By Dylan Orluck
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August 21, 2020
An Interview With Magnus Walker on the 45 Years of Boost
If you consider yourself a Porsche fan, then the name Magnus Walker should ring a bell. Magnus is an extremely passionate and enthusiastic Porsche collector who is known for his collection of cars, creativity, and killer youtube videos. In his latest video, “45 Years of Boost,” you get an inside look at how far Porsche has come with their Turbo cars.
The video starts by giving you a look at Magnus’s personal 1975 911 Turbo and then showcases the all new 2021 911 Turbo S. After watching “45 Years of Boost” I wanted to see what Magnus thought about the experience, so we gave him a call.
Everyone recognizes that iconic 911 shape and most people appreciate how special these cars are but there will always be people that favor the older air-cooled cars over the cars that are being released today. When discussing the video, Magnus told us that in regards to the air-cooled vs water-cooled debate, “you need air and water to survive”. Magnus, with a simple statement, shows us that there really is room for both in our lives. His car collection is made up of mostly air-cooled cars but in the past few years, he's managed to squeeze a few water-cooled cars through the gate. He isn’t sure if the 992 Turbo S will be joining the collection so for now he will stick to driving it as OPP (Other People's Porsches).
When comparing the cars Magnus said that they obviously have that same Porsche DNA, but they manage to do the same thing completely different from one another. In the new Turbo S you will find yourself going 20 miles per hour faster on your favorite road with less effort. While in the 930 you will find yourself working harder, yet still with a smile as the boost kicks in.
After all these years, Porsche is still doing an incredible job, at pushing the limits with usable performance and will continue to do so for the rest of time.
Be sure to check out the latest video by the guys at NativeFour and find out why Magnus calls the 2021 Turbo S the “ King of the hill.”
Q&A;
Dylan: I know that you mainly stay in the air-cooled world, what did you think of the new 992 Turbo S?
Magnus: I always say that you need air and water to survive. I own air- cooled, I also own water-cooled of the 996 variety. The 992 Turbo S, the feature car in the 45 Years of Boost video, I do call it King of the Hill, cause it comes off the showroom floor with 640 horsepower and has phenomenal performance above most people's driving capabilities. The performance, the grip, the stability, the way it puts the power down, the way it corners are all phenomenal. That is what Porsche is all about, usable performance. There are a lot of cars out there with similar horsepower, but after driving those other manufacturers cars , you know they all perform really well, but there’s something about the Turbo that you can literally drive it all day long and not get out with your back aching. The 992 Turbo S is easy to live with.
Dylan: I knew you had some water-cooled cars, do you have anything quite this new?
Magnus: I mostly have 996’s. A Gen one 99 Aero Kit, which is an entry level first year, which I love. I have an 02 996 GT2, which 20 years ago was “King of the Hill”. The new 992 Turbo S makes my 996 GT2 seem slow. I also have an 04 996 GT3.
Dylan: Did this car make you want to get a 992?
Magnus: It’s what I call OPP, other people's porsche’s, as great as these cars are, the way I am acquiring older cars, for me I’ve never spent that much money on a car. I could quite easily buy four other cars for the price of that one Turbo S. Truth be told, I don’t commute, I walk when I come to work, so I don’t need a car to commute, so all of my driving is pure pleasure. So to invest that type of money in a car, that I probably wouldn’t put that many miles on, I can’t quite wrap my head around that. I will drive it as an OPP for now!
Dylan: After driving those cars back to back, are there any similarities between them?
Magnus: You can’t compare the two, it’s a different type of charm, the two do the same thing completely differently. The 75 Turbo is really engaging, rewarding, heavy, antiquated, analog, it's a kick in the pants when it comes on but doesn't stop great. So it’s a workout. You carry less speed than you carry with zero effort in the 992. Is one better than the other? Not really. It depends what you’re doing really. If I were, let's say commuting from downtown LA to Santa Monica everyday, round trip 40 miles, stuck in traffic, the 992 covers all the bases with it being PDK. An early Turbo has a heavy clutch and if you're in commuter traffic in LA you never really get out of first gear which is good for about 50mph. It's one of those things where on the open road it’s a different story, but I guess the long answer to your question is that the DNA is still there, but the two cars are just so different. The new car is so advanced, it just has so much grip and stick, which the early car doesnt have in the same quantity, but they are both exciting to drive. You’ll put a lot more effort in to drive the 75 car at what you think is fast and find out you’re going 20 miles per hour slower. The 992 is a much faster and more practical car.
As great as the King of the Hill is, it’s a new Porsche and there are a lot of new Porsches out there. The 75 Turbo; Porsche only made 284 of those cars 45 years ago, there’s probably less than 100 that exist to this day. So that's a car that you know if you show up at an event, you really stand out because of its rarity. The new Turbo S is not nearly as exclusive or rare but it all depends how you look at things.
Dylan: Then you get into all of the Paint to Sample variants where people try to make their cars as rare as possible, if you were getting a new Porsche, which PTS color would you choose?
Magnus: I wouldn’t do it and it’s my favorite subject. Last week I had the 992 Carrera S, which actually compares to my 996 GT2. The car was in Aventurine Green, which is a stock color, and that color worked really well with that wood dash trim. The car was really similar to my 1965 SWB Irish Green car, in the sense that it had a wood dash, it was manual, and an interesting color. Everybody thought that car was paint to sample. So in a sea of “look at me, I want to be different with my exclusive paint to sample, full option, whatever you want to call it”, what I had, which was basically just boxes ticked on a well-optioned, but not paint to sample car, straight from the configurator on the Porsche Car website. Everyone thought that car was paint to sample because it was unique. If you really go through the configurator, you don't necessarily have to go down the paint to sample road. The smart / savvy consumer can spec a base model car that becomes super unique and desirable. You pick your poison, or your medicine for how you want to explore your journey, that’s why Porsches great!
A film by Cameron ThumanProduction Company: NativeFourCinematography by Drew Gardella
