Inside the Mind of Porsche Fanatic Magnus Walker

Why a 911?

At one time the Walker car collection included a 1965 Shelby GT350R, a 1967 E-Type Jaguar, a Super Bee, a 1973 Lotus Europa Twin Cam, a 1979 Ferrari 308GTB, and “three or four other Porsches,” Magnus recalled. He said the Lotus was nimble, but “underpowered and nobody saw it.” The Shelby Mustang was “sort of good in a straight line but didn’t go around corners.”

The E-Type “was a great cruiser,” while the Super Bee was “spectacular” in a straight line, and the 308 “just sort of paled in comparison” to the Porsche.

Photograph Courtesy Magnus Walker

“We liked variety and that collection at the time covered European sports cars and American muscle cars. All those cars were sort of good at one or two things. But the Porsche was good at almost everything,” he said. “Why Porsche? Why 911? Just durable, versatile, reliable, practical and a boatload of fun to drive. I couldn’t actually say that about every one of those other cars. They might have excelled at one or two things.”

The 911 offered an excellent soundtrack, as well as top-notch driving position, visibility and performance. But Walker wanted a bit more from his 911s, so he began the subtle modification of a few. 

Reuniting With an Old Friend

The one he checks out at the Ponte Vedra show is a bit famous, and no longer his. Called the “STRII,” the former magazine cover car sold for $302,500 to the Bob Ingram collection in Durham, North Carolina. Parked on the grass near the Brumos Porsche tent, it’s got neat touches artfully done, like five vent holes in the slim passenger-side bumper, drilled door handles, classic old-style taillights frenched into the bodywork, and some lovely vents in a V-shape on the rear decklid.

Walker says he remakes the cars as “an artistic interpretation,” something that dates back to his clothing design days and the life that has evolved in LA.

“The buildings that we have owned and renovated, and the Porsches that I have designed and built and restored, all have that common thread of following your own gut feeling and going your own way,” he says. “Porsche did such a great job with the 911 to begin with that I was not looking to improve that. I just wanted to add my own individual tweaks to what is obviously instantly recognizable as a 911. But it’s the little details that sort of separate it from the other cars. Some of it is subtle, some are maybe not quite as subtle.”

He described it as “my own twist on sort of a classic shape” and said he worked to make it appear like the car might have left that factory that way in the late ’60s or early ’70s.

“I am not trying to make it look too modern, but obviously just interpreting my vision of the R and STR into one car.”

Photograh Courtesy Magnus Walker

So what’s STRII got?

A 3.2-liter SOHC air-cooled, flat-six engine with Bosch mechanical fuel injection that gives about 275 horsepower, hooked to a five-speed manual gearbox and a limited-slip diff. 

There are turn signals smoothed into the front fenders, and a center-hood gas tank filler with a drilled cap. There are some gorgeous gold Group 4 wheels wrapped with Hoosier slicks, Walker’s handmade leather door pull straps, and a meaty wooden gearshift ball knob. And there’s an earlier 911 screw-in rear-view mirror, another trademark of his builds.

Walker says there is a method to his madness when he modifies his 911s, and it stems from his “British bulldog tenacious spirit of never giving up” as well as America teaching him about “freedom and anything is possible.”

“And I never listened to people who said no,” he adds. “The great thing about coming to America is that it is the land of opportunity. I think that if I had stayed in England, this never would have happened because it is not quite as free there. So how do I do it? I have a loving, supportive wife; I put 12 to 14 hours a day in; and I never give up. I find a way.”

He said he didn’t give up when he tried to find a 1964 Porsche 911, one of only 68 made; he found one.

“So I still ask a lot of questions and I take a lot of risks. I have got along on a lot of ‘leap of faith gut feelings,’ and I always say ‘determination, motivation and passing make up for a lot,’” Walker says. “I left school at 15 with not a lot of education, but I have always followed my gut. I’ve never asked other people’s opinions on ‘Do you think I should do this?’ I have always known it either feels right or it doesn’t and that keeps me motivated.”

He says the way he redoes his 911s is a personal thing, which prompts the question: What is style?

 “Style is bit like design; it is an individual thing,” he says, reminding us that he builds the 911s for himself and usually not for sale.

“With Serious Clothing, we were always known for setting the trends, not following the trends. To a certain degree, I have done that with my Porsche builds,” he explains. “I don’t look to emulate exactly what the Porsche factory did. I am not replicating or cloning the car exactly. I am putting my own style on it. Style is personal interpretation. Style is not necessarily something that can be taught. People can follow a style, but setting a trend is a little bit different and that only comes out of representing your own personal tastes and expressing that in a stylish way.”

Keeping It Fun

Walker spent part of the weekend in Ponte Vedra playing with his old 911 and a few of the cars from the Brumos Collection. He showed everyone a smartphone video of one of the drives, the wail of a 911 overheard all weekend long as others watched it in his hand. He hung out at an autograph session with multi-time endurance champion Hurley Haywood, even wearing temporary Brumos tattoos on his hands as the two posed for photos, fingers raised in devil’s horns gestures. 

Photography Credit: Dan Scanlan

As the STRII was parked on the clubhouse lawn for ceremonies, he plucked an ice-cold Heineken off its port bow and got down in the grass for some photos. This L.A. car guy says he’s just loving life: “don’t overcomplicate it, don’t over-think it.”

Photography Credit: Dan Scanlan

“I take opportunities that come my way and I say yes 95 percent of the time, so I often say that I am on this journey on the open road and I am not sure where it’s going, but I am trying to live life to the fullest and trying to do things my way, my style and my own pace. I am not really too concerned what other people think about that. I just like to do things that make me happy and like to express my individual style in my own way, which is sort of building these sport purpose streetable track Porsches.”

If you want to see how Walker applies some of his signature touches, as well as check out his latest project cars, go to www.magnuswalker911.com. The “Urban Outlaw” film can be viewed at  urbanoutlaw.tv.

Photograph Courtesy Magnus Walker