Living the Legend

Model 996.1CARRERA

Year 1998

Acquired JANUARY 2019

It was a privilege to host a special Fried Eggs Anniversary Cars & Coffee meet recently in honour of the quarter-century milestone of the Porsche 996. We celebrated in style over at 9WERKS, first by offering 9WERKS members an exclusive virtual roundtable with 996 designer Pinky Lai. I’d previously interviewed Mr Lai (you can find the video on YouTube via 9WERKS TV), so this time it was the turn of members to put questions to the man who, for many, designed the car they own and drive. You can catch highlights from this conversation also on YouTube.

Our special Cars & Coffee was held the following day at Heritage Parts Centre, where over 70 Porsche 996s were in attendance (despite the typically British weather) to honour the first water-cooled generation of 911. A stellar turnout ensured we had an example of every single 996 iteration there (aside from a Turbo S!) and, more importantly, it made for an awesome opportunity to bring some amazing people together to celebrate these brilliant cars.

The guys at Heritage Parts Centre were awesome, too, in opening up their premises on a Sunday morning and offering tours of their facility that stocks over 25,000 Porsche and VW parts. You can get up to 10 per cent off your basket at www.heritagepartscentre.com – enter the code 9WERKS10 at the checkout.

All in all it made for a spectacular weekend of 996 celebrations, and I’m chuffed that in the five years or so that I’ve been doing my 996-only Fried Eggs Cars & Coffee events, the name and concept has caught on around the world. I’ve long been an evangelist of these great 911s and it’s awesome to see that, these days, so many others agree. Thanks to Pinky Lai for his time on the virtual roundtable, thanks to Heritage Parts Centre for hosting Fried Eggs Anniversary, and thanks to all 9WERKS members who joined the roundtable and/ or attended the Cars & Coffee, highlights of which can be seen at 9werks.co.uk.

Model 996.2 CARRERA

Year 2002

Acquired 2020

With just days to go until my 5,000 mile round-trip of the Rocky Mountains, my (almost) bipolar personality is showing its true self. On the one hand I’m overthinking and overplanning, packing for every possible road-trip issue or complicated scenario. On the other end of the spectrum, I’m finding myself at times just saying to hell with it: whatever happens, happens and it’s all part of the journey. I joke about the bi-polar nature of my trip planning because I bounce from either end of this spectrum, not just day to day but often hour to hour.

As far as tools go, I’m bringing jumper cables, a power-pack jump starter, lug nuts for the wheels with a breaker bar and torque wrench, as well as a handheld, battery-powered air compressor to inflate my tyres. I’m also toying with packing a set of wrenches and sockets, but I think if I find myself in a position where I need those