Roaming Around Hawaii in a Vintage Porsche 911

The Island of Hawaii is a total fluke, the unlikeliest of geological miracles. Roughly 400,000 years ago, as the Pacific tectonic plate continued moving over a particularly hot spot in the Earth’s crust, volcanos spat out a chain of islands, the youngest of which is the Island of Hawaii. Against all odds, this once-barren hunk of volcanic rock survived in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It’s home to 10 of the world’s many climate zones, from humid tropical jungles to hot desert to treeless periglacial peaks atop the Mauna Kea volcano. (No joke, there was a blizzard on the Island in December.) Even more miraculous is the fact you can hop on a flight and see this new patch of earth and its many microclimates for yourself.

In a similarly miraculous twist of fate, the Porsche 911 continues to survive amidst a sea of newer, larger and more powerful sports car. The 911 shouldn’t have worked, because it makes no sense; a distant cousin of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Porsche 911 emerged 60 years ago as an underpowered little sports car with a dinky 2.0-litre flat-six engine in entirely the wrong place, hung out back behind the driver.

Although Porsche did come close to axing the model a couple times, the company (thankfully) never did. Over the decades, the engineers kept refining the rear-engine sports car formula. It evolved, moving from air-cooled to water-cooled engines, from natural-aspiration to turbocharging, from four-speed manual, to five, six and now seven-speeds. From its original 130 horsepower, it’s been pumped up to deliver over 700 ponies to the rear tires. The rear-engined layout, once a liability, has been turned into a strength, endowing the strange Porsche with frisky handling and incredible traction on corner-exit that simply must be felt to be believed. It’s arguably also the most successful sports racing car of all time.

For roughly two decades, the 911 has been the benchmark against which all other sports cars are judged. Part of the reason is that it’s just so versatile; it comes in no less than 25 different models, ranging from the $121,200 Carrera, to the semi-convertible Targa, to the winter-ready all-wheel drive Carrera 4, to the ballistic 911 Turbo, to the track-ready GT3 RS, to the $250,000 off-road-ready 911 Dakar.

Today, driving a vintage, eggplant-coloured 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Cabriolet with the top down along the serpentine coast of Hawaii, these two little miracles – spectacular entertainment and spectacular beauty – coalesce into one pure perfect moment.

The fact Porsche flew a handful of classic cars from its museum in Germany to Hawaii so we could drive them is, admittedly, more of a publicity stunt than a miracle. That does not, however, blunt the way it feels to drive. The air is sweet and swirling with old leather and the industrial warble of the old 911’s 3.6-litre flat-six. Flexing my right foot sends more air roaring over through the cabin and makes the South Kona Coast’s jungle scenery become nothing but a blur of green.

The 911’s steering seems wooden at first, until you drive faster. Throw this old car into a corner and it’s much more eager than you expect. It whips around bends with the inside front fender cocked ever so slightly toward the sky. At higher revs the old motor still hurls itself towards the redline, and, if you back off the throttle, you can feel the pendulum sway of the rear-mounted motor. The car eggs on a driver, while simultaneously warning of its limits.

Switching out of that car and into a modern 911 with heated seats, an automatic gearbox and electronic-everything, you might think some of the magic would be lost. Certainly, the modern car is more comfortable and effortlessly faster. But no, from the way the instrument cluster looks to the way the steering gets better with speed, it still feels unmistakably like a 911.

Following these spaghetti roads in these joyful machines is a full mind-body experience. My head was spinning before, but now it’s clear. Mostly, I’m feeling grateful.

Passersby were surely left wondering why this Porsche driver was smiling and laughing like a maniac alone in that old car. I have no real answer, expect to say that driving a miraculously good car in a miraculously beautiful place can really be wonderful – life-enrichingly wonderful, and I’m not taking it for granted anymore. Now back home, I can confirm driving a regular car in regular highway traffic doesn’t quite hit the same. No wonder Porsche has sold a million 911s and counting.

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