To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History
The ultimate automotive history and classic car restoration podcast exploring the motoring memories behind iconic vehicles. Hosted by Doug and Dave, we trade technical specs for the unfiltered stories and family car history that reveal the soul of car culture. Join us every #TorqueTuesday for a deep dive into automotive nostalgia with restoration junkies and vintage vehicle enthusiasts. 🏎️🛠️
To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History
Porsche 911 Driving Techniques: Track Lessons with Dirk Dekker 🏎️💨
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Porsche 911 track driving and air-cooled handling techniques at Watkins Glen with instructor Dirk Dekker...
What does it take to master an air-cooled Porsche 911 on one of America's most iconic road courses? For Dirk Dekker, a driving instructor with over 25 years of experience at Watkins Glen International, it takes patience, precision, and a lifetime of racing obsession. 🏎️🎓
In this episode, we sit down with Dirk to explore his incredible automotive journey, which began not behind the wheel of a Porsche, but by rebuilding a rare 1958 Berkeley B.95 that he bought for just £15. We dive into his past life as a helicopter pilot and how those skills translate to high-performance driving education (HPDE).
Dirk also shares spine-tingling stories from his time living at the Silverstone Circuit in the UK, where he rubbed shoulders with Formula 1 royalty like Jim Clark, Graham Hill, and Sir Jackie Stewart—and reveals why the "good old days" of racing were just as dangerous as they were glamorous.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- 🏁 The Silverstone Years: What it was really like to live at a world-famous F1 track and meet legends like Jim Clark before safety was a priority.
- 🏎️ Mastering the 911: Specific tips for driving rear-engine, air-cooled Porsches on the track and why "slow in, fast out" is a survival strategy.
- 🚁 The Pilot Connection: How Dirk’s experience as a helicopter pilot influences his teaching style and risk management at Watkins Glen.
- 🛠️ The £15 Race Car: The story of rescuing a basket-case 1958 Berkeley B.95 (a microcar with a motorcycle engine) and turning it into a passion project.
- 🎓 HPDE Insights: Why everyone—from novices to pros—needs a driving instructor in the passenger seat.
🎧 If you loved this episode, check out: The Intermittent Windshield Wiper Patent Battle: https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/17461644-windshield-wiper-invention-story-timothy-kearns-dr-robert-kearns-patent-battle-legacy
Whether you're a track day junkie, a Porsche purist, or a fan of golden-era Formula 1 history, this episode is a masterclass in speed and safety.
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- Find our 60+ episodes on LinkTree 🔗🌲 https://linktr.ee/carsloved
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Connect with Us: Got a great car story? Email us at stories@carsloved.com. Find all our content and social links here: linktr.ee/carsloved.
Podcast News:
- Our co-host, Doug was a guest on the Driven Radio Show Podcast to share the origin story of our podcast and connecting with his late father through his DeLorean project.
- Check out the amazing article about the podcast by Elevate Society and Tal Gur, author of "The Art of Fully Living"
- Feedspot selected To All The Cars I've Loved Before in their list of Top 100 Car Podcasts and 31 Best Road Trip Podcasts For Your Drive
- Our co-host, Doug was featured in this magazine article along with his DeLore...
