We interview a Porsche FANATIC - our chat with Frank Cassidy

Have you been good?

Yeah?

Yeah, great. Did you get any letters like I did from the lawyers of Trevor Long?

No, you're the only one.

No, okay, all right, I guess.

Hey.

Look, I'm still campaigning to have him on the show.

I'm sure he'll come on eventually.

I'm onto my third pig's head through his bedroom window. I think eventually he'll just be like I get to get on this idiot's podcast.

You take a bite out of them before you throw it through.

Oh my god.

You know me.

Well, I can't help myself, you know. I love a snack on the drive there. I'm like, all right, I'm about to commit a crime, but before I do, we snack. You're so mean to me. Oh, by the way, Actually, big news is I have joined a gym. Oh really, yeah, there you go.

What are you doing there?

Chips and dips, That's what I'm doing, Jim Jim's mowing or something. I actually haven't been there yet, I no joke. I've joined, but it's been a week and I'm still it's thinking about it. Yeah, I'm still thinking about it. The thing is it's above my where my kid goes for swimming lessons. So we take the kid to swimming and males like pointing. My wife is pointing upstairs. I'm like, no, no, no, I'm not today.

Like I have to watch her in the water, watch her. Are you crazy?

I'm not like going to just trust her with you. Me and Trevor actually going to be doing a hot dog eating competition at the end.

Of My fear is that you'd win.

Yeah, quietly, I'm in training. Anyway. Hey, we're chatting with a really cool guy, one I've been a fan for for a long time, and I'm glad he agreed to this podcast. Frankly, I don't know why. I don't know why either. I don't know why. I was like, I think, look, I did tell a few lies. I told him we were popular. But his name's Frank Cassidy and he has arguably one of the world's best porscha collections. It's it's almost like it's almost like a gallery, like he's almost

Yes, yeah I did it. I was about to say.

It's similar to my Commodore collections. So I have a really through a bottle o. Yeah, you know, and behind the bottle ow is like a little meth den just just like nothing too crazy, but.

Yeah, very much like tab vibes.

Yeah.

Anyway, so he's got one of the world's most impressive Porscha collections. It's like a gallery and yeah, you can tell I'm excited to chat to him, so we should just get in this chat.

Yeah, let's go.

Hi guys, how's it going.

How's it going? Thanks for doing this, No, my absolute pleasure.

Thanks for the invite. I appreciate it.

What a stunning, beautiful day it looks like in the UK.

Yeah, you know what, it doesn't happen often here, so when the weather is good, yeah, we take advantage. Yeah, it's a shame the world is burning, but otherwise it's been an amazing summer over here, we've had up to what was it up to, I think it was thirty eight degrees, the nine degrees, which for us is very hot, also hottest to get us down.

There, probably like forty three.

Yeah, yeah, we definitely haven't got to that point quite yet.

Yeah, we have like air conditioners and stuff.

I remember I was in the UK once when it was like a thirty three degree day and I was staying in this hotel that was made entirely of concrete and it was like a Turkish spa. It was like a sauna in there. It was crazy.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I know.

We we don't really do our conditioning over here, although it's becoming more prevalent.

Yeah.

Do you guys hear about boxing gas and what we're doing.

Yeah, I did well. I first stumbled across you, I guess on Instagram, because Instagram has this amazing sort of way of recommending people that you'd be into following, for instance, and I guess after looking at far too many Porsche videos and photos, you eventually came up and I was like, Wow, this is a guy who's got probably arguably I think you've probably got one of the world's best collections.

Oh. I don't know about that.

I mean, it's all very subjective, but I'll take the compliment. That's very kind of you, thanks for the kind of interest. And I don't know in my little side of Porsche.

Well, I think there's a few. I think there's a few figureheads around the world. You'll one, maybe Magnus is another one, and there's probably a few over in Germany as well. But tell us about Box and Gas because it's such a I guess an amazing concept because it's not just you with a stunning collection of cars of old Porsches. It's really almost like a mecca for nine to eleven, right.

Yeah, I no, thanks. Yeah.

It's essentially a one hundred acre estate that's entirely dedicated to Porsche. We bought the estate in what was at twenty seventeen, so about five years ago, and we'd be

A glorified business park.

It's a very raw business park with a lot of land around us, and so we leased a space to Porsche related businesses and then otherwise we have an annual event called Megaphonics, and then we have a range of merchandise. Yeah, so as time goes on, when these last thirty thousand square feet open, will suddenly be able to do things on a much more regular basis because there'll be infrastructure

Yeah, that's so cool. Tell us about the fran Cassidy origin story. I guess when you curate and acquire this sort of a collection of cars, you know there must have been there must have been something pretty special deep inside to kind of start this off.

Yeah, there's I mean it's not the most of interesting of stories, but essentially.

