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Magnus Walker, l’entrepreneur restaurateur de Porsche 911 le plus connu – team up – Need for Speed


Pour Need for Speed, le nouveau super reboot Need For Speed, EA via Ghost Games et SpeedHunters, a recruté des personnages emblématique de la culture automobile ; dont un certain Magnus Walker, bien connu aux USA et mondialement par les fans de Porsche, de la 911 et par tous passionnés auto de base. Profitons-en pour découvrir comment ces personnes sont devenues des personnages du monde de l’automobile et de the cars & automotive culture! via le dossier, à l’introduction publié sur DESIGNMOTEUR Gaming à propos de Need for Speed, qui commence là ! Et ici l’article publié sur DESIGNMOTEUR pour présenter chacun des 5 personnages emblématique de la culture automobile. J’en profite pour présenter officiellement le site DESIGNMOTEUR Gaming dédié à la passion du jeu vidéo de course ! :D Et donc les 5 articles dédiés à ces personnages sont orienté sur la passion auto IRL, l’entrepreneuriat, le lifestyle et la culture car. On commence par le « personnage » Magnus Walker, un Anglais qui habite Los Angeles, entrepreneur de sa marque de vêtement ‘Serious Clothing’, hyper passionné auto Porche 911, depuis son enfance a réussi et à réaliser ses rêves de passionné automobile. Et maintenant, il fait même partie intégrante du jeu Need for Speed, la série de jeu la plus connue des passionné auto. GG Magnus Walker :D

Who is Magnus Walker?

Magnus Walker. Ce nom ne vous dit peut-être pas grand chose, peut-être ? Pourtant, cet Anglais à Los Angeles est l’un des passionnés de Porsche 911 les plus connus et respectés aux États-Unis. Complètement fou de la sportive classic de Stuttgart, il récupère des épaves et des pièces détachées pour se livrer à des travaux de restauration d’une incroyable qualité … qui ont fait de lui l’un des passionnés de Porsche 911 les plus connus et respectés aux États-Unis et dans le monde. Parti de presque rien, Magnus trouvait des pièces de 911, offertes par des donateurs, qu’il utilisait pour redonner vie à ses autos allemandes, avec l’esprit de Ferdinand Porsche.

Passionné de la 911 en 1977, à l’age de 10 ans, lorsque son père l’emmena à Londres, sa passion tournera à l’obsession avec l’âge avançant. Avant de pouvoir assouvir ses désirs automobiles, il a fait fortune dans le textile avec sa marque de vêtements Serious Clothing, ainsi qu’en louant ses hangars pour la télé et le tournage de clips.

Who is Magnus Walker? The full Story!

Act 1: Fall in love with Porsches at a motor show, aged 10. Act 2: Move from Yorkshire to set up a fashion label in one of LA’s most dilapidated neighbourhoods. Act 3: Become the world’s unlikeliest, and most-prized restorer of 911s. Magnus Walker’s life certainly hasn’t lacked for drama…

His beanie hat hoards a mass of dreadlocks; his beard is a mixture of silver and blonde hairs. Magnus Walker is not what you’d call a typical-looking Porsche enthusiast. Sit him outside Kings Cross, and you’d be excused for handing him your spare change. Yet the self-proclaimed Urban Outlaw has shot to fame as one of the world’s most prolific Porsche collectors and something of an underground hero for anti-establishment tuning of vintage Porsche products. So how exactly does a scruffy lad from Sheffield wind up nestled in Los Angeles as an aficionado of Stuttgart’s finest?

The story begins back in 1977. England was an exciting place to be as a young ‘un – the Sex Pistols kicked off the punk rock movement, and a little film called Star Wars was about to spawn a whole generation of geeks. But, for Magnus, aged 10 years old, 1977 signalled a very different kind of obsession.

