by John Glynn | Mar 5, 2011 | Classic Porsche Blog
Great fun on the Easytrack RS track day at Oulton Park today. After a misty start, the sun came out and the afternoon was epic. I was the last to leave: they closed the gates behind me!
Alisdair Cusick and I captured the day for Total 911 magazine. The piece is part of a short series of articles planned to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Porsche 964 RS.
Tons of friends, old and new at Oulton today. Have almost lost my voice from talking, and that is unusual for me! Not just 964s, 993s and 996/997s present either; lots of cars turned out, including a good showing of impactbumpers.com amigos. Passenger wristbands were priced at £15 a head, with all the money going to Muscular Dystrophy and the Woodland Trust.
This was one of my favourite 964s of the day: Ninemeister’s new Cup Car. Ended up (unharmed) in the kitty litter, but what a lovely little 911. My other favourite was a German 964 RS on BBS LMs: a seriously cool car. By the time I had a minute to take some pics and track down the owner, it had disappeared.
My Leica started playing up at the track, hope it’s nothing serious but I missed a few shots when it refused to fire. Then the Landcruiser developed a charging problem on the way home. As these things are said to come in threes, I wonder what the grand finale will be, especially if they are arriving in order of expense.
by John Glynn | Feb 28, 2011 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Just had nice pics through of paint correction and detailing on a classic Porsche 964 from good Porsche buddy and Guild of Motoring Writers Photographer of the Year, Alisdair Cusick. Having worked together on many photoshoots for Total 911 magazine, Ali (@SnapperAli on Twitter) recently pulled the classic Porsche buyer’s move: getting his first 911 within a few months of the birth of his first child. We’ve all been there!
Ali’s 911 is a tidy 964 that’s been enjoying some quality airtime in the magazine. The latest job was to send it off for paint correction and detailing throughout: obsessive valeting with the highest quality products, to bring the bodywork back to as pristine a condition as possible. The results are amazing.
Elite Detailing Porsche 911
Alisdair used Elite Detailing to overhaul his car – the boys reckon they have refurbed more Porsche paint than any other specialist detailing company in the UK. Prices start from £399; Ali’s job took a finger-melting 40 hours.
The products used will be listed in a future issue of the magazine. Contact Elite Detailing via their website and watch out for Ali’s forthcoming feature on the job!
About Paint Correction
Paint correction is the process of machining vehicle paint with rotary polishers and varying grades of specific polishes and compounds. This is a highly specialised process that requires specialist experience and knowledge, as well as expert measuring and lighting equipment. Car manufacturers use different paint types, all of which need to be recognised and treated in their own unique way for best results.
by John Glynn | Feb 27, 2011 | Classic Porsche Blog, Road Trips
Following my recent trip to the Porche Museum, I read an interesting item on the PetaPixel blog in which Neil Burgess, 25 years a photojournalist, head of London-based photo agency NB Pictures, former head of Network Photographers and Magnum Photos, and twice Chairman of World Press Photo claimed photojournalism was dead.
“I believe we owe it to our children to tell them that the profession of ‘photojournalist’ no longer exists,” says Burgess. “There are thousands of the poor bastards, creating massive debt for themselves hoping to graduate and get a job which no-one is prepared to pay for anymore. Even when photographers create brilliant stories and the magazine editors really want to publish them, they cannot pay a realistic price for the work.”
As someone who packed in working 9-5 to concentrate on being one of the “poor bastards…hoping to get a job which no one is prepared to pay for anymore”, this is disappointing news, assuming it is accurate.
I recently took a trip to the Porsche Museum, where I shot a few hundred frames on my Leica D-Lux compact camera. Some are seen here. I had intended the pics for blog and library use but, as I was pleased with the quality, I decided to pitch them to the editor at Total 911 magazine.
“What about people who take once-in-a-lifetime trips to the Porsche Museum, Schlumpf Collection, Spa Francorchamps Museum and so on?” I asked. “Why don’t we run a feature with the pics taken on a compact camera, like most folks will use on these trips? Let’s get Leica involved. I’ll go to London and talk to Brett, the Leica M photographer, get some critique on my pics, and ideas for myself and those coming after me to take with them to the museum.”
The editor liked the idea. I went to the Leica Akademie in Bruton Place, London to meet with Brett, and the piece is in this month’s magazine. It’s not the perfect manifestation of the concept, but I’m sure it’s not the last piece of this nature we three will do together, and reaction so far has been positive.
My first words-and-pics feature was the R Gruppe Bergmeister Tour in 911 and Porsche World magazine: it made the cover. I’ve since done a few more and they are steadily improving in my eyes, as is the copy that accompanies the pictures. What matters to me is exactly what mattered to every photojournalist that has gone before: that the vision is actualised and presented to a wider audience.
I started photography to support storytelling, and still see my pictures as helping to tell a story in three dimensions. Will my photography ever be as good as a full-blown professional’s work? In most applications, it doesn’t need to be; one way that photojournalism is evolving.
