When #ProjectStork Has a Problem, Call the Fixer

On an early summer morning not long ago, I packed my bags and headed to L.A. to help a friend.

I’ve been good friends with TeamSpeed editor Manuel Carrillo III for a couple of years, and I’ve been enamored with the Porsche brand for several years beyond that. I feel at least partially responsible for his decision to pull this 1977 Porsche 911S out of his mother’s garage, and the resulting scheme to get the thing roadworthy again. When I first found out about this car’s lurking in the deep recesses of his memory, I immediately suggested it should be brought back to life. Given the “ran when parked” nature of the story I’d been told, I was confident it could be running again in no time flat.

When Manuel called to request my assistance and expertise on #ProjectStork, I felt a little bit like the Harvey Keitel character in Pulp Fiction. “It’s 7 hours away, I’ll be there in 5. I’m Bradley Brownell. I solve problems.” So, on an early summer morning not long ago, I packed my bags and headed to the greater Los Angeles metropolis to help a friend.

ALSO SEE: TeamSpeed’s Reaction to #ProjectStork

He didn’t believe that we’d get the car running in just a single day of wrenching, and if I’m honest, I didn’t either, but I had to keep my head level and my 10mm-turning-hand strong.

Over the course of the day we ran into myriad problems, including a completely locked up fuel pump, a sludged fuel tank, a quartet of wheel locks with no key, and a borderline-severe lack of In-n-Out burgers. Once the hunger had been sated, however, we eventually worked out a way to get the darned thing fired up for the first time in 15 years.

As we age there’s very little we can do to slow the march of time,
but in that moment, it felt like we’d earned a victory against the clock itself.

As we age there is very little we can do to slow the march of time, but in that moment, it felt like we’d earned a victory against the clock itself. Not only had we managed to get the car running in one long wrenching session, but I could see the flood of youth in Manuel’s exuberance. He was a kid again and his father’s Porsche had been shaken from its slumber.

The project is far from finished, but with a long day of work under our belts, this cranking-over and idling engine felt distinctly like a win, and we’re going to take it as such. It felt good to see this long-dormant machine revived, but it felt even better to help a friend.