80-year-old buys 80th Porsche, brand loyalty underlines his mammoth garage
80 is just a number unless it is your age and also the number of Porsche cars one has owned over the years. Meet Ottocar J, a resident of Vienna who recently bought a Boxster Spyder in a gleaming blue colour to complete 80 Porsche cars purchased over the past several decades. At an age when most would prefer a rocking chair, cigar in hand, Ottocar is more than content driving around in his Porsche cars, steering in hand, open roads ahead.
If someone ever decides to create a list of Porsche fans, his name may well be at the very, very top.
Ottocar says his passion for Porsche started nearly 50 years ago when one such car flew past him. As the cars raced past, something stirred deep within him. Over the next few years, he started saving money and eventually bought a 911 E in Speed Yellow. This would be the first of many, many more to come.
The subsequent decades saw Ottocar add a 917, a 910 with a rare eight-cylinder engine, a 904 with its original Fuhrmann engine and a 956. In all, he purchased as many as 80 Porsche cars and currently owns 38. "I can drive a different one every day for a month – and two at the weekends," he says.
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The passion, of course, is not just in purchasing these vehicles but in driving them and when not on the move, having a proper garage. Or in this particular case, an entire building. Yes, Ottocar built a separate building for his Porsche cars and calls it his 'living room.' All members of his Porsche collection are displayed here, coupled with a toy shop, an antiques store and a cinema screen too. Where one would typically expect paintings, Ottocar has posters from races and the decor is completed with numerous components, trophies and mementos.
The Porsche cars are lined up on both sides and there's precision here too. On the left are racing cars, ordered in ascending format while the right side begins with a Jagdwagen military vehicle, an early 356 Coupé with bent windscreen, and then several early 911, 911 RS 2.7, and a row of 930 Turbo.
But a Porsche is meant to be driven, not just showcased.
As such, Ottocar is often out and about with some of his cars. Does he have a favourite among these? He won't say he does but does admit that the Type 981 Boxster Spyder is taken out more than others. "“The sound, how it drives, its suspension, everything that it does – it is the only one of my road-legal Porsche that reminds me of my 910," he says.
The Austrian is, therefore, clearly enamoured by Porsche cars but does admit that these beauties are just machines unless given a human touch. "Without the people, the cars are just cars. It is people who breathe life into them," he says.