He explains in his strange amalgam of US twang and Yorkshire vowels: “It was the Earl’s Court motor show. I travelled there with my dad, and as we reached the Porsche stand, I laid eyes on a 911 painted in Martini red and blue stripes. The engine plaque read turbo, the spoiler was as tall as my head. I knew right then the Porsche 911 was my dream car.” - Magnus Walker

Walker was born in Sheffield, where his father drove a nondescript company car – yet that did not stop the young Magnus from dreaming: he owned a Scalextric, played Top Trumps and followed motorsports avidly. In 1977, when he was 10, Walkers Sr and Jr travelled together by train to the Earls Court Motor Show, where Magnus fell in love with a white 1977 Porsche 911 Turbo. Still, he recalls, « I never thought I’d own a Porsche. They weren’t a common sight in Sheffield. »

Magnus was hooked. In between scrawling 911 shapes on any piece of paper he could find, he wrote a letter to Porsche HQ asking for a job – solid ambition for a 10-year-old northerner. To his surprise, they replied, thanking him for the interest and suggesting he establish contact again in a few years’ time. Sure enough, this tentative contact engaged a little thing Magnus describes as “Porsche passion”.

Unfortunately for Walker, Sheffield in the early Eighties wasn’t exactly the place where dreams came true. By 1982 he’d dropped out of school with two O-levels to his name and no real education. About this time he also discovered drink and heavy metal music… two hobbies not exactly renowned for sparkling future prospects. Undeterred, Magnus bummed around on the dole making money exclusively to fund these new hobbies. “Cut your hair and get a proper job,” he was constantly told. By the age of 17, it was beginning to sink in, so, sure enough, he decided to get a proper job.

Over the next years, Magnus established a business buying cheap, soulless clothing and personalising it before punting it on at a stall in Venice Beach. He’d joined the fashion industry without even trying, and now there was money for sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. By the early Nineties, the stall had evolved into a brand nicknamed Serious Clothing, now being wholesaled in hundreds of shops and worn by stars including Madonna and Alice Cooper.

In 1986, he spent a summer as a camp counsellor on America’s east coast and took a Greyhound bus cross-country to see LA. Hooked, he returned the following year, and never left.

His first business venture was selling customised Levi’s on the Venice Beach Boardwalk. He met his wife, Karen, in 1994, and together they established a rock-fashion label, Serious Clothing

“Serious Clothing had its own style. We were shifting a ton of merch, renting a house and a workshop to keep it going. One day it hit me – why am I paying for two peoples’ mortgages? Why don’t we get our own place? In 2000 my wife found a 24,000sq ft warehouse we now call home. It was in an undesirable place, pretty beat up, and people called us crazy. But we had this gut feeling that everything would be ok, so we ran with it.” - Magnus Walker

But how does this translate into the Porsche collection? Back in 1992, Magnus realised that long-held dream and bought his first Porsche, a 1974 911, which soon resulted in countless speeding fines and even being pulled over at gunpoint. A change was, inevitably, needed. Fast-forward to 2002 with both businesses ticking over, the bearded speed freak joined the Porsche Owners Club where he also drove his first track day. He was pretty handy, first obtaining his Clubsport licence and then instructing other owners.

Magnus Walker bought his first Porsche 911 in 1992, when he was 25, for $12,000 – a little over £7,000. The car itself was almost 20 years old, so Walker put in a bigger motor, added rims and, all told, spent another $30k on modifications. Ten years later, he sold it again – for $12,000.

“I was doing nearly 50 track days a year, and the costs were getting crazy. The more serious I took it, the less fun it became. So in the mid 2000s, I sold every car I owned that wasn’t a Porsche and focused my time (and money) on obtaining the ultimate early 911 collection to fulfil my childhood dream.” - Magnus

The 911 styling was never intended to bring him fame. Aside from a small blog on the forum Pelican Parts, Magnus kept the collection sheltered at his workshop for his own enjoyment. But in 2012, a film director named Tamir Moscovici approached him, fed up with directing drink commercials and determined to do something more edgy. He, like Magnus, was a Porsche guy, and instantly the pair gelled. Tamir proposed the idea of a short YouTube film and, ever the optimist, Magnus replied with: “What’s the worst that could happen?” Four days of filming later, the 32-minute documentary Urban Outlaw had been created and was later shown at Sundance, to rave reviews.
(Trailer et full film video ‘Urban Outlaw’, à la suite, ci-dessous ;)