Global Greetings & Housekeeping
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to all the cars I've loved before, your authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia, where our guests are unique. Each auto has an era, and every car tells a story. So you know it's time to plug in, get little grease under the nails, and slip on that favorite car theme, t-shirt, hat, or jacket. And uh my favorite part of the show before we get dug and our guests in here is to one of my favorite parts. Let's welcome back our listeners from all over the short track we call Earth. So over the past week, we know by the magic of our podcast platform engineering analytics, who's listening and where they come from. So welcome back to listeners from countries such as Switzerland, Italy, Sweden. And Doug, this I'm so excited with this. We had an entrant from a country we've never had before. Welcome to our listeners in the country of Seychelles, which is an island republic in the western Indian Ocean comprising about 115 islands with lush tropical vegetation, beautiful beaches, and a wide variety of marine life, situated between latitudes 4 and 11, I think, minutes in longitudes of 46 and 56 east. The major islands are located about a thousand miles east of Kenya, about 700 miles northeast of Madagascar. So that'll give you an idea of the general region. The capital of Victoria is situated on the island of, I don't know if I'm saying that's right, but Mahe or Mahe. So, Doug, have you heard of the nation of Seychelles? I have not. And if not, you've heard about it now. And if and if you're listening and you want me to do any commercials for the Office of Tourism, I'm here. You can underwrite the show. Feel free, reach out. Uh, we also want to welcome back our listeners in the cities of uh Augusta, Georgia, a little closer to home. Wake Forest, North Carolina, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Hamilton, Ontario. Welcome. And it I know we have repeat listeners and all those, so it's just wonderful to have you back. Feel free to drop us a line, let us know how things are going in your neck of the woods. And let's speak of, let's bring in our co-host, co-host with almost, he's got all the options. And you know, he came in last place for the Piston Cup, five years running, so you've got to love the consistency. He's Doug. Welcome. How are you doing, partner? What's the weather up here? I'm doing great. Great to be back here with you as always. Indeed, indeed. So what's uh what's happening in your world? I see for the first time in a long time, I think you need to get more another car theme t-shirt because you're actually wearing something with a collar, which is kind of amazing and inspiring. I didn't know you owned a shirt with a collar. It's usually in a Mazda t-shirt, or we've got uh one one of the one of our friends sends us a t-shirt, Tom Young t-shirt, Fisher Brothers t-shirt. What's with the collar? Uh had to go to work today. It's it's been one of those days. I know. I had to leave the house. We'll just say that. You know, in Florida where I am, I'm on I'm not too far from the water. But what you're wearing would be considered a tuxedo. It doesn't get a whole lot more formal than what you're wearing. So I've seen you in a tuxedo t-shirt. I know.
SPEAKER_02Maybe I need one of those.
SPEAKER_01Never, yeah. That's about as dressed up as I like to get, especially when it's humid. The weather's turning here, which is wonderful. But um, hey, you know, what can you do about the humidity? Not a whole lot. So, hey, if
Audience Shoutouts & Seychelles Surprise
SPEAKER_01you like what you're hearing, please follow and tell a friend. Tell a family, member, co-worker, a friend, tell an enemy, because you know what we do? This show brings people together all over the world. Check us out at carsloved.com. Again, carsloved.com. We also have a link tree, and Doug has it memorized. It is L-I-N-K-T-R.e slash CarsLoved. Yeah, we like to think of that as our digital switchboard. You can get you all of our social media presences, websites, where we are, podcasts, podcast, yeah. And while you're there, yes, while you're there, please leave a review. Let us know what you think, and we'll read you. We like to read them out on the air, the especially fun ones. So thanks for everybody who's left a review, and please do leave a review uh if if you make it to our space. All right. So uh with no further ado, I'm gonna toss it back over to Doug, and I want to know how today's very fun guest ended up in your virtual garage.
SPEAKER_02Well, we seem to have this wonderful thing in Maryland, especially on the Eastern Shore. There are more car lovers than I ever would have imagined. So my
Co‑host Banter & Follow Requests
SPEAKER_02newly rediscovered friend from high school, James McCrae, who's passed several people over to us, has passed this nice gentleman, Dirk Decker, over, who is a Porsche phile to say the least. He's heavily involved in the Porsche Club uh high performance driving events, which is really an educational, very safety-oriented event. I've actually gone to one about 15 years ago in my 9-11. And uh let's just say it rained all day and it was not fun for me, but I know the instructors and Dirk might have been one of them. They were serious 100% of the time.
SPEAKER_01Well, fantastic. Dirk, welcome to our show. So pleased to have you. Oh, thank you. So uh, yeah, so Dirk actually, you teach racing. Is that fair to say?
SPEAKER_00Uh yes, it's a basis of racing. We start off with uh under control circumstances, and uh as people develop, it's an initiation into racing world. Uh, what we do is the educational part of it, where we teach from uh how car handling, high performance handling, um, a lot of safety issues, and uh we've controlled to a degree that passing is with signals only, and we do pass in corners with advanced groups, but uh only with a signal. So you're not competing for a corner. There's no official timing. You can time yourself, but you're not it's not uh and start a race, end of race. It's uh no, it's for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever, and you just uh uh that might be one of the coolest hobbies that we've had on here.
SPEAKER_01So I mean that that that is pretty well, and I want to ask you what kind of student was Doug was Doug when he was there with you?
SPEAKER_00Uh I don't recall him.
SPEAKER_01Speaks volumes, didn't mean to put you on the spot. I was hoping hoping you would malign him in front of our listenership. That was really what we was going to do.
SPEAKER_02Christian, what I what I will say is I heard somebody say, Hey, do you see that see that black 9-11 the guy spunted around like I don't know how many times in the rain? I'm like, that was I'm like, that was me. He's like, oh, oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01But not on purpose. He wasn't trying to trying to make a statement. I do remember when you were there. You said it was harder than it looks. And Dirk, you probably get that a lot.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. Well, I started instructing back in 1998 with a Porsche Club. And um, the Potomac region is my region, uh, Northern Virginia, um, central Maryland, and so on. And uh Summit Point is our uh our home track. Uh, we do go to Watkins Glen, we go to uh VIR, we used to go to Mid-Ohio, I've been up with Porsche clubs up to Canada a couple of times to Mossport and uh Montreblant. Um, I mean to Lime Rock. Um and I've done I haven't done some of the Southern uh tracks, unfortunately, but it's uh very controlled. And uh no, I've since 1998 uh we do maybe most of our events are three-day events Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And through time, I don't know how many thousand students. Oh wow. So no uh I've been a loss. And I've also done some instructing for some other groups occasionally uh go for uh Friday at the track for Summit Point Group, but uh and other groups, Audi BMW and so on.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I see. So so when you say track, is there a track laid out? Do you sort of commandeer a lot a huge parking lot or these sort of drive labels with ahead?
SPEAKER_00These is like Watkins Glen. We're going, I'm going to in two weeks' time. Uh these are professional or uh certainly SECA type amateur, but uh run professionally. Um, they are laid out usually mile and a half to three miles long, something like that. Ten to twenty corners, depending, and um with uh barricades and uh gravel pits and tower walls. Um and uh no a very uh structured event with no um fire ambulance, everything else available just in case.
SPEAKER_02This is not like Florida,
Meet Dirk Decker: Porsche Instructor
SPEAKER_02Christian. This is serious.
SPEAKER_01There are actual rules and laws, yeah. Man, Dirk is on top of it, that I can tell for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I was chief instructor for a while, so uh and now I'm safety chair and look after safety aspects and so on.
SPEAKER_02Yep, and I remember they were pretty serious about that. Number one thing, tire pressure and making sure the bolts lug nuts were tight was the first thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, battery is tight. We do a thorough check uh two weeks or so beforehand on a lift and um at a dealer or a uh uh a shop, and then uh every day at the track uh we'd have a quick look through brake pads and lug nuts and uh any leaks, uh equipment, you know, brake fluid, things like that. So we're no a quick check over just to make sure.
SPEAKER_02Yep, nope, all about safety. And uh I I did want to ask uh two things. So how often do you have to change tires or buy new tires for your car?
SPEAKER_00Uh I used to get through about two sets a year. Okay. Eight tires. Um no, they're they are consumables. Yep.
SPEAKER_02Yep, they do they do wear out and they're fun. And uh do you um do you tow your cars to the track? I noticed you have a we're gonna talk about your cars, but I notice you do have a cayenne, which could be used for towing. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um I used to tow my 914. Okay. Um my uh 911. Uh originally I had the little trailer I pulled behind it with tires and a big toolbox, a little two-wheel Arbor freight trailer hooked up the back of it uh by a 911, and I'd drive it up to Watkins Glen or Mid-Ohio or nowhere. But 914-6 uh was not a streetcar. Um so then I had a trailer and I had an old Durango that I pulled it with.
