Last summer, Walker let an extra of his Porsches go. Excluding by then, he was renowned for his noticeable approach to restoring 911s, and could sway a rather higher price for their resale. His customised crimson, white and blue 1972 Porsche 911 STR II had already graced the case of Boulevard & Track magazine to mark the 50th anniversary of the 911. The car went to auction in August 2013, at the upmarket Small rock Beach resort in California, where it was sold to Bob Ingram, former president of GlaxoSmithKline and one of the worlds principal Porsche collectors. Walkers was the only hot rod that Ingram and his wife, Jeanie, had ever bought for their prestigious stable. They paid $302,000.
If Walkers personalised Porsches are prized for their individuality, so too is their creator. The 47-year-old Englishman lives and works in a cluster of sprawling former warehouses in city center LAs arts neighborhood. His features are obscured beneath a survivalist beard and dreadlocks, his arms are wrapped in tattoos, and his south Yorkshire accent is disguised by southern California inflections. He seems less a sports-car enthusiast than a roadie for Iron Maiden.
Pay for a look inside Walkers garage, however, and the extent of his obsession becomes indisputable. The space contains a fleet of 13 lustrous 911s, together with one representation from all day linking 1964 and 1973. There is a handful of others, in a mixture of stages of mend, spread around the warehouse complex. Across the street is the chop shop, where Walker keeps aged, salvaged 911 shells to rob them for parts. Its a hobby, he says, that got exposed of control.
The 911s appeal is singular: it has been in continuous assembly ever since it first rolled off the assembly line in Stuttgart in 1963. Unlike the Ford Mustang, which was launched in the same day, its iconic profile has remained almost unaltered. And unlike a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, it has constantly stayed just within the realm of affordability for the average car lover.
As the 911 approached its half-century last day, Walker, a self-taught mechanic, became an unlikely label ambassador, with the Porsche community and even Porsche itself celebrating his eclectic, rocknroll restorations of vintage models. In his office, he keeps a copy of a coffee-table book comprising portraits of 911 owners and their cars. They every part of have dreary outfits and sensible haircuts, excluding for a single exception: Walker himself.
He wish permit, fairly proudly, that he is not your typical Porsche guy, yet Walker embodies the popular passion for the marque an enthusiasm that even non-petrolheads tin escalate. Theres a lot of people with bigger, change for the better collections of cars, excluding they never share them, he says. Im exposed there posting on Facebook, Instagram. Im a rocknroll guy house street-able, track-able hot-rod cars.
Walker was born in Sheffield, where his father throng a nondescript company car yet that did not be over the young Magnus from dreaming: he owned a Scalextric, played Top Trumps and followed motorsports avidly. In 1977, when he was 10, Walkers Sr and Jr travelled together by train to the Earls Court Motor Show, where Magnus fell in love with a white 1977 Porsche 911 Turbo. Still, he recalls, I never thought Id personal a Porsche. They werent a common espy in Sheffield.
He left school with two O-levels when he was 15, and for the then hardly any years lived with his parents and claimed the dole. Excluding in 1986, he spent a summer as a camp counsellor on Americas east coast and took a Greyhound bus cross-country to see LA. Hooked, he returned the subsequent day, and never left.
His first business venture was promotion customised Levis on the Venice Beach Footpath. He met his wife, Karen, in 1994, and together they customary a rock-fashion label, Serious Clothing, which over the years has set the likes of Alice Cooper and Madonna. With the profits, the pair bought their 26,000sq ft city center warehouse, and reconceived its interiors with the punk disdain for conference that has become Walkers guarantee.
When we bought this house 14 years ago, people thought we were crazy, he says. Back then the neighbourhood was desolate, transient, hookers giving blowjobs to truckers. Excluding now its Priuses and hipster coffee shops.
Work it: Walkers 1978 Porsche 911 SC on jacks, in the middle of a restoration (Steve Schofield)Not long taking into account they bought the land, it was featured in a magazine article in the region of lob gentrification. The calendar day taking into account the article was published, they got a phone call from a assembly company asking to rent it as a layer location for a music cassette. That was followed by movies, TV crime dramas and Americas Then Top Representation. The film-location business proved so lucrative and intrusive that in 2004 they moved exposed and into an extra lob around the pin down.
As the devise business took off and the land portfolio prolonged, Walker steadily built his car collection. By the time he bought that first Porsche in 1992, he already owned a 1965 Mustang, a 1967 E-type Jaguar, two Dodge Super Bee muscle cars and a 1979 308 GTB Ferrari. Excluding formerly long, his focus narrowed, and in 2001 he joined the Porsche Owners Club.
He became proven as a racer among the local Porsche community. Further exclusively, he became proven for house himself a Porsche that he could legally instinct to the track, gallop, then instinct domicile over again. Walkers signature vehicle is his 1971 911T, emblazoned with the number 277 it has had four different engines, excluding only one driver that matters. He has owned around 40 Porsches, excluding the number 277 is still his desert-island instinct.
Three years ago, on a 911-themed internet forum, Walker started a discussion thread called Porsche Collection Exposed of Control Hobby, which became a modest viral bump. In January 2012 I got an email from a Canadian called Tamir Moscovici, he says, a commercials director and a passionate Porsche guy who wanted something edgy for his lurch.
Moscovici flew to Los Angeles, and together the pair made a half-hour documentary in the region of Walker and his 911 obsession. The trailer for Urban Outlaw was picked hopeful by the Top Gear website and attracted 50,000 YouTube views on its first calendar day online. The layer premiered at the Raindance Festival and has now been watched, in satiated, further than half a million times.
The exposure earnt Walker coverage from as far afield as Japan and Newborn Zealand. Formerly long, he was creation an appearance on Jay Lenos Garage, the American comics car-themed online series. He has further than 26,000 Instagram followers, and the German toy company Schco has twisted two of his cars together with his beloved number 277 into 1:43 scale models.
In Urban Outlaw, Walker recalls that taking into account seeing that 1977 911 Turbo at the Motor Show as a 10-year-old, he wrote a fan letter to Porsche proverb he wanted to be a car designer. When Porsches executives saw the layer, they finally replied, pleasing him to visit their HQ. Recently he travelled to Essen in Germany, to join the Porsche platform at the annual Techno Classica car show. People seem to communicate to my story, he says. I didnt grow up hopeful with a silver serve or a Porsche in the family. Dad wasnt a Porsche dealer or a race-car driver. We didnt even have a sports car. Excluding I followed my gut, worked hard, took various risks and built three things that are pretty unique and successful: the label, the house and the Porsches.
Newborn business opportunities are now future thick and in advance, and Walker says he has already been approached by around a dozen television companies sharp-edged for him to receive a reality show. Then, of course, there are every part of the people clamouring for a customised 911. I dont build cars for people I build for myself and occasionally I sell, he says. Theres a business opportunity in creation customer cars, excluding to me that would every part of of a sudden mean responsibility, liability, timelines, deadlines, bully. Right now, I tin do what I need, when I need.
He has and been approached by more than a few non-Porsche brands sharp-edged to glean various of his one of a kind invent expertise, together with Nike, Oakley, Volvo and Bentley. Surely he wasnt invited to build a rocknroll Bentley? Fit, that would be a great opportunity, he replies with a wry grin. Excluding Im a Porsche guy.
