're hearing. Then also I've called
him recently like, Oh, I've got a podcast. Like, can we redo this? Because the audio is so bad.
He was completely cool with that. My friend told me, Oh, I can clean it up because I didn't want
to like waste his time. But he was completely fine with all these instances. He's been nothing
but cool to me every time I call two of the people that I like look most highly at when I go to
these car events or both really good friends with him. Like they are the most stand up people of
the whole group and their friends with him. So that speaks for itself. I mean, I may have been
a little bit harsh on when I said my dad like, why don't you change your career for an SC? Like,
he loves my car. He just prefers SC. So that was a little bit dramatic when I'm talking about that.
So I don't know when this interview was done because it seemed like it was like only like
two years ago, but we're talking about prices of the 996 being nothing. So this must be right
before they took off. And it's now been a couple of years that 996 has jumped up in price.
And it kind of seems like I'm like really dogging on 996 is like, well, I'm only buying them because
they're cheap. That's not the case. So when we're talking when I'm like 20 years old, like, or when
the 996 replaced him and I replaced the 993 and I was in high school, like I wasn't in love with
the 996. I wasn't in love with the direction they were going, but it still sounds a little bit harsh.
I also, he says the Boxster is a chick car. I think the Boxster is the greatest thing since slice
bread for how cheap they are and what you get in that car. Again, is that my favorite car? No,
but oh my God, I don't care if people say it's a chick car or not. I don't care if the top comes
down. I don't care if it's like a little roadster or whatever the hell you want to say that like
makes it seem feminine at all. But then again, I'm one of these guys that fights people for
saying, Oh, Miata. Miata's do a lot of cool shit. Miata is a super underrated car. People talk
shit about Miata's and their idiots. Like the Boxster, I blows my mind all you get in that car
for the cost of it, especially at the time I recorded this. Anyway, Rob King part two.
What cool cars have you owned?
What cool cars about? I've owned cool Volkswagen bugs that I've built. My doom buggy was really
cool. I was really young. I had a really cool Baja bug. We used to take out my dirt all the time.
A number of Porsches. So how many cars did you have before you were even old enough to rival?
Because if you got the Porsches 17, you already had five Volkswagen's. You must have had a lot of
cars before you. My first bug in like 14 and a half. But I was building a car before that.
I ain't not in a couple of Volkswagen adventures. Looks like a Ford GT. I had two of those.
A Volkswagen Avenger. Yeah, it looks like a Ford GT.
I can't remember the company that made it. It looked like just like a Ford GT.
So then you've had some 930s, some Carreras. You had the 993 Turbo, obviously. A lot of Carreras.
A lot of Carreras. A lot of Targas. One of my favorite cars was Targas. Oh, I've never had the
top on the list of a brand. Yeah, I know. I know when I came with the first time you showed me a
car that used to be yours. You didn't own it anymore. It was red. I think it had black wheels.
Fuchs were all black around the rims. What is your favorite car you have owned?
One of my favorites was my 1980 Targa. A 993 Turbo has been an awesome car. Love that car.
Any you regret selling? Everyone I've sold.
I wish I had a lot of them. I really wish I had my first one. Any you regret not buying?
That's a tough question. Yeah, I should have bought Rumbup when it first came for sale.
Could have bought it. Almost nothing. That was a $140,000 dollar billet.
If you could have any cars today, what would it be?
Wouldn't mind having a new GT3, GT2 RS. Only thing I don't like about it, it's a PDK.
I'm not a big fan of the PDK. Understandable. Driving a real sports car, I think you should
have a clutch pedal and a gear shift, to be honest. That's what I think. Either on the racetrack,
because it makes you more of a driver. Right. You actually have to drive a car.
PDK is faster. Yes, it is. I will agree on that. I'm old school and it's the feeling of
shifting the gears, going through the gears of a gravel track.
And instead of just playing with your steering wheel. That's my reality.
What is the next fun car you can see yourself owning?
That's a real good question. I don't know, my two cars are pretty fun.
My three cars are fun. I don't see me buying another car for a while.
Unless I really find a deal on something. So, when I first moved here and I got my
SSIs from you, you were super cool to me when I came here. I didn't know anybody.
My dad's a Porsche broker back in Utah. I came here and I didn't have any connection.
I didn't know anybody. So, I just bought myself. So, I thought it was super cool.
But, you know, bringing your name up. People either rave and love the hell out of you,
or they don't like you. Why do you think it's so black and white?
I don't get that. Maybe they're just haters. I pretty much get along with anybody.