SPEAKER_02Yep, yep. Yeah, it's a it's a it's a big commitment beyond tires, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. Toolbox, x extra wheels, extra parts.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yeah. And then if you're have uh 110 octane fuel. Okay. Now it's I believe it's something around 15, 16 bucks a gallon. Oh wow. So it can get uh pretty high. And you get through about four gallons a session. Oh wow. Okay. That's on pump gas or on whatever kind of gas. About four gallons of a half-hour session as a as a approximate. So you're definitely burning a few brake pads and uh rodents and other.
SPEAKER_01I see. Yeah, yeah. I'm just kind of uh looking at the Watkins Glen schedule here. So is that kind of an open track when y'all have the events there?
SPEAKER_00Uh no, we have uh our event is actually Mother's Day weekend three days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We usually drive up on Thursday evenings,
How HPDE Works: Safety First
SPEAKER_00and uh um we rent the whole track, including with flagging corner workers, the emergency personnel, everything else, and uh control. And we supply uh the grid um checking people as we go on to track and so on. And we supply the instructors and no, it is a Porsche club, but we have Corvettes, we have Alpha Romeo sometimes, we have um core uh virtually anything, VWs, uh GTIs, um Hondas, uh uh anything except SUVs.
SPEAKER_02Yep, yep. I think uh I think when I went, somebody came with his girlfriend and they had a rented Hyundai and they let her drive on the track in the rented Hyundai.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, as long as it's checked, as long as it's got been checked, then uh nope.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just Hyundai sedan.
SPEAKER_00Yep, is what it was.
SPEAKER_01No SUVs allowed. This looks like so much fun. Let me let me brainstorm how I can get out of work and join you up there. But boy, that sounds interesting. All right, now while I'm doing that, I'm gonna hand you over to Doug here, who's gonna put you in his uh his old time machine, take you 88 miles an hour, and we're we'll flash back Dirk to where it all started for you. So, what was your first car? And if we could go even a little further back, could we talk about your mom a little bit? Because she had a really neat car.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Well, she had a uh MGTC, I think it would have been maybe a T D back in uh 1950s. I remember it, I was four years old, five years old, or something like that. And I remember do I do remember driving around in that uh little thing uh around uh in Hong Kong it was. Um boy. Yeah. Then they had a Citroen, um, a light 15 uh traction. Um and I that's um I learned to drive on that basically when I was about 11 years old in parking lots and on the back roads around Hong Kong. So I was driving from a young age.
SPEAKER_01I see that. Yeah, that resonates with me right now. Uh my youngest of my three teenage sons is just about to get his learner's permit. So we're gonna be doing the same thing. We're gonna be looking for big, nice, empty parking lots to take dad's old beat-up SUV, not everyday driver, but one that he can tear up and just sort of knock into light poles and that sort of thing. Yeah, but sorry, Doug, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, I I think that's a lot of fun, and uh yeah, I can't yeah, good luck, good luck with that, Christian. Well, you've gotten two kids uh into cars and they haven't died, so we're in good shape.
SPEAKER_00Well, I can I can put in the plug for the uh Tar Rack uh Street Survival that uh we uh a lot of the clubs, uh Corvette Club, BMW Club, um Harvard foundation for it. And uh we rent a big parking lot or something like that and set it up with cones and do uh exercises for you have to have a driver's license, a permit, and some road experience and um teach uh slalom, braking exercises, skid pad, and then uh um a lot of safety issues, and uh it's an excellent program for kids. I can highly recommend it.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Can they bring their own car?
SPEAKER_00Yes, you bring your own car. They will allow for that, they will allow SUVs, pickup trucks. Uh they want you to drive whatever you normally drive. Okay, wonderful. Whatever your parents let you drive.
SPEAKER_02Yep, no, I'm thinking about my uh daughter who's almost 18, been driving a year. Uh she's got a CRV, but she just drives around. She hasn't driven in bad weather. She probably fingers crossed, hasn't had any emergencies.
