With all the new fangled technology out there today, I find myself getting spoiled and lazy and bored. I rented a car last week that had a monitor for a rearview mirror. Yesterday I did an oil service on a new Macan that will basically talk to you like a person. It's totally crazy how far the world of technology has come. And with the new Taycan on the horizon, who knows what will be next... maybe even a flying Porsche!
Every once in awhile it is nice to get back to basics and remember where the whole thing started. I'm talking Porsche 911's as they are my favorites. Today I was cleaning a 1969 911S engine case. I am getting it ready to go out for some much deserved machine work and internal upgrades. This is a 1R case... probably the worst of the worst if you talk to anyone that is trying to make horsepower. But it is very special when it is the numbers matching engine for a car that is undergoing a complete restoration that the owner will enjoy for many years to come.
It's not the first Mezger case, but it is the first Mezger case made out of magnesium. Ugh... magnesium. Total junk, right? Wrong! This is the same metal that allowed Nikki Lauda to become a Formula 1 legend. But, yes, it does have it's limitations. Still, when you are working with a casting from 1969 and realize that you are merely standing on the shoulders of Giants, it is kind of cool and humbling. Without those Giants that came before us, we wouldn't have the opportunity to have discovered this passion. So when people ask me why we spend so much time cleaning a case that is just going to get dirty again... well, I think of it an honoring those Giants that made this all possible. Attempting to take a piece of metal back to the origin from where it came. It's all apart of the overall experience of trying to make sure that others can have that soul exposing experience of driving an aircooled Porsche the way it was meant to be... even with some oil weeps.
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