I thought, but I don't know. Maybe they don't really know you.
I don't know any people that really don't like me. I'm kind of a met person.
That's probably the situation. Okay. Maybe they've heard about the shop.
And maybe they have their own Porsche shop. Or, hey, really, that's kind of how it is.
Right. So, it's different at the racetrack, you know. You get along with every team.
And teams help each other. So, would you say you're an air-cooled or a water-cooled guy?
I love the air-cooled. But, I do like my GT2 and it's water-cooled.
I drive that more in my air-cooled car now. I'll never sell my air-cooled.
People have asked me this a percent. It's like your baby.
Favorite air-cooled? Favorite air-cooled car.
Oh, I used to love the early 90s birdies.
But, you got to do some work to make them more drivable than they were when they were real.
Because I owned a stock 76. First thing I did is modify them.
Favorite water-cooled? I really like the GT3s. I like the GT2s.
Regular Carreras? Not a lot.
What means you get the GT2 over the GT3?
It's got turbos. I'm more horsepower-junkie.
Noticed. What do you like about the air-cooled cars?
They're simple. They're a lot of fun. They're super reliable.
What do you like about the water-cooled?
Well, 996s, I'm not in luck. The motor's not the best motor ever.
But the GT3s, the GT2s, and all the turbos are awesome.
So, what model series Porsche is your favorite?
So, would you say you're an SC, a long hood, Carrera, 993, 996, 996?
I love the early cars. I kind of like them all.
All right, that's a favorite. Yeah, one of my favorites was 73 RS.
I felt a couple of those in the shops. That's a neat car.
Yeah, I had one on my wall when I was a kid.
First one we built in the shop was an orange one, and we'd work nice on our 10.
I don't believe he still owns it. He says, Rob, this car works so much money.
He didn't drive it anymore.
I've seen some of the pictures and stuff, or the magazine articles.
Are you still in contact with a lot of the people that, or the car, know where the car's at?
Oh, yeah.
So, that one car was owned by Barry Bond before that guy got ahold of it?
Yep.
I love how when you read the little subtitle, it says,
basketball star, or basketball something.
It said a baseball, it says basketball.
Somebody blew that.
Yeah.
So, SC or Carrera 3-2?
I kind of like the SC's better, hit more punch.
My dad loves the SC. Every time he gets in my car, he's like,
why aren't you just buying SC?
If I drive his car, I kind of like mine better.
But, oh, you can, he always says, your sound must,
your sound's like it has a truck motor in it.
Even there's a lot of interfaces on each one.
Yeah.
We've done, I own like three red SC Targets.
And I modified every one of them.
And the last one that you saw, I was supposed to buy that car back
from a guy named Fred Nelson.
Then I see it for sale at Hightap.
Called him up.
I said, you told me you were to sell that car back to me.
It's Shand Rice.
And he said, I never said that.
He said, Fred, I'm not that kind of person who makes things up.
And a couple of years later, he called me.
I'm going to apologize to him.
We're going to be behind my back of sight.
It happens.
I never wanted to sell it for our reverse box.
So, 915 or G50?
Definitely G50 is a better gearbox.
But I've built probably a thousand 915 boxes.
915.
So that's kind of where the question came.
Gearbox is a little harder to shift in.
G50 is a lot smoother.
Easier to shift.
Yeah.
It's a nicer gearbox.
No doubt about it.
And it's stronger.
There's also about 50 cons of it.
OK, 964, 993.
Definitely 993.
Which vehicle would you buy today if you were going to buy one at the Porsche dealership?
If I got a 40, would you get you a RS?
OK.
Or a GT3 RS.
Or the man that I'll do tomorrow.
What is your favorite RS car?
That could be GT2.
GT3 RS, 73, 74.
All my first favorite.
964.
You can even count the club's Ford in there.
First favorite was the 73 RS.
Everybody loves that coat.
That's just awesome.
One car I left out though.
A 959 would be on my list.
Cars to get it.
Did you ever answer the favorite car if you had to buy one car?
What did you say?
Or did you not answer that?
I didn't really answer.
I don't know.
Back in the day it would have been like a 959.
But I should have her cars I own.
A 993 twin turbo.
And a GT2.
Those are two of my favorite cars.
That's why I have it.
Do you feel like Porsche is going in, I say the GTR effect.
Because the Nissan came out and it's like it does everything great.
Right.
But then you know when at first the publications are in awe because it does everything amazing
and it's so effortlessly to drive.
And then like six months later they're like well it's kind of boring.
The shock on awe of when they first get it it's like the greatest thing ever.