What's gold.

I've been obsessed, like many of us, with cars all my life, and it all started with my mum buying me on cassette The love Bug, the nineteen sixty seventh film, and it started off with Beetles, and then naturally, as you start reading about Beetles, eventually discovered Porsche.

There was something about the cowl of guys that really resonated with me.

So that was a group of California guys had a very laid back attitude but were into drag racing. So they kind of stripped their beetles of all all unnecessary weight.

And I just really like that philosophy.

And so that's kind of philosophy that I tried to apply to to some of my more my.

More extreme cars.

Yeah, and I don't know, that's kind of I guess where it kind of started.

Yeah, Well, I I've you know, Porsches are I think you know, it's it's the.

Type of car that that really regardless of.

Which application they try and attempt, whether it's a nine to eleven, a boxed or a kne you know, regardless of what they do, they kind of execute it.

Well, I think you have a bit of an affinity with air called Porsches. Do you do you like modern Porsches or do you think.

That that it's the classic stuff that really sort of tickles you fancy?

Yeah, I appreciate modern Porsches. I've owned modern Porsches before.

We've had a kN as a family, and I've had a nine to seven Turbo in the past, which is amazingly capable car. And I have huge amount of respect for modern cars and what they're capable of. It just happens to be the stuff that, really, I don't know caause of my past.

Strings, seems to be the air court stuff.

I think a lot of the start I mean again, you know, there's a lot of t shoes out there, but a lot of the modern stuff is very it's very, very clinical, and it kind of drives itself. And I respect that massive because it's a huge amount of engineering that has to go into a car in order to make it do that.

But the old stuff is I just find it.

I find it rewarding from from the get go, from you know, having to track down a car, track tracking down a car, getting it back, spending time with it, figuring out what's wrong with it, getting it back to like because they all have something wrong, figuring out what's wrong with it, fixing those things, getting a nice baseline, driving it for about a year or so, and then and then setting about creating something that that I think the car is meant to be.

So there's a very personal aspect to it, I think, And with a lot of modern stuff, it's all relatively reliable.

It's all in good nick which has which has all its which has its which has its place.

And its merit.

But it's less of I don't know, it's less of a journey that you go on with it, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

So, yeah, the the older stuff tends to appeal to me a little bit more than the the newer stuff. But it doesn't mean to say that I don't have huge much respect for it, and that there are some days where, you know, when when several cars have gone wrong, that I just think I just want to sell everything and buy, you know, something modern with a warranty and it make my life easy.

So yeah, what do you think the cutoff is with with a modern Porsche to I guess a classic? Where is the the years sort of beginning? Where's the lines?

It's so it's so subjective, you know, because I remember being I mean, I've been a several car mets. I've seen online people saying, oh, the last analog in nine to eleven is a nine ninety seven or a nine ninety six or or nine ninety three, and it people. I think people define an analog nine to eleven based on their own experience.

So from from my.

Perspective, and I'm lucky enough to have driven pretty much every single generation of Porsche is out there.

Of the air call variety.

I would say it kind of stops the nine to six four. The temptation is to say the nine nine three because it's the it's the last of the air

So what I'm.

Essentially getting at is that I think that the nine nine to three changed the game so much without multi link rear end, without amazing engineering that went into it, but that for me really was a milestone, And how the car went round the corner and I personally think there's a very clear distinction between the nine six wore and the nine known through.

The other curio is thing as well.

Porscha has recently come out and said that they're working on e fuels and they're actually building a production facility in Tasmania here in Australia, and I think it's really fascinating because Porscha Isn't Isn't kind of saying to all of their customers and their fans, like you, Hey, you've got an old car.

It's going to be bad luck.

You're not going to be able to do anything with it in ten or fifteen years when the world goes to electric. Do you think that the e fuel sort of idea actually has merit And do you think that people that own classic vehicles, and especially Porscha's will take advantage of something like that in the future.

Yeah, I think for me, looking at it from from from an even wider perspective, I think, you know, without wanting to go too far into it, but I think I think our biggest, our biggest problem as a human race is our race of consumption. And I think that if we can reuse the things that we already have or slow down our race consumption, then we're we're we're we're much better. And I think that applying that to what you're saying about e fuels makes sense to me.

I think that's a good thing.

So I think I think synthetic fuels are a very good idea. I like the idea of being able to carry on using our cars. I like the idea of carrying on being able to use the infrastructure we already have. We've got all these fuel stations already or all around the world, and if we can carry on using them as opposed to having.

To manufacture and build more.

Elect stations, which again has this carbon footprint, I think that's a good thing. I think that the thing for me is it's it's very easy to look. I think it's very easy for politicians to look at cars and just go, okay, well we'll look straight, we'll look at what comes out of the tail pipe. But actually, the carbon footprint overall starts from the day that it's manufactured

Yeah, so it's got my vote as the short answer.

