Friday, February 14, 2020

How We Love Our Cars: One Man and his 1.2 million kilometer Porsche 911 Turbo

Journey through Time: A million is not enough for Bill MacEachern. He has long since passed this magic number of kilometers in his G model. He bought his first Porsche 911 with a turbocharged engine 44 years ago. After all the years, adventures, heartaches, miles, and smiles, the car remains his four-wheeled soulmate.
“I grew up with American muscle cars,” says MacEachern, a lanky Scots Canadian from Toronto with an entrepreneurial spark, a racer’s singleness of purpose, and near-limitless tenacity. “In my younger days I had an Oldsmobile 4-4-2. It was fine for drive-ins and stoplight drags but handled like a milk truck.” He still laughs at the thought and immediately proceeds to describe his astonishment on test-driving a Porsche for the first time in 1970—a red 911 T. “I couldn’t believe how agile, well constructed, and poised the car was. And comfortable, too, despite the compact dimensions and impressive performance.”
Bill MacEachern, 911 Turbo (Typ 930), Canada, 2017, Porsche AG
Bill MacEachern and his Porsche 911 Turbo
That experience marked MacEachern for life. His passion for sports cars from Zuffenhausen was triggered. He bought a silver 911 as a company car for his rapidly growing carpet-cleaning business. Shortly thereafter he had another revelation. “In 1972 I saw a Porsche 917/10 for the first time at a Can-Am race. Turbocharging was the new way to go—it seemed like rocket science at the time.” When a few years later Porsche offered the 911-based 930 Turbo street machine for sale in Canada, MacEachern decided he just had to have one. The dealer initially tried to dissuade him. He told him the 930 was dauntingly powerful, and asked whether he might be happier with another model. Not on your life. MacEachern was in love. For all time.

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