For many, there is no substitute. Least of all for Randy Meyers.
by Roger Klein // Photography by Roger Klein
The Blue Mountain man with a need for speed admits that Corvettes were his first passion, but he developed his taste for exotics while living and working in Europe as a pro hockey player and coach. Rabdy Meyers bought his first Porsche before heading into the mountains in Switzerland on a ski trip. It was a 1968 911 S.
“They have back seats, you know,” Meyers points out. “We put roof racks on it and four of us piled in. It didn’t have snow tires or anything like that, but it was a nice enough day.”
When Meyers finished his tour, he shipped the car to Canada. He still reminisces about driving it around Wasaga Beach with Swiss license plates.
“We got pulled over, the cop came up and asked me if we spoke English,” he laughs.
That first car was the beginning of a business venture that would last for decades. Meyers became a Porsche specialist buying cars in Europe and importing them to Canada, feeding what was a growing thirst for high performance machinery. Performance matters, says Meyers, referring to the race track where “935 Porsches were the winningest cars of all time back in the ‘80s. They were so dominant for so long.”
That performance pedigree started way back in 1887 when Karl Benz invented the boxer engine. Also known as a contra engine, the boxer uses horizontally opposed pistons that reach top dead centre simultaneously, which balances the momentum of the pistons.
The air-cooled, flat-four power plants were first used in early Volkswagen Beetles before Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche stuck one in the back of the company’s first sports car, the 356, in 1948. The engine produced a feeble 35 horsepower but was still able to propel the aerodynamic car to speeds over 80 miles per hour.
The rear-mounted engine gave the Porsche a low centre of gravity, while oversized wheels, independent suspension and torsion bars all contributed to the small car’s handling.
Meyers still reminisces about driving it around Wasaga Beach with Swiss license plates. “We got pulled over, the cop came up and asked me if we spoke English,” he laughs.
“Porsche was a few years ahead, people don’t realize that but they really were,”
says Meyers.
Over the next 75 years, one timeless classic after another rolled out of Porsche’s factory in Stuttgart, Germany. Some of the most memorable ones appeared in the “Cobble Beach Classics” feature at the 2023 Canadian International AutoShow. The display included 16 historically significant classic Porsche models, including a 1952 356 Pre A and a 1969 917 Long Tail.
According to Meyers, there’s a growing interest in classic Porsches and values have skyrocketed more than 500 percent over the past decade. “Where else can you buy a car, drive it for five years and get your money back or more?”
He says the trend started when Steve McQueen’s 1970 Porsche 911 S sold at auction for US$1.375 million in August 2011. The slate-grey Carrera played a leading role in the opening of the ultimate motor racing film, Le Mans.
Meyers says a classic Porsche can be a great investment. “I would buy a ’97 twin turbo for US$150,000 because that car is just going to appreciate more and more and more every year.”
Dozens of the classic cars have passed through Meyers’ hands over the years and he continues to host the annual WhaleTail swap meet and car show in Waterloo. It’s an event where his fellow Porsche nuts and hardcore collectors can find original parts for their project cars or sell what they have to others.
He always has his own project car on the go too. “I’m building a 1972 911 T ‘restomod’ with a 3.2-litre engine, electronic fuel injection and 16-inch wheels.
I want it to look original, but I still don’t know what colour I’m going to paint it,” Meyers says.
While the cars can become very valuable, Meyers believes Porsches are meant to be driven. “Drive it until it needs to be rebuilt again, don’t just look at it,” he says. “They like to be driven every day.”
Meyers has great enthusiasm for buying and driving vintage Porsches, but he also has words of caution for anyone getting into the market. He says there are very few old-school technicians who really know how to rebuild the vintage cars and their engines.
“Before you buy a car, know where you are going to get it serviced.”
“Drive it until it needs to be rebuilt again, don’t just look at it,” he says. “They like to be driven every day.”