“Things blew up after that. It opened up my collection to the whole world. Within two weeks, I had a phone call from Jay Leno to be on his Garage (Leno’s car-based show). My emails exploded, my phone never stopped, it was a new chapter opening up in my life.” - Magnus

A month after the film’s launch, Magnus noticed a letter at his workshop stamped with the Porsche logo. Unbeknown to Magnus or Tamir, Porsche had watched the film. What’s more, they loved it, and they loved him – so much so they flew him across to Stuttgart for a factory tour.

“Opening that letter reinforced my love for Porsche. Being a Porsche guy is about loyalty and the journey. For Porsche to reach out 35 years later reinforced that brand value. I’ve been fortunate to build a working relationship with the brand I strove so hard to be a part of. I’ve been lucky, and I don’t know what the future will bring. But one thing will always remain – Porsche passion. It brought me this far, and I’m sure it will continue to take me further.”

Take a look inside Walker’s garage, however, and the extent of his obsession becomes undeniable. The room contains a fleet of 13 gleaming 911s, including one model from every year between 1964 and 1973. There is a handful of others, in various stages of repair, spread around the warehouse complex. Across the street is the “chop shop”, where Walker keeps old, salvaged 911 shells to plunder them for parts. “It’s a hobby,” he says, “that got out of control.”

As the fashion business took off and the property portfolio expanded, Walker steadily built his car collection. By the time he bought that first Porsche in 1992, he already owned a 1965 Mustang, a 1967 E-type Jaguar, two Dodge Super Bee muscle cars and a 1979 308 GTB Ferrari. But before long, his focus narrowed, and in 2001 he joined the Porsche Owners Club.

He became known as a racer among the local Porsche community. More specifically, he became known for building himself a Porsche that he could legally drive to the track, race, then drive home again. Walker’s signature vehicle is his 1971 911T, emblazoned with the number 277; it has had four different engines, but only one driver that matters. He has owned around 40 Porsches, but the number 277 is still his desert-island drive.

New business opportunities are now coming thick and fast, and Walker says he has already been approached by around a dozen television companies keen for him to make a reality show. Then, of course, there are all the people clamouring for a customised 911.

“I don’t build cars for people; I build for myself and occasionally I sell, » he says. « There’s a business opportunity in making customer cars, but to me that would all of a sudden mean responsibility, accountability, timelines, deadlines, pressure. Right now, I can do what I want, when I want.


He has also been approached by several non-Porsche brands keen to glean some of his maverick design expertise, including Nike, Oakley, Volvo and Bentley. Surely he wasn’t invited to build a rock’n’roll Bentley? « Well, that would be a great opportunity, » he replies with a wry grin. « But I’m a Porsche guy.” - Magnus Walker

Synthèse des article publiés par Topgear.com et Independent.co.uk
Full text topgear.com Who is Magnus Walker? (EN)
The Porsche hunter: How Magnus Walker became the world’s unlikeliest, and most-prized restorer of 911s (EN)

Bonus sur le Web via Speedhunters

Découvrir et admirer ses créa :D

Porsche Perfection: Magnus Walker’s 911 str (EN) et How To Build An Everyday Outlaw (EN)

Urban Outlaw

Urban Outlaw - poster 2012

Urban Outlaw – poster 2012

Urban Outlaw – trailer

‘Urban Outlaw’ is a portrait of Magnus Walker, the rebel Porsche customizer who turned a hobby into an obsession, and an obsession into a successful business. From a workshop in downtown Los Angeles, Magnus obsessively harvests fragments from donor 911s, grafting them onto vintage frames to create one-off automobiles with the spirit of Ferdinand Porsche but an ethos entirely his own. We feel honoured to present you this video of a true Porsche enthusiast.

