Meet the owners that fell head over wheels with their favourite sportscar
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Are you a 911 fan in a romantic mood this 14 February? Do you go weak at the knees when a 718 Cayman drives past you? We’ve gathered stories of people who found their true love in a Porsche place
A passion for Porsche comes in all shapes and sizes. For Valentine’s Day, we’ve collected heartwarming Porsche tales from beloved owners, from a journey of one million kilometres (and counting) to a serendipitous encounter thanks to a shared love of the Cayman GT4 and how a Porsche enabled one couple’s epic honeymoon road trip. Power couple: James and Nicky met in an online GT4 owners’ groupA Porsche love story in record timingLong before James Oliver and Nicky Stevenson met, they had a passion for cars. Prior to buying the Porsche sportscars that would bring them together, they’d each, coincidentally, owned a Porsche daily driver in the exact same shade of red. Little did the future lovebirds know that this red hot desire would lead them to a GT4 owners’ group where they would eventually meet. James, a financial advisor, had a Taycan Turbo S in Carmine Red while Nicky, managing director of an estate agency, was the proud owner of a 718 GTS in the very same colour as James’ electric Porsche. After receiving a promotion, Nicky fancied treating herself to a new sportscar – and after a test drive, she knew immediately that a new Porsche was the car for her. For James, his love of Porsche went all the way back to his childhood. “I was always the kid who had a picture of a 911 on the bedroom wall,” he explains. “I bought my first Porsche in 2014 – a Boxster S. That was followed by a 911 Carrera S that I should never have sold, and then my Taycan, which I love.” As time went by, it was Nicky’s quest for even more power and performance – and James’ continuing regret at selling his beloved 911 – that were the catalysts for steering them both towards the idea of a 718 Cayman GT4 as their next car.
The GT4 will always be closest to my heart,” says James. “After all, we’d never have met without it James Oliver | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 owner
Side by side: after discovering a shared love for the 718 Cayman GT4, Nicky and James would eventually make plans to share their lives together“I missed my 911, but wanted something that was more race-orientated,” James explains. “The GT4 offered a more analogue driving experience with a free-revving, naturally aspirated engine. And it was sure to sound fantastic.” James plumped for a 718 Cayman GT4 in his dream spec of Python Green, while Nicky purchased hers in Shark Blue, decisions that prompted them to join an online GT4 owners’ group. Their like-minded interest threw them into regular conversations with each other, and culminated with James inviting Nicky to attend a Porsche event with him in real life. A whirlwind romance ensued, and within a year the pair got engaged while on holiday in Croatia, with their wedding scheduled for the summer of 2023.It will come as no surprise that their special day will have a strong Porsche theme. The table plan incorporates model and colour names while the bride-to-be will arrive in James’ Taycan. Meanwhile, the best man will turn up at the service in the groom’s GT4, and the groom himself in his new Porsche obsession – a 911 GT3 in Ultraviolet, a Porsche Paint To Sample colour. Until then, one thing’s for sure – the couple will embark on many more Porsche experiences together in the future. So far they’ve already undertaken hot laps of the Nordschleife at the Nürburgring, attended the Carrera Cup race weekend at Donington Park and visited the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. Both his GT4 and new GT3 are “keepers” says James, but naturally one of them will forever remain special. “The GT4 will always be closest to my heart,” says James. “After all, we’d never have met without it.”The million-kilometre Porsche: a love story that goes the distance How many love stories do you know that could make it to the moon and back? What about three times that distance? This is the tale of a pair that have travelled over one million kilometres together – and there’s no signs of them stopping any time soon. Scottish-Canadian Bill MacEachern has treasured his Porsche 930 Turbo for 48 years, securing it the year after it came onto the market in 1975. The first time he got behind the wheel of a 911, he was immediately smitten – so much so that Bill has never driven another make of car since. It’s fair to say his Porsche is something of a four-wheeled soulmate. After nearly