Andy Brookes

Poole, UK @993andy

Model 993 CARRERA Year 1995 Acquired SEPTEMBER 2018

You may remember me from a couple of months ago, I filled in for Phil Farrell when he was otherwise occupied rebuilding his house. I’m very pleased to hear that my story was of interest and I have been invited onto the Living the Legend team. I thought my first official instalment should be to introduce myself and my car.

I enjoy listening to a podcast called Spike’s Car Radio, and I believe it was Paul Zuckerman (one of the hosts) that coined the phrase ‘tap root moment’.

Let me tell you about my own ‘tap root moment’, this will also explain what that moment is. My teenage years were the years of the yuppie, the golden age of the red, white or black impact bumper 911 with a whaletail. I particularly remember witnessing a red 930 pull up outside the paper shop in Motspur Park where I worked as a 13-year-old paperboy, it then sped off down the little high street, over the hump-back level crossing and up the hill, disappearing into the distance with huge velocity and making some wonderful noises. That was my first experience of anything outside of an Austin Allegro, Vauxhall Viva or maybe an exotic Ford Capri. That, my friends, was my ‘tap root moment’, the moment that would endure me to a lifetime of lusting after a 911. I would love to hear what your Porsche ‘tap root moment’ was?

As I couldn’t afford a 911 at 16, my first car was a 1967 Beetle, the last of the sloping headlamp cars; somehow I managed to convince my parents that it would be a great idea to buy a Beetle and disassemble it on their drive with the aim of making it ‘Cal Look’. Poor parents.

Many a VW and Audi ensued over the following years, including a Variant, Sciroccos, Passats, Corrados, along with a few other manufacturers’ fine vehicles dotted in along the way. But there was always a lust for a Porsche in the background: every holiday would be accompanied with the latest issue of a Porsche magazine and then search on the classifieds to see if one was in reach. It would not be the right time due to doing a house up, needing something sensible, not enough budget… you know the score.

Fast forward to 2018, I had been watching with interest the Luftgekühlt shows over on the West Coast of the US, reminding me of that Cal Look vibe that I desired back in the late ’80s. News that they were hosting a show at Bicester in the UK sparked huge interest, so I purchased two tickets and dragged my poor wife around Bicester on the only rainy day of the whole summer. But what a day it had been, that was the day that the ‘tap root moment’ I had had all those years ago in 1983 was to begin growing into a real, full-size Porsche. The green light was set for a purchase, and that purchase was going to be air-cooled. But what was it to be? I looked at everything from G bodies to 993s; the Gs appealed for their relative rawness, the 964 for its traditional headlamps, the 993 for its butt and hips. It really depended on finding the right car in the marketplace. The 993 seemed to offer the most for the least outlay, mostly because 993s had never hit rock bottom like the others, so most have been well maintained and looked after. The right car popped up, a Guards red 993 Carrera. More on that next issue.