Jonathan Clark
1969 Porsche 911t
You can feel it. You’re on a full blown sprung Recaro seat. So it’s comfortable, but at the same time, there is no technology in this car. Everything is so direct. Every little nuance on the road you can feel through this steering which is gloriously alive. And you’re sitting about 30cm off the bitumen. So you’re in it. It’s visceral. You close the door, it goes clunk. You turn the key and the Webers roar to life.
It smells like an old car. But when you stick your foot into it, it’s a whole other machine. It’s got a glorious note. You get into the power band and you are on.
It just makes me happy to drive it.
IN LOVE WITH THE CLUNK
MODEL CHASING
‘67-‘73 was the window I was chasing. I wasn’t overly fussed about short-wheel or long-wheel base but I really wanted this colour – light ivory. There’s just something classic about the houndstooth, the black basket weave interior and this creamy ivory colour that’s just classy and understated.
It’s completely original. A matching numbers car. It was originally Lord Casey’s car. He was the Governor General and he must have bought this car not long after Harold Holt disappeared. I’ve only done three things: I’ve put in high compression cylinders to give it a bit more oomph without mucking with the engine; I’ve ceramic-coated the exhaust to run more effectively and sound a little nicer and I’ve put sway bars in the wheel arches. Combined with the Koni sportshockers, it just means that you’re absolutely flat (until you lose the arse!)
THANKS LORD CASEY
This classic Leatherman tool; these vintage fold-up Carreras which my friend Bezie gave me; my red leather parking change purse; everyone needs a microfibre cloth (and you better have one from Porsche); my ‘keep focussed’ notebook from Suzie; and some well-loved leather driving gloves.
It’s all I need.
GLOVEBOX TOOLBOX
In a parallel universe - you know what they say ‘you can leave Africa, but Africa never leaves you’ – I would love to go on a long drive with Nelson Mandela. We’d be taking the route from Cape Town (where I grew up) to Plettenburg Bay. It’s called the ‘garden route’. You go around the mountain and just hug the ocean all the way. It’s a beautiful drive.
In real life, my favourite driving companion is my wife Suzie. We’re a good combination of personalities and she’s not a nervous passenger which is a critical characteristic for these adventures. The last escape we had we drove up to WOMAD in Adelaide. It was just so liberating. We drove from Hamilton to Robe on a Monday, beautiful weather and that’s just an amazing road – full of swoopys. Wasn’t a car on the road and when your wife says to you “Jono, I think we’ve got our own private racetrack here” you know shit’s going well.
RIDING SHOTGUN
CHAMPAGNE KING COVER
Well, I buy lots of records and I often play my own mixes in the car. But if I want to play something with a bit more discovery there are two English radio stations I listen to: Worldwide and NTS Radio. They have a couple shows and they’re really good. It takes you all over the reservation. Today we listened to ‘Love Come Down’ which is a little Evelyn “Champagne King” cover by Social Lovers. Just slow it down a bit and get into a bit of bass.
DURO TAGGED
So on that passenger quarterlight there’s three stickers. My friend Duro, who’s one of the best grafitti artists in Melbourne (Puzle is his tag), made a beautiful moniker for my Soundcloud page. It’s got a record for the ‘o’. I never asked him but he came back with all these stickers for my decks, the car, etc. I don’t normally do these things but it’s a beautiful design, so that’s why you see ‘Jonathon’ on my quarter light.
Then next to it is a gold image of a train which is Duro’s tag. Of course, Duro in the 80s tagged every frickin’ train going around. And he’s written three books on it since. So I said to Duro, “If I’m going to be on the car, then you’re going to be on the car too, tiger.”
And the final one is a decal from the 70s for the Anglesea Lifesaving Club. Anglesea was a happy adventure for us. Our youngest Walter is profoundly disabled and the disabled Nippers Program at Anglesea called Starfish was just a complete lifesaver for our family and completely changed the quality of our holidays. That sticker’s just a nod to that.
NOISE, BLOOD AND THUNDER
Everybody says to me “Jono I saw you driving here, there and everywhere” but I don’t see anybody. When I’m in that car there’s noise, blood and thunder. I’m in. That’s the beautiful thing about it. You’ve got to concentrate to drive it properly and that’s why it’s beautiful.
Look, it’s not exactly anonymous that car. And I guess I’m an extroverted sort of person. Maybe the machine and driver are in the same lane (laughs).
SNAKING THROUGH THE HILLS
A drive that stands out in my mind recently is the trip you and I took on the Reefton Spur. The road was closed for back-burning and we were the front makers when it opened. So we had that whole road to ourselves. Hours of snaking through the hills. Magic.
MOTO AMORO
It’s the complete package that really presses my buttons. But I tell you what, when you get it in the powerband in third gear and you’re north of four and a half thousand revs it’s just singing and frickin’ doing what it was born to do – that puts a smile on my face, particularly if there are a few bends in front of me.