- Were all Porsches air cooled at some point?
- Yes. - Yeah, okay.
(laughs)
Right?
I'm the first to admit that my Porsche knowledge
is a little bit lacking.
But within the last five years,
there's been a huge surge in the brand's popularity.
More specifically, their vintage air cooled models.
To find out what makes these cars so special
and why demand is through the roof,
I sat down with Porsche restoration expert,
John Benton at Benton Performance
in Anaheim, California.
(engine revs)
Thanks for being on the show.
- My pleasure.
- In a philosophical or a romantic sense,
intrinsically, what does air cooled mean to you?
- In the romantic sense, air cooled for me
hearkens back to this era that came well before us.
This all happened in a place and time
where it came together to make this
really elegant little box that makes power.
The motor's finned, it's like a motorcycle.
You see a motorcycle with fins
and the projected cylinders.
You know, these are boxer motors,
so everything's pushed out.
You guys, I think you're used to like
Subarus and things that are opposed.
- Is it the air cooled engines that
make these cars so unique?
Or is there some other mysterious factor?
- It's been said that the wind shaped the car.
They did wind tunnel testing,
and they did different things.
The style's also dictated by the people that designed it,
and there's a simple elegance about these cars.
There's only a few automotive shapes
that you can splash on a wall,
and even those who maybe aren't car enthusiasts
will say, "Oh, I know what that is."
- They know exactly what it is, yeah.
- Because that shape, whether it's 356 from pre 80 to now,
the 911, that iconic shape sprouted from that design,
and it's alive today.
I see it right now.
I'm just in love with it.
Squeezing the most out of something
that shouldn't be doing that is really awesome.
It's what we do here.
Everybody here's dedicated to preserving these cars.
I've dedicated my whole life to it.
- The first motorcycles were produced in the late 1800's.
Familiar names like Daimler and Maybach
were producing two wheeled machines
powered by primitive and air cooled
internal combustion engines.
It wasn't long until these same engines
would be put in four wheel designs,
giving birth to the automobile.
Porsche's first production car in 1948,
the 356, borrowed it's air cooled
flat-four from the Volkswagen Beetle,
and they stuck with this simple design for decades.
Were all Porsches air cooled at some point.
- Yes. - Yeah, okay.
(laughs)
Right?
- The first Porsche was electric, P1 was electric.
So, it was air cooled per se.
- The air cooled technology, it's a little older.
Like we were saying, it's more of an antique kind of style.
Are they reliable motors despite
the fact that they're not water cooled?
- They're very reliable, like scary reliable.
Any bad connotation that comes along with an old car,
be it air cooled or water cooled, or whatever,
is usually the result of lack of maintenance
and understanding of the machine.
For me, early on, I bought some books and self education,
went to some of the providers,
I'm like, what's the good piston, what can I do?
So, I was on a budget, but I built my first motor
and it never died.
I mean, that motor was just alive for a long, long time.
I still have a 59 single cab Volkswagen truck.
It's got a 1600 CC motor in it
with a little tiny single carb.
If you're used to this stuff,
you get used to the fact that in the morning
you gotta pump it three or four times,
and goose it maybe, and then it lights up,
and you gotta warm it up.
And when it's hot, just the opposite.
You'll just flood it.
So, when it's hot, all the fuel boils off,
especially the new fuels we have.
So, you have to just give it a little touch,
and crank it til it starts, and then clean it off.
So, people that are used to that,
you give them their car and you don't
hear from 'em for half a year, a year,
and they could bring it back for service.
- Do you think that's kinda connected
to the same way people buy vinyl records,
and even cassette tapes?
Like an appreciation for--
- Absolutely.
This new generation of people that appreciates cars
also appreciate other things that are more analog,
more visceral, audible, tactile.
They're appreciating the things
that are present in these cars.
As a culture, I've experienced it in the last decade,
artists and people with a more stylistic taste
and a different view of the world
have become more prevalent, their voices heard.
They're becoming more affluent.
We had yuppies when I was comin' up.
I don't think they were as culturally emboldened
as this last wave of people that appreciate things.
But these people have come to appreciate this.
And they're used to driving around in a Prius
that just click, voom.
Some of the people that are buying these cars now
have never owned a car with a clutch.
They're not used to warming up a car.
They're not familiar with these smells.
They think the car's catching on fire.
They'll call me, they'll be up in Laurel Canyon,
"Hey, John, the car's making this weird noise
"and I smell something."
I'm like, "It's probably the engine making the noise,
"and you're smelling that."
(chuckles)
- With Porsche oriented events like
Luftgekuhlt growing every year,
more and more people are interested in
buying air cooled Porsches of their own.
I wanted to know what perspective buyers might be in for.
What are some misconceptions about air cooled Porsches?
- I'll give realm of misconceptions.
One of them is that they're affordable.
I hear people say about,
especially the four cylinder variants,
that it's a poor man's Porsche.
There's never a Porsche ever made
that was a poor man's Porsche.
Not even a 914.
If you're gonna drive a Porsche car
or an air cooled car, even a Volkswagen,
you gotta spend a few bucks.
You gotta be willing to do that.
You gotta put your money where your passion is
because it's gonna take some effort.
If you're a do-it-yourselfer,
you can save a lot of money on labor.
But parts, by in large, quality parts,
they cost a few bucks.
- Is the experience worth the price?
- It boils down to to kinds of clients.
There's a client that has a car that's
been in their family since they were a kid.
It was their first car or they got married in it,
or they brought their kids home,
or it was their dad's car, grandpa's car.
So, they are willing to spend what it takes,
and they're not worried about the investment.
Okay?
The folks that come in and they're
worried about the investment,
that's a tough one.
It's like, "I'm gonna climb Mt. Everest,
"but what's the cheapest rope I can get?"
(chuckles)
And, "Do I really have to wear those funny shoes?"
It's like get the, out. - Yeah.
(chuckles)
- It's like, you wanna do this and
experienced it to the fullest, let's just do it.
- Big, big thank you to John and everyone else
here at Benton Performance.
This was awesome, I learned a ton.
It's exactly what I want WheelHouse to be.
So, if you wanna see us go to more shops,
let us know in the comments.
If you like Porsches, check out this
episode of Up to Speed on the 911.
And some of these Porsches were turbocharged.
So, check out this episode of Science Garage on turbos.
It's awesome.
Wear your seatbelt, see you later.