It's funny. It's funny that you're mentioning sustainability too, because I feel like the way that you collect and acquired cars, you kind of talk about that you are preserving these pieces almost like pieces of art for the next custodians, which I think is really cool.

Which is yeah, I appreciate that.

I think that, you know, all of us have a finite amount of time on this planet, and and what's called we use what we can and we pass on what we can to the next generation.

And I think it's the same thing with cars. I think it's a bit too yeah, so so so so yeah. I think.

I hope that I hope that in some way, one shape or another, that somebody else will get to enjoy the car after I'm gone, and I'm pleased to have enjoyed it after the previous owner.

Yeah, your collection is massive, as we've sort of covered, and as people can say. But because with your collection, I sort of figure that every single model, every single year, everything kind of has its own I guess language about it. If you like, there's sort of this is a really bad example, but you can pretty much teach anyone French. But fluency is definitely one thing, and I think driving like a certain older car requires a little bit of

Yeah, totally.

I mean it's I totally get you know, some people go, Okay, well why so much Porsche, you know, like that, There's other things to the world, and I totally get that, and I've been there experimental world of cars.

But actually that's a very surface level, and I think that when when when you look at.

The cars that I'm fortunate enough to have there, they actually have they offer very different driving experiences.

There's cars in there which are very good at.

Going out with the missus for a Sunday drive, you know, nice and quiet and comfortable. There's cars in there that are very good for crossing constants, because my wife and I love road.

Trips, and it's nice and quiet and comfortable as well.

There's cars in there which are incredibly good at alpine tools, so they're stripped out, very very raw, and it is literally all about that experience being on that alpine pass on rough terrain, rough roads. And then there are cars in there which are very good at just being track cars so still street legal, so I can get to the track without having.

To trailer cars my idea of a night there.

And there are also race cars, so so essentially there's there's a very eclectic mix, even though it's all one brand.

When you love to have a garage like that pool literally like I'd like for to go to the Alps, but I also want one for a bit of a road trip to that concept on the weekend. That would be fun.

Don't get me wrong, I I totally appreciate how fortunately this fortunate I am, and and it is certainly a little bit absurd for sure, but I think, I think, I think the main thing is that in my view, cars cars have to cars have to appeal to a mass audience. They need to they need to be good at everything in order to appeal to a mass audience and and and make the shareholders happy.

But the truth is we're all unique individuals with a unique different requirements.

And so there's nothing I think more personal than making your car the true truest representation of what driving really means to use an individual so yeah, so so so, and and it also makes an undiluted experience. It means it's not compromised that one thing or another. When I go to the racetrack, I know that this car was built to do that task to the utmost. And when I'm crossing the continent with the Misses for a holiday, I know that car is perfect for that job and uncompromised.

Also, what do you reckon about like Singer and some of the people that are now doing ev conversions of classics. Do you reckon that that that stuff ruins what should be a vehicle that stays as it is? Or do you think that that you know when it comes to whatever someone wants to do to a car, that there really is no wrong choice.

To be honest with you, my view is your car, your rules.

I think that we spend a lot, we spend a little bit too much time criticizing other parts, other people and always having to express the point of view. And sometimes we don't have to have a point of view on anything. But yeah, I mean, you know, I think Singer, what Singer do is is brilliant. The quality of their craftsmanship is absolutely fantastic, roof you know, all of them.

It's it's very it's a very interesting space. But it just it's it's a very different world.

I mean, when when I started, the first nine eleven I bought was for seven thousand pounds, you know, and it was a ninety six four. It was six four when I bought that because I couldn't afford a nine ninety six and also because I preferred the classic car. And it meant because it was a cheap car, it meant that we could go on circuit, you could chuck it into a wall, you could rebuild it with parts from the scrap heap, because there were there were loads of parts of that time.

Especially that, and it didn't owe you very much. Sorry, yeah, it didn't owe you very much.

So so the world has has suddenly changed, and it's just it's just funny how you know, to me, a nine six four is a is a seven grand car. It's a car that you can modify without having to worry about originality. It's a car that you can take the track and if you crash it, it's not the end of the world. And all of a sudden, you know, they're they're all of a sudden, it's been a while now, but they're being turned into two singers with with much

And the nine six four is a really interesting model.

It came out in the nineties or the time of a recession, so they weren't very they weren't sold in big numbers, so they're relatively rare and and a lot of them fell into disrepair because we people weren't willing to spend the money on a car that was.

Worth so little.

And they also suffered from dull mauth flywheel issues in the first year, and they had no head seating gaskets, so the then they meat a lot of all so.

They got all immediately bad pressed. So again it was.

