A few weeks ago, Welt am Sonntag, one of Germany’s largest and most influential Sunday papers, ran an extensive interview with Jerry Seinfeld on the occasion of the world premiere of the 991.
It is a real good mix of very personal, smart and sometimes even funny observations and reflections of Jerry on the 911, his passion for Porsche and the automotive world in general. And a very powerful testimony to the mystique of our brand.
PCNA’s Bernd Harling spent the time to translate the interview in English so we could enjoy hearing the words straight from Jerry’s mouth.
“A Porsche is very humanistic”
Jerry Seinfeld has reconciled the intellectuals with comedy. The American TV star invests his money in German sports cars, which he collects as other people collect art. A conversation on ultimate things.
Born 1954 in Brooklyn, Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most successful figures in the history of television. With “Seinfeld”, which ran on NBC from 1989 to 1998 he made more money than any other comedian before him, up to $100 million a year. His great passion is Porsche. He has a townhouse in New York for his collection and some sort of a car hangar at Santa Monica airport near Los Angeles. Shortly before the world premiere of the new Porsche 911, the seventh generation of the sports car that is been built since 1963, Seinfeld agrees to a conversation among experts. Among the things he shared was the confession that he never has totaled a Porsche. The great comedian becomes totally mum about how many Porsches he owns, but his collection is one of the world’s largest.
 
Welt am Sonntag: Have you already seen, touched or even driven the new Porsche?
 
Jerry Seinfeld: I have seen pictures. It looks fascinating. I will drive it for the first time in October when something will be arranged for me in Monterey.
 
The rear view, in particular, looks significantly different.
 
I like it. Very much, in fact. It looks lithe and relaxed. I also think it’s nice that they’ve gone back to say 911 on the rear.
 
Did you already order the new one?
 
No, not yet. I always wait for some of the later versions, I don’t collect first editions. Currently, I’m waiting for my new 4.0 RS. I got the last of the edition of 600 cars. I was actually able to have Hans Mezger, the former head of the motorsports department, hand sign the car under the hood.
 
What color?
 
Black. Black is the color for a car you love so much that you don’t want to add anything to it.
 
And the adhesives, stickers?
 
No adhesives on my RS. It is minimalistic. I love it to essentialize cars, which means bringing them back to their (reason for) existence. I had a 1958 Speedster completely modified, the bumpers and top taken off, and there is only a tiny plastic windscreen where there is normally the front window.
 
In Germany, car tuning always takes the opposite direction. Is your way of auto minimalism inspired by the American hot rod culture?
 
Yes and no. My way of customizing is considerably more respectful towards the original than within the hot rod arena. You have to see the car. It reminds you on a race car of the Fifties although they weren’t able to build such a car then.
 
Is Porsche more than the 911?
 
Yes, much more. I am half-Austrian and have – if you so will – a very special esthetical relationship with those cars. Looking at a Porsche sets free feelings like no other car. I love the Porsche story, and I am building my collection in a way that does tell this story; from the beginnings in Gmuend to the latest models. A well made tool, a useful machine or a captivating object: I begin loving these objects as soon as I have the impression that they wanted to become a part of me. The total opposite of all those objects that serve to elevate me or enhance my status. Most high-end sports cars remind me on Halloween costumes: They are monstrous masques for their drivers just as if they were designed for the Cirque du Soleil. On the other hand, a Porsche feels like a warm, round pebble in your hand. A Porsche is very humanistic. Even the shape and the face of a Porsche carry some human like elements.
 
Are you disturbed by the Nazi roots of the Porsche Company?
 
I have a much bigger problem with the Nazis themselves than with the cars that were designed during that era. For me the VW Beetle was close to some kind of reparation towards the rest of the world.
 
Porsche haters such as the infamous British auto journalist, Jeremy Clarkson, think the cars are too German, over engineered, too non-theatrical. They love the opera Ferrari and Lamborghini provide.
 
Okay, this I can understand. I would be equally frustrated if I had to live in a miserable weather as Clarkson. If there’s always steam and rain it might well be that a Lamborghini puts you in a better mood temporarily.
 
If one compares the really fast Porsches such as a 911 Turbo S with a Ferrari 458 those cars are indeed rather sober, unexcited and in a very unique way, minimalistic.
 
That is correct. And only those who are looking for these characteristics should drive a Porsche. Whoever drives a Porsche doesn’t look for the maximum rather the minimum.
 
What is your favorite car?
 
That’s hard to say. I love them all. But just right now I acquired a very rare, hardly driven ’73 911 RSR. The car was stored for over 20 years and had to be refurbished. This to me seems to be the ultimate early 911 – I actually haven’t even seen or driven it. Come to think of it, my favorite Porsche is always the one I am just sitting in.
 
