Ottocar leans, beaming, against a new Boxster Spyder, having just collected it from the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen. It is not the first time he has done this: the Austrian collects his cars in person whenever possible. “I came the first time in 1977. A 911 Carrera 3.0 was waiting for me then,” he remembers. Today, 43 years later, he is taking home his 80th Porsche, and this time it is Miami Blue.
For this milestone anniversary, the Porsche Community Management team joined forces with the factory collection team to come up with something very special: Ottocar was one of the first customers to be allowed to affix the Porsche Crest on the bonnet himself. Personal congratulations from Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, also made this collection quite an exceptional occasion.
Through motorsport to Porsche
Ottocar’s Porsche story started almost 50 years ago, on the racing track. “The Porsche cars simply flew past me on all sides,” he recalls. So he started to save up, and bought himself a 911 E in Speed Yellow, also known as the “oil cap model”. It would be the start of a lifelong passion.
The hobby driver also stayed true to his motorsport: he owns a 917, a 910 with a rare eight-cylinder engine and a 956, not to mention a 904 with its original Fuhrmann engine and a 964 Cup. All the cars are roadworthy and he regularly takes part in classic racing events with the 917. The winner’s wreath from this year’s Ventilspiel race lies on the vehicle as a trophy.
Driving a different car every day – and two at the weekend
The collector has owned 80 different Porsche cars over the course of his life, including nine versions of the Carrera RS. Today, his collection comprises around 38 cars, or, as Ottocar himself puts it: “I can drive a different one every day for a month – and two at the weekends.”
The backdrop for the vehicles owned by the Viennese native is just as fascinating as the cars themselves. He has built a separate building for his Porsche collection and calls it his “living room”. Visitors stroll past shop entrances, workshop doors, display windows and advertising signs. They pass Ottocar’s toy shop, an antiques store and a cinema that is previewing, of course, Steve McQueen’s epic film “Le Mans”.
The room is also decorated with numerous cups, posters, components, trophies and mementos from races, events and Porsche Club meets. You can see and feel that Ottocar is just as at home in the global world of Porsche as he is here, in his own Porsche world.
Vehicles are lined up on both sides: on the left are the racing cars, in ascending order up to a 993 911 Turbo S and a Type 997 911 GT2 RS; the cars on the right start with a Jagdwagen military vehicle, an early 356 Coupé with bent windscreen, and then several early 911, 911 RS 2.7, and a row of 930 Turbo and Turbo-look models in the Coupé, Targa and Cabriolet variants, as well as a G-model Speedster.
Driving is what is important
As incredible as this collection is, Ottocar much prefers sitting behind the wheel to being among his cars – because driving is what is important for the 80-year-old. He is regularly out and about with nine of his vehicles, including a 911 R, a Type 991 911 Speedster and two Boxster Spyders from the last two generations. The Austrian will not name a favourite car, but he chooses the Type 981 Boxster Spyder for many of his outings.
“The sound, how it drives, its suspension, everything that it does – it is the only one of my road-legal Porsche that reminds me of my 910,” says Ottocar, who also attends international Porsche Club events. He calls this “Porsche socialising”. Originally he was a member of Porsche Club Vienna, today he is a member of Porsche Club Graz and the Classic Club Austria.
700 official Porsche Clubs worldwide
“Without the people, the cars are just cars. It is people who breathe life into them.” – it is exactly this thought that motivates around a quarter of a million Porsche drivers across the world to join one of the 700 official Porsche Clubs. It doesn’t matter whether you have just one sports car or a whole Porsche collection in the garage – the fascination for the brand is what counts.
Back to Porscheplatz and car number 80 is by no means the end for Ottocar. His next destination is the proverbial journey – or the road, to be precise. He plans to go on an adventure along the Pan-American highway in a Cayenne. “When you are 80-years-old, you don’t think so much about the past any more but more about the future. You look forward to things that are still to come,” he says. Things such as his next anniversary: 50 years as a Porsche customer. “Since I bought my first Porsche in 1972, that anniversary will be 2022,” he smiles. “So the circle from the past to the present is complete. Because that is how everything began.”
