A Little Red Sports Car

I (Al Forest) have been a member of the Upper Canada Region of the Porsche Club for about 15 years, and have come to the realization that every member of the PCA family has a story to tell. Here is mine. 

During my membership, I have had the good fortune to own a 987.2 Cayman, participate in Autocross events and many club socials, drive a PDK-equipped Cayman on the track at Porsche Centre Leipzig, and even correspond with Pinky Lai, the designer of the Cayman.

To say that these experiences were emotional is an understatement. Here is how the journey began:

It was late Summer 2009; I was 59 years old and had started thinking about getting something special for my upcoming 60th birthday in May 2010. Since I had missed my mid-life crisis, some 20 years earlier, I figured it was about time to catch up. I thought that perhaps I might get a distinctive car and the ones that came to mind were BMW, Audi and maybe Nissan. I hadn’t delved into the matter a whole lot when I found myself in Toronto walking back to my car after an evening at St. Lawrence Hall.

As I strolled back along Front Street, I noticed Downtown Porsche – lights on, sales department still open. I walked by the big showroom window and saw the 911 Carreras lined up. This may sound heretical now, but I actually didn’t like the look of the 911. Then, there were a few Boxsters – it is a fine automobile, but I wasn’t interested in a convertible. However, in the Pre-Owned corner, there was a black car that seemed to jump out at me – what was that car?

The next day, I checked out the Downtown Porsche website and discovered the Cayman. I didn’t know such a vehicle existed so it hadn’t even been on my radar – but it sure had beautiful lines. I delved into the details and came up with my comments. Here they are:

The first thing I wrote down was “not RED!” Surely, red would be a magnet for police radar, and I thought I would be making too bold a statement when driving it. 

The idea was to buy a used Cayman at some point in the future – no rush – with a budget of around $50,000, but first I had some questions to be answered. The principal one being: “Can I even fit into this car?” The only way to find out was to go and sit down in one.

At that point my wife, Jane and I went on a two-week trip to the Maritimes, so the visit to the Porsche dealer was delayed. The other thing that took up my time was cleaning out the garage – that is, making room for a new car. For sure, this baby wasn’t going to be left outside. 

In mid-October, I dropped in unannounced to Pfaff Porsche and asked to speak with a salesman. I met Tom Neumann, and we spoke about the Cayman for about half an hour. He pretty much convinced me (although I was already thinking along these lines) that I did not need to consider the “S” version. Then we went outside so he could show me the car and I could sit in it. As we walked out the door towards the bright new red one sitting just outside, I told him emphatically: “I don’t want a red one.” He said that we were just looking at the car and not specifically the colour. 

He showed off all the vehicle’s elements, and then I sat down in the driver’s seat. There was plenty of legroom and a large amount of headroom – enough for a crash helmet, said Tom. Well, the Cayman passed the first test.

We looked at a couple of others on the lot – black and silver pre-owned vehicles – and then we went back into the office. I got a few more details and said goodbye. The next thing to do was to arrange for a test drive. On the way out I looked again, more closely at the red Cayman – gosh, this was a beautiful car and the red colour was pretty nice. 

After standing in the Pfaff lot for a few minutes and seeing the Porsches in various colours and observing a few as they drove in and out of the dealership, I started to understand that these “P” cars make a statement whenever they are on the road – the colour is irrelevant.

I went home and on my analysis sheet, changed the exclamation point about the colour to a question mark.

The test drive was set for early November. Tom asked which car we should take out – the new red 2009 or the used silver 2007? I opted for the used one since I figured that would likely be my choice. 

The Pfaff website characterized Tom Neumann as follows: “Tom’s track-trained test drive style always ends up with smiles from all prospects!”  He drove first and took the Cayman west along Rowntree Dairy Road. I nearly “wet myself” as he maneuvered around traffic. “Hold on, I’m going to brake hard now.” Whoosh – as the air in my lungs was forced out. I was literally shaking – as the saying goes, the car cornered as if it were on rails. The handling was simply AWESOME!! 

He got out, and then it was my turn. I was rather timid, although at one point he said, turn right here, leave it in second gear, get up to a good clip, put it in neutral and then slam on the brakes as hard as you can. As I accelerated, he said keep going, keep going and now brake – again whoosh as the air squeezed out of my lungs. “Let’s go back now.” As I drove back, he asked me if I wanted a cigarette. I don’t smoke, but I could have used one then. He said the same thing. When we returned to the dealership and sat down, I was still full of adrenalin. There was no turning back. And my God, that red Cayman sure looked beautiful. 

One of the things Tom Neumann mentioned to me regarding the Cayman was how well-designed it was from an aerodynamic perspective. To bring that point home, he showed me a photo.

The previous winter, he had parked his Boxster at the dealership when a major storm hit. The car was facing head-first into the wind, and as the snow was whipped up, it accumulated on his car. The remarkable thing was how closely the roofline of the Cayman followed the pattern of the accumulated snow on the Boxster’s roof. 

By this point I was pretty much sold on the new red Cayman, as opposed to the silver used one, but I had to show my wife the choices, so I asked Tom if he could arrange to leave the red one out on Sunday, as we were going down to Toronto for a concert. He said he would try and sure enough, it was out on the lot. The dealership was closed, but we went around looking at the different cars. At one point after seeing the Cayman, Jane reminded me of what she had said from time to time when we were first married: “Well, I always wanted a little red sports car.” That Guards Red Cayman surely fit the bill.

To make a long story short, I purchased the car the very next day and drove it home to Orillia a few days later – through a November rainstorm.

This purchase was totally out of character for me. The engineer inside said this new red Cayman is too expensive, extremely impractical and completely unjustifiable. But I simply fell in love with it. I didn’t choose it – it chose me. I find it beautifully ironic that as much as Porsches are “engineered” cars with great technical sophistication, my reaction to this car was and continues to be completely emotional.

In 2014, I contacted the designer of the Cayman, Pinky Lai, to share with him my passion for the car – and to let him know that despite being an engineer who analyzes almost everything rationally, my response to the Cayman has been and continues to be emotional (emphasized by 14 years of ownership and 200,000 km of driving).

Pinky was kind in replying to my outreach, and shared the following quote, along with the original concept sketch attached. 

“Like all great works of art, they aren’t truly great unless one experiences them on a deeply and profoundly personal and emotional level.”

The 987 Cayman for me is truly a great work of art. </>

Story by Al Forest  |  Porschephile Editor: Stephen Oakley
Photography by Al Forest  |  Illustration by Pinky Lai

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