Are all your Porsches in driving condition?
 
All of them, even my ’49 Gmuend Porsche. I have a mechanic who takes care of all those vehicles and he does this with lots of enthusiasm and diligence so that I can just take off in any of them, regardless of the model year.
 
How do people react if they see you driving these vintage cars?
 
The Speedster I just told you about might be a totally unique design but a really delicate little car, like a black jelly bean. People don’t know what it is but they realize that they see something really special – a pure shape. Noisy and new cars in garish colors create attention automatically. A brutally simplistic car as my Speedster in Black is just the opposite design, not the least vis-à-vis a culture that all too often is overly noisy or too forced.
 
Porsche as a modernistic manifesto?
 
No idea what you mean with modernistic! I believe in Mies van der Rohe who said that a fascinating simplicity is something extremely valuable, which can only be reached with great difficulties. I am searching for the same exciting simplicity when I’m writing comedy. That’s the essence of my esthetics, the same as you know from Braun and Apple. “Less is more” has become an often used phrase, but I doubt that many people know what it means. Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche put it much simpler: good design calms you down.
 
They call the headlights of the 911 canons in Zuffenhausen. Others are reminded more on women’s breasts. Would you send such an over-expert to a psychiatrist?
 
No, what he needs is a date. If you ask me, the front of the 911 reminds me on a human face. Yet, I find the location of the speedometer much more significant. This was what impressed me the most when I sat in a Porsche for the first time. This car’s priority is speed. Period.
 
What was the fastest you ever drove in a Porsche?
 
I believe I did 200 mph on some former Russian military airport in 2003 during the launch of the Carrera GT. Of course, I have been driving pretty fast on the German autobahns, but the joy and happiness of driving a sports car for me isn’t defined by speed.
 
But don’t Californian and New York speed limits stand in the way of your strife for happiness?
 
Fortunately, our speed limits aren’t observed by too many people. Only the ones who constantly drive over the limit get into trouble.
 
Have you got a good lawyer?
 
Yes indeed, his name is “fame”. But I can’t comment further as I don’t want to ruin this wonderful privilege.
 
Three American universities have researched if driving a Porsche means that you have a certain advantage when dating women. The result was that it proved beneficial for a quick fling but not if you were looking for true love.
 
I don’t care at all what people – including women – think of the car I’m driving. I drive every car just for myself. It is truly marvelous to find something in your life that you are passionate about.
 
How does your family deal with your obsession?
 
My wife loves her Panamera Turbo. She claims it is her favorite material possession. I like it to get people excited about such a car. This even works with people who normally don’t have anything going for tin clunkers. My friends often ask me: what’s your car’s top speed, how fast do you drive it? But this is not the point at all. Top speed doesn’t even make it among the top-ten list of kicks that a Porsche provides me with. Much more important are drivability and design. Today most cars can drive fast. What’s important is not how fast it drives rather how it drives when it goes fast.
 
Is there an ugly Porsche?
 
No. Well, perhaps. But unfortunately, I have none.
 
But isn’t the Panamera a bit strange looking?
 
Not at all. Mine is without chrome, totally black, 19 inch wheels. It looks pretty good.
 
And what about the Cayenne?
 
I’m no fan of the Cayenne although I have three kids. For family outings I own a Honda van. Those who want to go cross-country should buy themselves a horse carriage. It’s ridiculous to ride around town in an SUV just to climb up curbs. SUVs are stupid.
 
How about a Porsche with an electric motor?
 
I am not convinced that electricity will save our planet. I think a big Turbodiesel with its admirable mileage makes much more sense. Besides, maybe the Middle East will change in light of the Arabian Spring. I haven’t driven a Teslar either because I love combustion engines and spark plugs. I’m a traditionalist.
 
Source: Welt am Sonntag/September 11, 2011 VIA Suncoast Motorsports

 
The most recognizable face this week at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV in Monterey will probably be comedian Jerry Seinfeld, but the bigger celebrities at the three-day event might be the vintage cars themselves.
 
Seinfeld, a prolific collector, will serve as co-grand marshal of the gathering, alongside German automotive engineer Norbert Singer. The event is scheduled Friday through Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Seinfeld will be among the exhibitors at Sunday’s Porsche Race Car Classic at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley.
 
“Jerry has a very significant collection, impressive not just for its quantity, but for its quality and historical significance,” said Sam Cabiglio, a Monterey Peninsula and Big Bear Lake resident who manages the Seinfeld collection and makes his living buying and selling vintage Porsches. “Jerry is into the machines for what they are — not for the show, not for the glitz and glamour.
 
