The Thrills of Driving a Vintage Porsche in Hawaii
It’s not just you: new experiences do feel richer and more textured these days. Chalk it up to the obvious fact that we’ve been cooped up inside for the better part of two years, but the outside world is spectacular. Hawaii, for example, is a total fluke and the unlikeliest of geological miracles. Roughly 400,000 years ago, as the Pacific tectonic plate continued to move over a particularly hot spot in the Earth’s crust, volcanos spat out the Island of Hawaii. And, against the odds, this once-barren hunk of volcanic rock has survived in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Similarly, the Porsche 911 continues to survive amid a sea of newer, larger, and more powerful sports cars. The 911 shouldn’t have worked. A distant cousin of the Volkswagen Beetle, it emerged 59 years ago as an underpowered little sports car with the engine in entirely the wrong place, hung back behind the rear wheels. Yet here it is, thriving on Hawaii’s serpentine roads.
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That Porsche flew a handful of classic cars from its museum in Germany to Hawaii so we could drive them is, admittedly, more of a publicity stunt than a miracle. However, that does not blunt how it feels to drive an eggplant-coloured 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Cabriolet with the top down along the ocean. The air is sweet and swirling with old leather and the industrial sound of a 3.6-litre flat-six. Flexing your right foot sends more air roaring through the cabin. The South Kona Coast’s jungle becomes blurry. The 911’s steering seems inert at first, until you drive faster. Throw it into a corner and it whips around bends with the inside front fender cocked ever so slightly toward the sky.
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Yes, passersby are surely wondering why this bearded driver is smiling and laughing like a maniac all alone in an old Porsche. I have no real answer except to say that driving the right car on the right road can really be that good — life-enrichingly good — and I’m not taking it for granted anymore.
Learn more about the Porsche 911 here.
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