Automotive journalist and car magazine publisher Harry Metcalfe on his Porsche 911 sportscars

Automotive journalist Harry Metcalfe on how to become a Porsche collector

The story of a lifetime love for fast cars

29 June 2023

Harry Metcalfe with his Guards Red 930 Turbo S

How the car magazine publisher and automotive YouTuber went from running a farm to turning his love for fast cars into a career

Harry Metcalfe is a globally recognised automotive authority, best known for his popular YouTube channel, Harry’s Garage, which has over 600,000 followers. He also co-founded the UK-based sportscar magazine, Evo. However, it was Harry’s skills in the agriculture business that enabled him to invest in the fascinatingly diverse range of cars that he owns today, including a number of Porsche 911 sportscars.

Porsche 930 Turbo S in Guards Red in farm shed — Harry Metcalfe’s very special 911 Turbo S (type 930) went through the Sonderwunsch personalisation programme at Porsche before it was delivered to its first owner

After attending agricultural college, Harry became a grain buyer and arable farmer. By the mid-1990s, he was farming 800 hectares, which is when he started diverting a portion of his profits towards his love of cars. The quality of Harry’s car collection soon began to be noticed by members of the British motoring press and, after forging close friendships within the industry, he helped start Evo magazine in 1998. Originally something of a niche performance car title, it would go on to gain a devoted international readership.

Buying a 993 Turbo

It was around this time that Harry bought his first ever Porsche – a black 911 Turbo (type 993), which he used as his daily driver. Its blend of performance and useability was the catalyst, he says, for a love of the 911 that’s still as strong today as it has ever been. However, it was back in 1975 that an earlier example of the 911 Turbo – a type 930 – first piqued his interest in the model.

“My parents had just employed an architect who was a Porsche fanatic,” recalls Harry, “and all he wanted to talk about was this new ‘Turbo’ that was going to revolutionise motoring. He’d show me all these pictures and I remember how special it looked.”

Metcalfe consciously bought cars from different marques while he was running Evo, but he later decided to rekindle his long-held passion for Porsche by buying an early 930 – the very car that his parents’ architect had raved about – and another 911 Turbo (type 993) that had been converted to GT2 specification.

What is Harry’s Garage?

It was around this time that he started Harry’s Garage, where he posts weekly YouTube reviews of new cars alongside regular reports on his own collection. Harry’s 911 models sit happily alongside a diverse mix of period and modern machinery, including British and Italian sportscars and supercars. However, he still felt his collection was missing a particularly special Porsche – something that offered the kind of power and drama that could rival his collection’s most exotic supercars.

Porsche 930 Turbo S in Guards Red, surrounded by motorbikes — Shed heaven: Harry’s 930 Turbo S is fitted with a 3.4-litre motorsport engine that produces more than 405PS

Harry eventually found it in the form of a 1989 911 Turbo S (type 930) that had passed through the Porsche Sonderwunsch personalisation programme. His 930 Turbo S in Guards Red features a front spoiler inspired by Group 4 cars – a famous racing class of the period where cars were homologated for road use – with an uprated oil cooler and quad exhausts. Inside, its seats and steering wheel were the same installed in the mighty Porsche 959. The car had also left the factory in Stuttgart fitted with 17-inch RUF alloys and a 3.4-litre motorsport engine producing more than 405PS – 30 per cent more power than a standard Turbo engine.

Harry acquired the car in late 2021 and has since begun exploring its unique history and equally unusual character. “If you’re lucky enough to have driven everything, it’s the slightly mad ones that give you the most back,” he explains. “You can chase perfect handling or refinement, but sometimes the car you actually want to own is the one with the quirky nature.”

Porsche 930 Turbo S in Guards Red on tree-lined road — In 2022, Harry’s 930 Turbo S completed a 2,000km road trip through southern Europe

A 911 Turbo road trip to southern Europe

The 911 Turbo S now takes pride of place in Harry’s Garage – although like most of his cars, it’s very much for driving not sitting. In 2022, for example, he completed a 2,000km-long road trip through southern Europe. It’s these sorts of escapes that Harry lives for – discovering great roads and getting to know his cars in the real world.

“I always say that cars have to be really good at going slowly because, unfortunately, we spend a lot of time today doing just that,” says Harry. “And this car can potter all day long, but then it has this wild side where you’re suddenly flying, with old-style 911 suspension and brakes. I’m wrestling the thing, still learning it – and I’m in heaven!”

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