The Hidden Workshops of Porsche Classic - /DRIVEN

JF MUSIAL: Welcome to one of those beautiful locations in the entire world-- Southern Germany, just short of the Alps. You know, Germany is a economic superpower, and, well, for the past seven decades, also the birthplace of some of the best sports cars ever made. Two of the greatest car collections in the entire world are located in Stuttgart, Germany. Both Mercedes and Porsche have museums. But about 15 to 20 minutes outside the center of the city, you come across an industrial park which, you wouldn't think it, but apart from the big sign outside that says Porsche, well, there's a workshop, a workshop that is restoring a history-- preserving a history, rather-- of some of the finest automobiles in the entire world. Now, from the outside, Porsche Classic doesn't look like much, but when you go inside, well, you're in for a treat. We started our tour in the basement, and when we walked in, you wouldn't believe what you'd find. 6959s, a Carrera GT, a 550 Spider, an Abarth 356, a Super 90-- all customer cars, all cars that were sold new, made their way around the world, and then found their way back to their hometown-- Stuttgart. Now, Porsche Classic is a very important arm of Porsche. It exists for a reason. And unlike any other brand, it's there to keep the cars alive. PHILIPP SALM-REIFFERSCHEIDT: Well, Porsche Classic is the Department of the Porsche AG that takes care of the part supply for the cars that are, let's say, out of production 10 years already. So 10 years after end of production, Porsche Classic takes over the part supply for the old street cars, no race cars. Yeah, well, actually, you know that we have like 70% of all Porsches ever built are still on the road? JF MUSIAL: Really? PHILIPP SALM-REIFFERSCHEIDT: And we are saying we tried to keep it that way. So of our parts supplier, we try to have all the parts available. We can't have all of the parts available, but most of the parts available to keep the history alive and the cars alive. It's an emotional thing we're doing, and, of course, it's keeping the tradition. JF MUSIAL: Now cars at Porsche Classic are there for just routine maintenance. People from around Germany will send their cars there for routine maintenance. But, of course, you do have customers from North America, from Asia, from the Middle East. Then they'll send their car there to be fully restored. You'll find 356s that are down to their bare metal, the shell, being welded, being put back together. PHILIPP SALM-REIFFERSCHEIDT: You can get every part that we are supplying over the local dealer. JF MUSIAL: Really? PHILIPP SALM-REIFFERSCHEIDT: Every Porsche dealer is able to order the parts we have. We have 35,000 parts in stock-- JF MUSIAL: Really? PHILIPP SALM-REIFFERSCHEIDT: --over the whole range, from 356 up to the 911-- and type 993, yes. And that's what's not on the people's mind. They think, well, if I have a 356 or if I have an old F model or whatever, I can't go to the dealership. They're only doing new cars. Well, they're doing new cars, but that's what we're saying. It's like the tradition on one side and the modern cars on the other side, so we have these both in the dealerships. So go to the dealership and order your parts, and we're trying to supply them as good as we can. It's not too easy all the time. JF MUSIAL: And the people who work at Porsche Classic are all very much in love with the brand. These are not craftsmen who have just come in for a side show. These are men and women who have been there for quite a few years. These are men and women that actually worked on the original cars on the assembly line when they were new. JOCHEN BADER: We have three employees in this building that have worked more than 40 years in the company. So some of the guys worked on the assembly line and body work workshop in the past. And there are two guys that worked on the assembly time for the 959. So they are really experienced. But, as well, we have also young guys who are 22, 24 years old. And they work now three years in this department, and they're also experienced on the 959. But we have different specialists in the workshop. One guy's responsible for the engine. Another is responsible for the gearbox. And three guys are responsible for the 959. And there are some guys that do the full restoration business. So we have specialists for different kinds of work. You have to be a specialist, and you have to have fun to work on these old cars, because it's always the same problem. Parts are difficult to get, and there's rust all over, and it's always a challenge to work on the car. And it's not a standard business, the car-- get it in the morning and left the workshop in the evening. This not our normal way of working. For example, if you do a restoration, you work on this car for more than one year. JF MUSIAL: Now, Porsche Classic isn't only about making the cars look pretty-- the metalwork, the paint, the interiors. It's also about making sure they run properly, the same as when they left the assembly line 20, 30 years ago. PHILIPP SALM-REIFFERSCHEIDT: Of course, lots of parts haven't been produced for many years. The tools are standing somewhere around, so then we ask for the next production, and they say, well, we have to work over the tools. And if we do that, we try to use the modern knowledge to take these original toolings to a better condition than before. And then the parts coming out, of course, have the technical specifications as the early days, but try to have them in a really good quality. But they are, of course, original, because most of the time, original suppliers, besides some changes, and its original tooling. JOCHEN BADER: We are still in touch with retired employees, and we can ask them some questions. Especially right now, we're doing a 911 from 1964, and it's very hard to find detailed information about the 901 or early 911. And so I'm in touch with Herbert Linge, for example, and I ask him what's anodized in white, anodized in yellow, and some special things. And it's really fun to talk with him. And he has some information not in the archives, so this is a knowledge exchange with these old employees. And we also have the possibility to get the drawings from the old cars, but especially the prototypes-- the R-boards or something like that. It's really hard to get information. But we do 300 cars a year, and so we are very experienced with all these different types of cars Porsche ever built. So, for example, the 959, we do thirty 959 by year, so I think there's no secret on the 959 for us. The guys are really experienced. And to today, we were successful, and every 959 is running, still on the street. Also, if a car was fixed in the Classic workshop, the value of the car's much higher if you get the car without any records from our workshop. JF MUSIAL: Now, what a lot of people don't recognize is that this isn't just an operation to make the cars look as what they were back in the day. They're using the same parts. Now, the supply chain, the parts that go into these restored vehicles, are actually the same parts you'll find from years ago. They're taking the presses. They're taking the same metal fabrication processes that they had back then and applying them to now. PHILIPP SALM-REIFFERSCHEIDT: Well, actually for me, from my point of view, it's not so important what Porsche Classic as a company detail or department becomes. For me, it's more important that Porsche that comes to the people's mind that you go to the dealership and get serviced from the early models up to the new models. Of course, you can't have the experience in every Porsche dealer, but to find out, in the future you can go to this and this Porsche Classic dealer. They will be able to handle your car and treat the cars right. So my emotional involvement is that we have the possibility to have as many parts as possible to keep the cars on the road, to have this experience like a reunion, to have many original models-- not too many-- well, modified is fine if people like it. So it's their own statement. But from my point of view, we try to keep them as original as possible-- have the patina, have the feeling, have the smell, taste in the car that they're having. This is where we want to go-- to have the supply of the cars and have the people come into the dealerships. The more parts we do, the more suppliers we get, the better the prices get. This is how the circle is running on this point. And, of course, we're only taking care about-- if you're talking about Rennsport, we're taking care of the street cars, not the race cars. JF MUSIAL: Yep. And it's all about keeping the cars on the road. PHILIPP SALM-REIFFERSCHEIDT: Yeah, exactly, exactly. That's what we're trying to do. JF MUSIAL: Phil, thank you so much. PHILIPP SALM-REIFFERSCHEIDT: Sure. Thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING]