Take a 360-Video Tour of a Magnus Walker's Sweet Porsches

If you are a Porsche fan

this is probably a place

you've always wanted to have a look inside.

We are with Magnus Walker,

this is your downtown L.A.,

not just workshop but garage

and your personal collection.

Can you show us around?

Sure let's take a little walk.

Let's start with the center row,

the Turbo row,

what I call Turbo fever.

So all these cars in here are yours,

these are ones that you keep?

Yeah basically to clarify, you know,

I'm a collector, driver, builder,

I don't build customer cars,

I'm not an independent performance shop,

I'm just an enthusiast.

And you can see that looking around,

there's really I mean.

Yeah, this is what I'd call

an out of control hobby.

Fantastic.

Inspiration is everywhere as you see on the wall.

You know a lot of my design inspiration

and influences from the late 60's

and or early 70's

so basically I describe myself

as a little bit as a mix master.

I pull these eras of inspiration

in which we're surrounded by.

Essentially throw them into the blender,

pick out the bits that I like

and out comes my build.

Out come some very modified cars

but also that you have some very classic looking,

almost stock looking cars here.

Yeah I mean I fell in love

with Porsche as a kid in 1977

London Earls Court Motor Show,

that story's familiar.

I'll rush the story 'cause I know

we only have a limited amount of time.

But these are first generation

three liter Turbo cars.

The Turbo came out in 1975.

That's right, yeah.

In 1975 Porsche built 284 of these.

What's interesting about these two cars

is this is a left hand drive example,

this is a right hand drive example.

Right.

Porsche only made 17 right hand Turbos in 1975.

This is the first ever right hand drive car

I've actually ever owned.

When I was in England.

Despite being British.

Yeah, when I was in England

I didn't have my drivers license,

I left England at 19.

Never owned a car there.

So these are mostly stock

other than being slightly lowered.

And very special.

The front row is more of the modified row, you know.

You said earlier on I'm known for customizing

and building these outlaw cars.

Here's perhaps a car, my favorite car,

number 277.

Started life as a '71 911T.

It's a car I'm most associated with

'cause it's one that's been featured

in the majority of my videos

and magazine articles.

And it's very much you colors isn't it?

Red, white and blue.

Yeah, you know for me

I'm an English kid living in L.A.

I've been here for 30 years

but growing up I watched

a lot of American TV,

Dukes of Hazzard, Starsky and Hutch of course,

Captain America

and of course Evel Knievel.

So I like to bring a lot of those

color design elements into my builds.

This car did start in 2009

it's been an on again off again project.

It's a 1967 S.

It's my usual sort of sport-purpose,

streetable track build

but with a few new elements, you know,

sort of the defining feature of this car

is the front louvered fenders

and this is something that even Porsche

has never done on a curved steel louvered fender.

Sure they've done a louver

on the 1917 Le Mans winning car

but these are individually stamped into the fender

one by one.

So my buddy, Rod Emery who is the 356 outlaw,

essentially he was the only guy

that could do this job

and he had to start by scanning the fender

because a louver with that radius

didn't exist.

In the past I'd done a lot of these hot rod

louvered deck lids

where it's a flat louver.

So, Rod scanned the fender

and then he made a custom billet aluminum dye

of the same radius

and then it was a matter of just establishing

the center of the fender,

punching the hole,

slitting the line,

and then each individual louver is stamped out

from the underside.

So you have to imagine the fender is turned upside down,

two guys are holding it

and then one guy's positioning it.

And you do have to make sure

that they're perpendicular

and equally spaced

'cause once it's stamped in

it's there forever.

It's a beautifully detailed job.

There are some other details in this room

that just sort of tell me

a little bit of the story about you and your cars.

What I want to pick up on

is the tires.

We have some over there.

You have some on the shelves behind you.

A lot of tires basically.

Do you go through them quickly?

I'm a little bit of a tire hoarder.

I'm one of those guys

that I don't ever throw anything away.

I've always said get out and drive,

pedal to the metal

but that does come at a price.

You know and so I do tend to go through

a lot of rubber tires.

You know, my theory is so long

as they're round and hold air

they're still good.

So I never ever throw anything away.

But it's the price of going pedal to the metal.

And that is still the passion?

That's the driver behind all of this?

Yeah, I mean for me

the ultimate thrill is the drive,

it's the freedom out there.

Ironically I live around the corner

and I walk to work.

So that's how I keep my carbon footprint low.

And for me in all honesty,

80% of my driving is pure pleasure.

I don't commute to work in traffic

'cause to me that's not driving,

it's commuting.

I pick the time that suits my schedule.

Usually very early in the morning.

And I go blast through canyons

or my favorite roads

and to me it's the ultimate freedom.

Also, for me it's like working out,

it's my therapy 'cause I'm in control of the car

at whatever speed I wanna drive at.

And that's the challenge

of getting the most our of these cars

which are essentially for the most part

40 or 50 years old.

You're just involved and connected

with the vehicle itself

and it's a mechanical experience.

And ultimately that is what I love

about driving

and hopefully that art will never ever die

'cause that's my thrill,

it's my drive, it's my religion.

I always say,

Get out and drive.

Pedal to the metal.