SPEAKER_01I love that though. So let's let's get some of that information if we can from Dirk and maybe put those links on the show notes because I'd like to learn more, and I'm sure our audience would like to learn more, especially for the for the young driver. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02We will. We will. Absolutely. So Christian wanted to hear about your mom's car, and I want to hear about your first car, which is yet another car I had not heard of.
SPEAKER_00I'd be surprised if you had. Um, they made three-wheelers in the UK at that time, and still, I don't know, uh, three-wheelers come under a motorcycle license taxation. So it's a lot cheaper. So a lot of three-wheelers, Robin Reliant, you might have seen on various programs. But uh, and there's a little um three-wheeler with uh not mine, but the ones I started with, with a three-cylinder two-stroke motor, 400cc or so. And mine was a four uh four-wheel version, front-wheel drive with a Royal Enfield uh 650, 700cc motor. Uh front-wheel drive did have a reverse gear in it, um, regular gear shifts, uh, great sliding gear shifts, uh four forward, one reverse, and uh probably weighed not much more than 800 pounds fully up with fuel to engine everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, these were little, these were little, and and and as we were talking during the pre-show here, oh tiny, yeah, and so founded in uh the mid-50s, 56, I think, and then only yeah, only lasted
Tracks, Regions, and Event Logistics
SPEAKER_01for a few years, four or five years, and then kind of went went bankrupt, but they're such sharp-looking little cars.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they were great little cars, they are tiny. I mean, it was two seats. I believe they did make a four-seat, but I never saw one of those. Uh, mine had a removable hardtop, I didn't have a rag top for it. Um, front-wheel drive, red o running gear, I believe, and um it was just a little blast uh to drive. Um, it was very economical as far as uh.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so how did you acquire this car? I think there's a maybe interesting story, maybe infamous story.
SPEAKER_00Well, my uh girlfriend at a time in Scotland had uh her brother had this thing in pieces in a shed. Um completely stripped out, just the body and then all the bits and pieces. And uh uh I remember I saw it and I said, hmm. So he sold it to me for something like, I don't know, at that time 15 pounds sterling, which was probably about, I don't know, 50 bucks something, um, something like that, in pieces. Uh shipped it down to where I was working on a farm. I was uh studying agriculture, I was working on a farm down near Edinburgh, and he was working in Edinburgh, probably so he helped me, did actually did most of the work, put it all back together again. And I drove it for a year or two, had some problems with the engines, um tended to lose cranks uh lose conrods and put them outside of a crank case. So eventually I sold it, and uh, I believe some I've found some pictures online of um uh a later owner when it was in pretty poor state, and then uh another picture when it was um fully restored. And it's the same one because the registration is the same. The registration was stayed with a car. So I don't know if they're no.
SPEAKER_02I don't have any pictures I can show you immediately, but uh but but that's how you were able to find the car so easily, right? Just remembering those numbers, right?
SPEAKER_00And yeah, yep, yeah. The license tag was WSP11. Okay, easily remembered.
SPEAKER_02Right, and it and it stays for the car with the car forever. Yeah, even if you lose the plate, they'll get you a replacement plate for it. Gotcha, gotcha. And is is that unique to uh the United Kingdom?
SPEAKER_00I believe I don't know, honestly. Uh I believe it is. Um, if you have a custom plate, no, a vanity plate, then you can keep that. But um normally the plate, the license registration goes with a car.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um and no, it's and actually tells you the license for letters uh WSP, I don't know which town it came from. Oh wow. Each town will have its own uh coded numbers.
SPEAKER_02So that was the DMV in the equivalent, the locality.
SPEAKER_01I I think that's so interesting because the plates here, every plate I've ever had that wasn't a vanity plate, it's just this kind of random, meaningless string of numbers. So to build a little bit of intelligence into the number that you're seeing, I think is really really clever.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yep. So that was my first uh, and I had a couple of other not very um uh Mars Oxfords and uh various other mini Coopers and so on, and then uh MG Midget was my next sports car, um, which was it handled well, but um didn't have my 1100cc motor, four-cylinder. Yeah. Uh MGB. MGB was much as a new car, uh my first new car. Okay. And uh that lasted till I came over here and um and then uh a couple of runarounds and eventually uh Porsche 944.
