Full house
… AND A DREAM GARAGE
In the game of poker there are pairs; three of a kind; straights; flushes; and, of course, a full house, being one pair and one three of a kind. It is not uncommon to find people aspiring to own a Porsche or a Ferrari, but what about when you have a full house of these beautiful cars?
Well, Shane Joyce (not his real name) does. Shane has had a long love affair with European cars, particularly the sports models with manual transmissions, and now he’s pretty flush with a fine selection.
Manual gearboxes have fallen out of favour with the larger manufacturers. Paddle shifting, tiptronic-style transmissions of the dual-clutch
By Vaughan Wilson
arrangement might provide a better 0–60mph time which helps with marketing — but they don’t count for Shane, and many others. He seeks out not only manual transmissions but also New Zealand–new vehicles preferably in red.
Shane spends several hours with me, driving the vehicles to the photo shoot and then returning them home one by one. We gather quite a crowd of onlookers in the process. Let’s face it — how often do you see three Ferraris and two Porsches line up on a sunny day? Even the police who are out on a practice drive with recruits at the wheel get in on the act.
First off — the 1986 Porsche Carrera. If this car could talk it would say something like, “Shane likes me, he likes me not; Shane likes me, he likes me not.” Shane first purchased this car 25 years ago. Since then he has sold it three times and purchased it three more times. It has been his daily driver. It was often seen with a steel bike rack on the back, made in the shape of a human stick figure. It went on numerous mountain bike trips — Shane’s other passion — all over the country.
The torquey 911 flat-six makes the car a lot easier to drive around town than, for example, the high-revving 328 Ferrari — see following. Not only does the car provide an anthology of memories and sentimental value for Shane but it is also hard to find 911s of this vintage with the classic whale tail with sports seats, full leather interior, in silver, and in manual.
“These cars have their quirks and are not as easy to drive as the later cars. The 3.2 is the last of the G-series cars. The updated 964 came with friendly features like tiptronic automatic and moved away from cable- to hydraulicactuated clutch in the three-pedal version,” explains Shane.
We gather quite a crowd of onlookers in the process. Let’s face it — how often do you see three Ferraris and two Porsches line up on a sunny day?
PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
Porsche has made the shape timeless, its lines leaning heavily on its forefathers in the 911 stable. The 911 was initially called the ‘901’ until Peugeot threatened Porsche for copying its model-number sequence, prompting the fledgling Porsche company to make a quick switch to ‘911’. It was born in 1963 and quickly became a favourite of the wealthy, the famous, and the fans of Porsche’s ability to make a distinctive sports car that was robust enough to be a daily driver.
The other Porsche in Shane’s stable of speed is the 2001 911 Carrera 996 Cabriolet. Shane purchased it 10 years ago to provide a car for the summer as his other vehicle had a solid ceiling. He used to put a bike rack on this car too and would often hit the road on the way to another bike trail, helmet and all.
Shane says, “It’s been a very reliable and dependable car. Many consider it the ugliest 911 but it is such a greatperforming car and hard to beat for the price.”
The 911 quickly became a favourite of the wealthy, the famous, as a distinctive sports car that was robust enough to be a daily driver