Just more more salt to the wound for once of a better expression when it came to the when it came to the nicest four becoming the dog of the nine eleven one that nobody wanted, nobody wanted, whereas a nine nine to three was a car that everybody loved

I think it's a brilliant, brilliant car.

Isn't it crazy how car prices have gone through the roof and cars that were ship boxers are now incredibly expensive.

Does that change what you want to do with the car?

I mean previously, if you know a car that you bought was seven pounds, would you want to actually go out and drive that car? Now if it's a it's a fIF fifty thousand pound car, now, I mean does that change your frame of mind?

Depending on what it's actually worth on the.

Market, Yeah, it does. It does for Cuddain people for sure.

I mean, yeah, there was a time which is a brilliant circut in Belgium. If you haven't heard of it, it's it's got to be one of my favorite. It's got to be my favorite racetrack full stop.

It's just got.

Everything off Canber's gradient changes all the rest of it. At one end of the track, it can be raining,

Yeah, do you ever go outside the realm of the nine to elevens? Like, you know, I've got a soft spot for say the nine two four for instance, talk about a bad press that's kind of known as the the ugly Porsche, the poor Man's Porsche, the everything under the sun. I just think there's something really cool and individual about it. But yeah, do you ever sort of go outside the nine eleven?

Yeah? Do I ever go outside of nine eleven? Well, I guess the the only Porsche that I've owned that's no.

Nine to eleven is that kN And then a couple of three five sixes and I've still got a beast or knocking about, but no, not enough, not enough. I mean, I'd love to get hold of a nine to eight at some point. Another I'd love to get hold of like a first gen Kman and build like a real hot rod out of that. I think that'd be a lot of fun. But I think, you know you're there's there's some great Porsches out there, and I think what's awesome about the band is about the brand is that

So you know, yeah, come along.

And true enough, he overtook a nine ninety six Turbo on the outside going up Snake Hill, coming.

Out of a little village called Broadway.

And it turns out basically that the car is highly modified, it's got owners.

He tracks it all the time, takes it to the merburg Ring, and he really knows what he's doing.

And that's the point I think for me, like Porsche is a very inclusive brand, it's all about the people and the stuff that really really gets under my skin is the cars that have a story and the owners that have a story. You know, and that guy's enthusiasm for me is something that's that's palpable and infectious, and that's what I want to be surrounded by.

It's you know, enthusiasts and industry.

Professionals that have a real passion and real passion that rubs off onto me.

Yeah, it's so cool to hear you talk so passionately about these cars too, and I just closing up. I know personally, like I had a Cayman, which is cops in a lot of bad flak as well amongst the purists and stuff like that, but for me, by by all means, I remember jumping in that thinking this was the best car I've ever driven, and then after a while you realize, like you kind of have to know how to drive these these cars a little bit because that you realize they're not perfect. But that's the sort

For sure? For sure, I think old new.

Whatever it is, the most important thing is it puts a smile on your face. You know, it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. The important thing is you're the one who's behind the stewing world. And if it puts a smile on your face, that's all it's necessary. Everything else is bullshit.

Really yeah, mate, we will let you go, and no doubt, I don't know. I'm going to try and sneak into Box and Guests sometime and check out.

Definitely.

Well, we've we've got our annual event next year, so that's really the time to come. And you know, Duck in Whale the Porsche magazine, I have been one of our sponsors for the last couple of years, so yeah, definitely pick up that magazine and have a.

Look at the report from last year's edition. Yeah.

Yeah, the photography in that is amazing, breathtaking. Oh he's great, Yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you so much for having a chat with this mate. We really appreciate it.

No, absolutely pleasure. Thank you for having me on and I appreciate the time.

A legend, very down to earth and super nice guy.

I know, I couldn't help it. Secretly think Jesus, do you think you'll give me one for free? Do you think like you'll go No?

No, no, Well he may have felt sorry for Cayman.

Nothing wrong with that car. I still love it. I'm going to buy another.

No, I know they're they're really good. I was thinking about getting my wife on as well.

Hairdresser or Cayman. What's wrong with the Cayman? Nothing? Nothing.

There's like a there's a hook that you could put handbag shopping, like all that sort of stuff just rests on that hook.

Really good.

Yeah. Do you know that irony is if we were to put that next to your fully sick commodore, it was dusty.

Yeah?

Did they still actually? You know what the I know with the Commodores that you had is they were cup holders, but they're actually very good at holding your mountain dew bottle that had been turned into a bomb.

Yeah yeah, yeah.

Listen, before we go, we got some like admin house cleaning, housekeeping stuff to do house cleaning.

I don't know what that is.

You've got your maid and I'm just leaving a Paula my owe Phiel. I have so many pizza boxes I just use them as a coffee table now and then the top one is in ashtray.

God, you're good.

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