I feel the incredible buzz that surrounds these pieces, so I say photojournalism is far from dead: it is just assuming new forms in new media. After years of neglect, the art is waking up to endless potential, thanks to the rise of blogging, personal publishing, the iPad and all like it. To anyone who thinks they can make a living at it, I say you can.
Burgess’ career points call to mind a friend of mine who can make people laugh at a party feeling like she’s a natural born stand up, or another friend who once bluffed his way past customs, believing that he was a great actor in the making. Both are beautifully talented and both chased their dreams, only to discover that the commitment needed to transform that talent into a career is enormous; well beyond what either had imagined. The same is true of photojournalism in modern media.
Believe me, taking a salary from your vision is hugely challenging, but doable if you commit to it absolutely. Get ready to fall over a lot, and to be off the pace of many of your peers. If you don’t think you can turn that into something worthwhile that an audience will pay for, stay with the 9-5. But be sure the choice is yours: no one else’s.
![Classic Porsche Tyres: 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0]()
by John Glynn | Feb 15, 2011 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Just whizzed my 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 down to the local tyre shop, to fit some all-weather tyres in place of the well-worn Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tyres I had been using. Or not using as is a better way of putting it: the classic Porsche has not turned a wheel since July of last year.
As ever, the Porsche fired up straight away. I just reconnected the battery isolator and the miniature Odyssey battery cranked it into life on the first turn. I crammed four Continental Sport Contact tyres into the cabin and off we went.
The damp weather today gave me some interesting new-tyre moments on the greasy roads. A massive powerslide out of the tyre depot T-junction make a few people laugh, including me.
Off to the UK launch of the new 911 Carrera GTS down in Bournemouth now. Will try to post some pics and details later.
About the 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0
This model is uniquely important in the history of the 911 series, as it was produced for two years only (1976-77).
The Carrera 3.0 used standard impact-bumper bodywork (with Carrera RS-width rear arches) and offered much improved performance over its 2.7-litre 911 and 911S contempararies. In magazine road tests of the time, the Carrera 3.0 set quicker 0-60mph times than the 911 Turbo or 930 model.
Key to the appeal of the Carerra 3.0 is its 2993cc engine, using the same cast aluminium crankcase as the 930, with the lightweight six-bolt crankshaft from the legendary 1973 Carrera RS.
The Carrera 3.0 engine was developed from the very rare Carrera 3.0RS, which formed the basis for the 3.0 RSR cars: highly successful racers in the 1974 and 1975 seasons, winning both the FIA GT Championship and the IMSA Championship each year.
by John Glynn | Oct 25, 2010 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
I just got back from California: my third trip in two years. Before my last visit, I bought a sweet little 1980 Porsche 911 SC Coupe on Craiglist. The car had been owned by the same guy since 1989 and was an honest, rust-free 911.
Sure, the paint had weathered a few storms and the trim had seen better days. But, riding on Fuchs, with an engine rebuilt to Euro specs – new pistons and cylinders and SSIs too – it pulled like a train with a Tornado strapped on top.
I used the SC (christened The Varmint) for ten days and over 2,000 miles. Let me tell you: there is nothing like ripping around sunny California in your very own 911. I went everywhere: across the Golden Gate, along Mulholland Drive and down the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu, at sunrise and sunset.
When the trip was finished, I shipped The Varmint home. A friend made me an offer I could have refused, but chose not to. I put the money away for next time.
A few weeks before we were due to leave this time around, I started looking for Varmint Mk 2: something that wouldn’t break the bank, but could transport us in SC comfort for a week, before we sold it on or shipped it home. Shergar would have been easier to find.
In the year or so since buying Varmint, the exchange rate had shifted, the economy had lifted and the number of affordable 911s on offer had drifted away. Between the breakers and the other European speculators, California had been drained of sub-$10k 911s.
My regular trip to Essen earlier in the year had showed there was no letup in the number of 911s finding their way back to Germany from the USA, but California is Porsche nirvana: these cars are everywhere! I couldn’t believe how fast the tap had dried up.
Markets shift and money follows. Economies ebb and flow, and cars like the 911 move around the world. My first 911 lived in 5 countries before I bought it. Of the three I have now, one has been registered in three European countries, another has been though four states and three countries and the third has just left its fifth state/country, en route to the sixth. Pretty busy stuff.
When I first got into 911s, left hand-drive was the cheap option. UK dealers were buying in Stuttgart and selling in Stoke on Trent. I prefer left hand-drive, so it suited me fine, but it wasn’t long before Germany woke up to the UK bargains and took the left-hookers home. The same thing has happened in west coast USA.
Now however, the Euro has slumped to a four-year low against the Dollar, so might the USA begin buying cars back? Ebb and flow is how it goes. In the middle of it all are the shippers: making a living, whichever way the cars sail.