“He’s a total gearhead. Whenever we’re at any kind of car event, he’s just a regular guy, talking about brake loaders, calipers, cams and all of that kind of stuff.”
 
Cabiglio shares the passion. His eyes flash, he grins broadly and he speaks with an unbridled glee as he strolls among the spectacular cars that were housed this week in the Peninsula warehouse he rents.
 
One of them is a dark-blue Porsche America Roadster, one of only 17 made. Another is a Porsche Abarth 550 (under wraps for 40 years), the third of 20 ever built. Both are now owned
 
by Seinfeld, and both raced at Pebble Beach in 1954.
 
“Johnny von Neumann was driving the 550 that day, and Wally Kieckhefer was driving the Roadster,” Cabiglio said. “Kieckhefer slowed down for a wreck, and Von Neumann, who was famous for overcooking his brakes, came up fast and couldn’t stop. So he used the American Roadster as his hay bale.”
 
Both vehicles were mangled in the crash. Both have been restored.
 
Gleaming nearby is Seinfeld’s 1967 907K, the first Porsche model to win a 24-hour race (1968 at Daytona, where Porsche took the top three spots on the podium). Another Seinfeld car, a 962, will be at Laguna Seca beginning Friday, along with his red, white and blue Brumos racing car, which the comedian will drive in Saturday’s parade laps at Laguna Seca, then showcase at Quail Lodge on Sunday.
 
Cabiglio’s love for Porsches, and cars in general, began with the Volkswagen Beetle he souped-up with a Porsche engine as a teenage drag racer in Long Beach.
 
He became regionally famous at 19 when he dropped a Porsche 356 engine into his Fiat 600 and used it to whip the Dodge that held the national record at the time. The editor of Hot Rod Magazine, who happened to be in the stands, wrote about Cabiglio in the December 1966 edition of the magazine.
 
By then, Cabiglio was restoring old Porsches and reselling them, earning enough money to buy himself a brand-new 911-S from the factory in Stuttgart, Germany.
 
“When I went to Stuttgart to pick up my car, the man in the tourist delivery department had that edition of Hot Rod Magazine sitting on his desk. Some military man had dropped it off, saying, ‘Look what this nutcase in the U.S. did with one of your engines,’” he said. “It wasn’t until I’d been there awhile that they figured out that I was the nutcase, and when they did, all of their doors swung open. They took me right to their testing department and showed me around.”
 
When Cabiglio dropped out of college a short time later, he was drafted and stationed briefly at Fort Ord while awaiting deployment to Vietnam.
 
“A few months earlier I had been on top of the world, with my racing career, and a beautiful girlfriend, and my brand-new 911,” he said. “Now, all of a sudden, I’m drafted, I have to sell my car, my girlfriend dumps me, and I’m out there grunting around at Fort Ord, listening to the cars racing around Laguna Seca.”
 
While at Fort Ord, he recognized the unique sound of a 1966 fuel-injected 906E — a car he’d seen win at Riverside earlier in the year — as it raced around Laguna Seca.
 
“I was sure it was the exact same car,” he said. “I read in the Sunday paper that it had qualified for the pole. Monday I found out that it had won. Scooter Patrick drove it, Otto Zipper owned it.
 
“My unit actually ended up having to clean up the track after the race, but I got my revenge,” he said. “In 2008, I bought that car.”
 
Cabiglio’s racing career eventually gave way to the business side of the automotive industry, and he evolved into a recognized expert on vintage Porsches. Seinfeld found him through a recommendation from Porsche North America.
 
“His personal assistant called saying Jerry was interested in buying a very rare Speedster that was for sale in Washington state. He needed somebody to evaluate it properly and give him an opinion,” he said. “That’s how we met, and over the years I’ve helped him acquire most of the cars in his collection.”
 
Two of the Seinfeld cars that will be showcased this week are recent purchases that the comedian hasn’t even seen yet.
 
“This one’s a 911-GT2. Porsche only built a handful, and they never brought any of them to the U.S. because they didn’t meet U.S. specifications,” Cabiglio said of the black beauty glowing in his warehouse.
 
“I tested this car on the Autobahn in Germany when we bought it in May of ’05. I had it up to 160mph, and it was accelerating hard at that speed, but I had to back off the throttle because I was driving in a light rain. It’s a 200-mph car.”
 
Seinfeld’s cars will be displayed all three days at Laguna Seca, and four will be showcased Sunday at Quail Lodge.
 
Dennis Taylor can be reached at 646-4344 or dtaylor@montereyherald.com.
 
http://justbrakes.co/news/2011/10/ [...] s-weekend/