SPEAKER_02Yep. And that and that was uh 1986, did you say that?
SPEAKER_001983 I came over, 1986 I got this um secondhand uh um Porsche 944.
SPEAKER_02Okay, nice. And uh that's what really got you into Porsches, yeah. Yep. Okay. But but you were already, if I remember from the pre-show, you were already into racing um from an early age, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes, uh very lucky. Uh I was a boarding school in England, um, two miles from Silverstone racetrack, which at that time hosted most of the Formula One, a lot of motorcycle races and um sedan tin
Costs, Consumables, and Towing
SPEAKER_00tops, um sports car races, and uh very interesting a friend of mine at school, um uh his uncle had been a Formula One Lotus driver for a short time, I don't think for long. He was a motorsport uh one of the editors of one of motorsport magazines, and uh he would take the two of us up to Silverstone for the Grand Prix and got to meet a gentleman called Raymond Baxter, who was a TV commentator, and uh he took uh uh took us under his wing and took me into a driver's meetings. I met Jim Clark many times, talked to Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Joe Bonnier, Sifford, um Rodriguez, all the drivers of the 60s. Um Jackie Stewart, I only just briefly met, but uh so a lot of uh and I actually was introduced into a driver's meeting. He brought me into a driver's meeting, and I was just standing around talking to him. So and then I'd go to all the motorcycle, I was very big into motorcycles and go to all motorcycle races. I'd hear them from school. Uh on Saturdays, you could hear them two miles away. And uh I'd hear that, and ears would prick up, and I'd bicycle or hitch a ride two miles to the track, skip in through the fence and uh um to all the sports car races, and I'd sort of got really interested in a uh 904 Porsche 904 Carrera, which uh come as fairly new most days, I think, and uh up against the Camaros and this uh V8s, it was uh beautiful old car. And that really attracted me to him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, if I can hop in here, Doug, please. So how uh how would so when you were coming up learning how to drive, you were obviously driving from from a very early age, you said, you know, 11, getting a hold of things. How was learning to drive then different from what you see nowadays, kids learning how to drive? Do you think the way you did it, being able to sort of noodle around a little bit earlier was better? Do you think there's more kind of a formal education now?
SPEAKER_00Uh very difficult because I got all my licenses in UK. You had to be 17 to get a car license. And most people, more than 50%, failed the driver's license first time. Oh, wow. It was a very strict um you know, they took you out in town to park you take you on hills. In town. Wow. Park you on hills, uh, red lights on the hill. Uh you'd have to do a correct sequence with the handbrake, and uh these were all stick shifts. So we didn't uh if you passed your test in a automatic, which was rare in those days, um, you were restricted to automatics. If you passed your test in the stick shift, that's interesting. You could drive anything. Um so um no, it was difficult to get your license. Um, and I'd been driving on farms. I'd lived in the country and uh helped farmers out driving tractors and stuff. So no, it was uh no. It was a apart from learning the highway code and the the legal aspects, which was um it was very, very simple for me to you know uh get a license. Gotcha.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we we've had interviewed people, I want to say just recently, and their first cars were really tractors because they grew up like like you did on a farm and they were always you know helping their parents out or running little errands here or there, and it was it was a wonderful way to learn.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yep. Go ahead, Doug.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, that was uh crew and cash. So I'm curious, um, and this is just about your your Porsches that you own today. You have a 88911 Targa and you have a 719146, being the flat six engine, uh, that uses a race car. What um and we're I'm a big fan of air-cooled Porsche. Of course, they're so expensive now to buy that everybody wants one. What is the best thing about owning an air-cooled Porsche and what is the worst thing about owning one?
SPEAKER_00Uh worst thing is they're expensive. Uh so if you damage it, it's uh it's gonna hurt more than it would, you know, when I bought mine back in I bought my 88 car target in 1980, 98, I think it was 10 years old. And no, it was okay. No, I'd race it, uh, take it on the racetrack, no problem. Um nowadays some of those cars are up in
Who Can Drive & Track Day Access
SPEAKER_00the $100,000.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_00Um, so no, it's that's kind of a disadvantage in the way because it's a rarity, but it it it's uh it puts a price on your wallet. Um they are very reliable, they handle beautifully, they're different handling. Um, it's advisable to learn how to handle them with a rear engine weight all the back. The advantage with that is when you come out of a corner and you accelerate the waste transfer to the back, puts weight on the rear wheels, and gives you better acceleration. Um, whereas up the rear tires a lot quicker um because it weights 60 or more percent on the back, and you go through about two set uh set of rears or two sets of rears, one set of front tires normally. Um parts are expensive generally. Um brake pads and so on are consumable, so fairly, but anything more serious can get uh difficult to find in some of these older cars. Um it's what 30 some years old. Um so no bits do wear out.
SPEAKER_02Yep, yep, but yeah, they're collector's items, and I I don't know when it when it happened, but the um even even the water 996 when it came out, nobody liked it. And now I think it was Magnus Walker somehow said, Hey, it's not a bad car, and then the prices on those started going up.
SPEAKER_00Yep, they are um they're very capable. I mean, yeah, when it first came out, everyone you know, all the well, when the old 356s gave way to 911s, all the die hards were oh no, you can't do that. And then when you know the air cooled and 97 died out with the 996s, and everyone said, No, no, no. They're the cayenne's and everyone's um but no the uh the air the water cooled ones are very very capable. Um the suspensions way more advanced, uh all the systems more advanced, it's a lot heavier. Um I don't think we're as much fun to drive. I think the old air-cooled ones are more you're more involved, you're more connected. Uh my 911 Targa doesn't have power steering, doesn't have ABS, doesn't have anything like that. It's just um very basic. Um and you can feel everything, you're in it, you're involved with it much more than the newer cars. And no artificial um nannies to help get you out of the problem. You're you're on your own. Right.
SPEAKER_02And uh I know it's not they're not super popular, they didn't make a ton of them, but the the 914, so 914 being a mid-engine car, right? Yeah, yeah, would you consider that superior on the track?
SPEAKER_00Uh in some ways, handling it's neutral. Um it does have a tendency because it's uh it will spin like a top. Okay. Um, but usually it will stay on the track. When they spin, they spin around the center. And whereas the 911, if that spins, it'll do a wide, much wider circuit. Right. Possibly go off track or maybe hit something. So 914s are you know much more predictable, much more finicky, the edge that when things have go sideways, they go sideways enough. So to speak. Yep. Very much much more quickly than it would in a no. Um and again, it's uh more involvement, um, you know, being more no tied into the car. I think that's that's where I get my particular uh the same when I was flying and so on, I was no in involved.
SPEAKER_02Yep, yep. Not not on not on cruise control, so to speak. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Um,
Early Car Memories: Mom’s MG and Citroën
SPEAKER_02so I did want to ask you something new. What is uh this is a new question we started asking our listeners, our uh guests, pardon me, and listeners too, if they'd like to be asked, on the show. What was the most dangerous car you've owned or been in?
SPEAKER_00Uh I would have to say my ex-father-in-law's Vartburg. Yep. Three-cylinder, uh, two-stroke. Um brakes were marginal, optional, you might call them. Um it was uh it was a fun little car, and it was actually surprisingly uh peppy for what it was. I think maybe what, 1200cc, 1000cc, I'm not sure. Pretty small. It was a little station wagon type thing. But he drove he bought it new from East Germany back in the I guess later 60s, and actually took it back to East Germany to get it serviced at the uh at the factory in East Germany. Um, so that was one of my no, drove that a few times, not that I was worried about damaging it uh or scared of my father-in-law or ex. Um it was just a question that's I'm not sure if they're gonna stop going down a hill.
SPEAKER_02But but he loved the car, and uh, you know, we this is not the first time I've heard of a wart Warberg. Um Christian, who do who did we have, who did we have on the show that grew up in East Germany and it was his first car, and I think he owns one. He lives on the Eastern Shore.
