We chatted with famed fashion designer and classic car collector Magnus Walker about his passion for Porsches, and he offered advice about driving and maintaining cars.
What should every car owner know about their vehicle from a maintenance perspective?
The greatest thing about the automotive industry is that everyone speaks the same language. Maintenance is important. Cars were built to be driven and I have very little interest in a car with limited miles. A car with 500,000 miles obviously holds a lot of history.
I always say it’s the people that make the cars interesting. Without people driving them, cars are just appliances that sit still. From a maintenance point of view, the best maintenance for any car is to drive it. And older cars — in a sense — are also simpler to work on. They don’t get plugged into a computer for diagnostic.
I think as long as people have fun tinkering around with cars, there will always be a place for fossil fuel cars and internal combustion engines. Routine maintenance and hands-on tinkering, whether you do it yourself or send it out to a performance or service shop, is pretty important. When it comes to classic cars, I also think the more you drive them, the better they become.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I always say that, for me, life’s a journey and the vehicle that takes you on that road is the car. The car is the great equalizer. In my experience, I’ve been able to travel all over the world and meet a lot of interesting car-cultured people. Automobiles are common bonds that bring everybody together from different economic and social backgrounds. I think true car enthusiasts can relate to the passion of the automobile being the vehicle that essentially can take you anywhere you want to go. It’s just a matter of piloting that car down the open road with your two eyes, your two feet, your two hands, and your brain.
I like to get in the car and drive while some other people like to go to the gym. For me, driving is a sort of therapy or meditation. So I guess my message would be: Get out there and drive, and see what the future on the open road brings.
I always say commuting to work is not driving. Freedom ultimately is the drive on the open road.