half a century together, Bill MacEachern and his 930 Turbo can still be seen out with each other on a daily basisYou could call it a case of love at first drive when it came to Bill discovering his passion for Porsche. “I couldn’t believe how agile, well-constructed and poised the car was,” he says as he remembers test driving one – a red 911 T – for the first time in 1970. “And comfortable too, despite the compact dimensions and impressive performance.” During his purchase of the 930, the dealer initially tried to dissuade Bill by suggesting that it was too powerful for him, and that he may prefer an alternative model. But Bill had already fallen in love with the Midnight Blue car – cork leather interior and all. By 1976, Bill was starting to put serious mileage on it as he embarked on his first major road trip, touring across Ontario and Quebec, to a Trans-Am race in Trois Rivières. During the decades that followed, this formidable pairing of man and elegant machine covered hundreds of thousands of kilometres on journeys across North America, from Sebring to West Palm Beach, treks to the Road Atlanta circuit in Georgia and down to Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glen in New England. Bill has even travelled from his home in Toronto across to the Monterey Historic Automobile Races in northern California an impressive five times.It was in 2012 that the car clicked over its landmark one millionth kilometre while on their way to the famous Porsche Only Swap Meet in Pennsylvania. “We had a little celebration with a champagne toast when I got back to Toronto,” Bill says. Reaching that milestone was, of course, not the end of the road for man or car. The number has kept on rising ever since – it has over 1.3 million kilometres on the clock today. It surely comes as no surprise when Bill says that he can’t imagine swapping it for any modern sportscar. “The 930 was such an amazing watershed machine. Porsche Turbos have set new standards of excellence as both racing machines and high-performance road machines. And they’re still a one-of-a-kind thrill to own and drive today.” Honeymoon road trip: a Porsche love story that reached new heights One newlywed pair. A Porsche 718 Cayman GT4. And 9,000km on a huge Porsche European road trip. That’s how you honeymoon, Porsche style. Swiss couple Joël and Nina Eichenberger celebrated tying the knot with an epic driving holiday across the continent. Spanning more than five whole weeks on the road, their travels saw them driving some of the world’s greatest mountain passes, as well as detours to golden beaches and encounters with local wildlife. With a shared adoration for their Porsche – and each other, of course – the duo ensured that their journey would be a trip of a lifetime.Love is in the mountain air: Joël and Nina wed at the top of Switzerland’s iconic Grimsel Pass | PHOTO: Joël and Nina EichenbergerJoël recounts how his love for Porsche started at a young age. “All I ever dreamed of was Porsche,” he says. “Every single Porsche I saw would turn my head. I made it my goal to one day own one.” For a long time, he thought it would take years to have the ability to do so. But a spontaneous decision to pop into the Porsche Centre in Bern allowed him to realise his childhood dream much sooner than previously anticipated.In a decision that would end up steering the direction of their lives, Joël and Nina were particularly fond of the 718 Cayman GT4 that they saw in the showroom. Joël admits to having been a bit of a GT4 fanboy, having fallen for the launch model back in 2016. With both he and his wife-to-be sharing a passion for taking on tight bends, seeing the GT4 in the flesh was the catalyst to turn their Porsche dream into a reality. They signed on the dotted line there and then. It meant that, all of a sudden, the couple’s initial plan to take their campervan with them on their honeymoon had taken an unexpected, but pleasing, turn.The day after their wedding, held at the summit of the stunning Grimsel Pass in Switzerland, Nina and Jöel set off in their Carrara White 718 Cayman GT4. In the space of a few weeks, they drove across 80 of the greatest mountain passes in Europe. Along the way they also fitted in beach stops in Spain and Portugal, sorties along France’s rugged Atlantic coastline and – leaving the GT4 behind them this time – a boat trip towards Morocco to watch dolphins at play. And yet, despite all this says Jöel, his standout moment involved his wife at the wheel. “The first person to drift the GT4 was Nina, not me,” he recalls. “I just smiled and thought ‘That’s my wife!’”
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