Producer / Director: Tamir Moscovici (MOS), Industry Films
Line Producer: Dwight Phipps, Industry Films
DP: Anthony Arendt, Partos
Editor: Paul Proulx, Stealing Time
Colourist: Wade Odlum, Alter Ego
Audio House: Pirate Toronto

Urban Outlaw – the film


A portrait of Magnus Walker, the rebel Porsche customizer who turned a hobby into an obsession, and an obsession into a successful business. From a workshop in downtown Los Angeles, Magnus obsessively harvests fragments from donor 911s, grafting them onto vintage frames to create one-off automobiles with the spirit of Ferdinand Porsche but an ethos entirely his own.

Bonus sur le Web via Porsche


Urban Outlaw Magnus Walker joins Porsche at the quintessentially British Goodwood Revival meeting. Where better to explore the enduring charm of the iconic Porsche 911 and witness the UK debut of the latest Turbo S Exclusive GB Edition?

Bonus sur le Web via eGarage

… et via The Autombilist pour le texte FR.

Petite session plaisir en compagnie du chevelu et barbu Magnus Walker qui nous offre ici un tour dans sa fameuse Porsche 911 Racecar tricolore frappée du numéro 277 et posée sur les singulières jantes Fifteen 52 Urban Outlaw. Direction les rues, les ponts et surtout les tunnels pour profiter pleinement du son du flatsix 2.6 L de 220 ch, 245 Nm de la 911 T de 1971 revisitée du spécialiste US de la 911 « old school ». Quelques bonnes minutes qui font du bien aux oreilles et qui nous rappellent ce que fut la sonorité métallique du 6 à plat quand l’air remplaçait l’eau pour le refroidissement du moteur des 911.

Midnight Rambler | Magnus Walker in L.A. | eGarage


The rough streets of downtown Los Angeles aren’t typically thought of as a great driving destination, but things change at night. Join our friend Magnus Walker on his favorite route around the city. You’ll want to turn your speakers up for this one. Enjoy.

(gros) Bonus sur le Web FR via startandstop

Je vous invite passionnément à découvir les article dédié à Magnus Walker aux vidéos de haute qualité là : www.startandstop.fr/tag/magnus-walker/ Et moi, c’est grâce à la lecture startandstop, depuis 2013, que je connais Magnus Walker de nom. Et là je découvre qu’en 2014, un certain Nakai via RWB a préparé une Porsche 993 RWB à Los Angeles avec Magnus Walker. Et pour Need for Speed, le nouveau super reboot Need For Speed, EA via Ghost Games et SpeedHunters, a recruté des personnages emblématique de la culture automobile …. dont RWB… qui permet de découvrir Nakai-san, le fondateur de la marque mondialement connue spécialisée dans la préparation auto et la custom’ de voitures ! A suivre…

Magnus Walker. EA Need for Speed. He’s in the Game

Continuer la lecture de l’article pour revenir à propos du jeu Need for Speed et la Porsche 911 #277 by Magnus Walker, qui continue là sur DESIGNMOTEUR Gaming !

Source et images :
magnuswalker911.com

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Ewen LJ

Team Principal - Fondateur du concept-site superblog DESIGNMOTEUR. Web designer, entrepreneur, passionné par le web, la photographie entre autres et les voitures... depuis toujours soit depuis +25 ans. Depuis octobre 2012, J’écris quelques mots en tant que passionné de l’automobile, de la moto et des sports mécaniques, en axant mes sujets sur le design automobile, la motorisation du véhicule, la communication visuelle des constructeurs, le marketing de la marque, sur l'Économie de l'industrie automobile et sur d'autres thèmes tels que la Mode, l'Art, le Cinéma, le Jeu Vidéo et ses relations avec l'Automobile.

1 Commentaire

  1. Merci pour le clin d’oeil que je viens de découvrir à l’instant.
    ;)

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