SPEAKER_01Chris. Chris from season one or early season two, and it didn't click until Dirk was talking about it just now. Yeah, he he has one or two, and he just loved their their gracelessness and their boxy shape. Yep. Uh, I think he's got I think he still has a couple, I think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but it looked a little bit like the uh Saab 99, I think it was the uh the boxy Saab had a Ford three-cylinder motor in it. But uh yeah, and then uh some of the spit trial spitfires I drove were a little uh iffy on the handling. No. The ones I'd be uh apart from maybe on certain race cars uh on track with students and being a bit uh exciting.
SPEAKER_01Can't imagine, can't imagine. What do you think about that, Doug? Call back to the to the iron curtain.
SPEAKER_02What do you think? Well, you know, it'd be cool to have a Wartberg come to a high performance uh driving event.
SPEAKER_01Oh we have to make that happen. We have to just put putt around. Yeah, we need it would put a round. Yeah, yeah, Berkeley and a Wartberg uh for for supremacy on the racetrack. We need to do that, yeah, for sure. Maybe I love it. Yeah. Well, as we go ahead, yeah. Did you have something, Dirk or Doug? Did you want to hold it?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I just had MG midgets and MGB, um, and then you know, got into a portion.
SPEAKER_02So kind of you've kind you've kind of owned it all.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's been around the track, so to speak. Yeah, I love it. Well, um, yeah, as we guide the podcast gently to the off-ramp here, Dirk, I gotta ask you one question on the way out. You mentioned that when you were younger, man, uh my my jaw was just on the floor when you were talking about how um, you know, you you met people around the racetrack uh and were exposed to these luminaries, these really internationally famous drivers. And it made me think you mentioned the name Jackie Stewart. And I think I read a book about him uh w when I was younger. I just thought he was the coolest thing. He was honestly very successful in many different racing disciplines, but became an ABC sports commentator. Um he was knighted, by the way, so he served Jackie Stewart. He was he would call the races
Teen Training & Tire Rack Street Survival
SPEAKER_01on uh ABC's wild world of sports for those I was little, but I remember that. I just thought they were sending it. But he became a celebrity here in a way. He did commercials for for Ford and for Heineken. So I have to ask you, last question is what was he like in person? Do you remember? Was he gracious? Was he kind?
SPEAKER_00I didn't really spend much time with him. Um he was I was spent more time with um with uh Jim Clark.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And Graham Hill uh talking to them, spending time with them than I did with Jackie Shuart. Jackie Stuart's uh they all seemed generally very quiet. Uh a lot of humility. They didn't seem they'd be fun. There'd be no standing around drinking beer and at the end of the day and smoking cigarettes and you know um they seemed a lot of camaraderie. Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_01He seemed intense, and I would think that it's it's really a life or death sport when you're going that fast. And I just see the intensity coming off uh come coming off of these people in this discipline. But yeah, what a neat memory. What a neat memory. Thank you for sharing. Yeah, well, Dirk, it was great to meet you. We appreciate your taking some time out of your day. I'd love to have you back. Uh you can just tell stories for days. We could be going here all night, but you know, I Doug will keep you here, but I know you got to go eat dinner here at some point.
SPEAKER_00Talk about my air cooled flying uh engines.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, I'd love to have you back after, you know, maybe later in the summer after Watkins Glenn and kind of tell us a little bit about what happened, and that's that's a big name. And yeah, replay. Yeah, that would be great. So again, Dirk, we had a great time. Thank you for making the time. It was fantastic meeting you. Well, thank you very much. Great meeting you guys. Indeed. You have just heard the high revving, low mileage, late modeled herd, round the world authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia. He's Doug. Reach him at DougcarsLove.com. I'm Christian. Reach me at Christian at CarsLove.com. And this was Dirk, one of the coolest guys you'll ever meet. And he will be back. So please follow and tell a friend. If you like what you've heard, leave a review. We're also at carslove.com and check out our link tree at L-I-N-K-T-R dot E slash Cars Loved. He never misses a mark. I am sure we'll see you at the next local car show, showroom, race trip, or concourse. As always, we appreciate your taking a laugh with us, and we will see you next time.