Then they're just like well it doesn't have as good a feeling.
You kind of feel like Porsche's newer courses are kind of going that direction.
I mean they're just stunningly fast.
The cars are driving you.
They got traction control.
They got ABS.
They got everything.
It's PDK.
You steer it, you screw up.
The car, I'll take over.
Go straight and yell.
You can put a guy in there that can't drive it.
He can go fast.
Yeah.
Thoughts on air cooled values going up?
Well they were way up.
It's all about the economy.
How good the economy is is where the value is coming.
I mean for a while there you couldn't find an air pool car yourself.
Everybody wanted them and the prices were ridiculous.
My 99 fleet went terrible.
I got offers of 160 grand for it.
Yeah when things started getting crazy for a while there I was not in love with it because
I wanted to buy another one.
I wanted to buy one that I could just like beat up and race and do things too.
But there's a limit of what you could do to make a fun on the track in front of the street.
That's a lot of festivals like that.
And I'm like this is your street car and you're going to have fun on the track with it.
So let's not go too far.
Let's not put all model balls on it.
Make it where you're going to hate driving it on the street.
There's middle ground how funny it's to go.
You just make it great for the street, great for the track.
Okay do you feel like we will ever see like another car like let's say like a 73 RS
where Porsche just goes all in.
Like they're worried about doing too much.
They don't want the Camie getting too close.
The RS is more like for super track.
It's not really you know the fun factor is not there.
So they're trying to make the fun factor in the normal GT3.
And there's a lot of weed shit going on.
They're starting to take more of the bells and whistles out of them.
And then they charge more of them because they're lighter.
We are asked to order radio delete or AC delete.
So the more you take out of them the more Porsche wants the charge for it.
Yeah what are your thoughts on Porsche today with all their new models and different customers now?
I remember I was talking to a guy not that long ago that told me that like 914s weren't
really welcomed in PCA unlike they can have the people in my PCA drive.
They drive 914s.
But now it's like they drive like Cayenne's and stuff and it's like they don't own a sports car.
They own a Cayenne and they're PCA's till they die.
Back in the day there was all the autocrossers.
A lot of them had 914s.
I raced a 914 for like three years.
The guy named Tom Cole passed away three years ago.
I don't the car.
We both raced it together.
We did it every Porsche club about time trials.
You're the serious for like three years.
Had a lot of fun with that car.
Yeah it was a good time.
I went in one guy's 914 and it was a monster.
It's crazy when you're that low to the ground and they're fast.
Like even the slow ones feel fast.
Even the stock one feels fast.
Pretty good.
A fast one.
They're crazy.
But I'm a bigger fan of 914s.
So what do you think about all these new models and how big Porsche has gotten?
I love the new Targa.
I love that they brought the old Targa top pass.
It was just the roll bar looks just awesome.
Very cool car.
That's one of my favorites.
Because I like the old school Targas.
The big Targa for it.
Really wish I had my softwares back.
But we have one on the shop that we're working on.
What would you say the perfect starter Porsche is today?
Perfect starter Porsche.
Well old school would be like 911sc.
But they're getting more and more expensive.
You could buy a 996 so cheap now.
But if you do, have it checked out.
Make sure the IMS is good.
I used to hate 996s is so bad.
But they're so cheap now.
It's like I almost feel like an idiot for not buying one.
I mean they're giving them away.
They're giving them away.
They're almost free.
Even a Boxster.
They're so cheap now.
Yeah.
That's a chick firm.
You could buy a Boxster for like a good one for like 6.
I saw a wonderful guy.
And he had a ball with 3500.
And then he put like 6 grand into it.
But he had a great time with it.
He still has it.
Thanks for joining us for today's episode.
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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
Rob King Part 2 dives into his long Porsche journey, from early Volkswagen projects to a garage built around air-cooled favorites and modern turbo performance. He shares what he’s owned (including a 993 Turbo and 997 GT2) and what he regrets selling or not buying, while debating manual vs PDK and why he prefers the feel of shifting. The conversation also touches on rising air-cooled values, how Porsche’s newer models chase “effortless speed,” and shifting PCA culture toward bigger, more mainstream cars.
Rob King is the owner and founder of S-Car-Go Racing, a well-known Porsche shop and tuning specialist. His company has built several notable cars that have been featured in various automotive publications. Before starting his own shop, he worked as a factory-authorize Porsche mechanic for 18 years.
In this episode we talk about: -Cool cars he has owned. -Some of his favorite cars. -PDK or Manual. 915 or G50. -964 or 993.
