How Bryan Lagas and His Car Geeks Perfect the Analog Porsche Experience originally appeared on Autoblog.
Time for some frank car talk, friends. We can all agree that technology is zooming ahead at an unprecedented rate these days, with AI being the revolutionary buzzword of the moment. There's no doubt these developments will continue to make cars more efficient, more silent, more intuitive and, yes, more boring.
Mention old school driving basics to today’s newest drivers – shifting gears, parking without sensors, even filling up the tank – and many will look at you as if you’d just teleported in with ol’ Henry Ford himself.
Yesterday's classics need today's best mechanics, if you can find them
But there’s a little secret that’s getting out, the one about how driving older great cars is actually a soul-stirring blast that can connect you to a machine in ways that phones and laptops can’t imagine. That retro reality is driving up prices of many now-classic cars while turbocharging the business of specialty shops capable of nurturing these soon-to-be museum pieces. Shops like Speedsport Tuning in Danbury, Connecticut, where times have never been better for owner Bryan Lagas and his Euro-car team that specializes in Porsche.
“Some of the more classic cars are becoming more and more appealing to a growing number of people from across the demographic range,” says Lagas. “I sense that, in a way, people are done with all this tech. When you get in, say an air-cooled Porsche, you’re talking about being in something you’re proud to own and thrilled to enjoy. You can’t say as much about many newer cars.”
Times are booming for those who cater to vintage machines
The proof that Lagas is onto something can be found in the boom his shop has experienced over the past decade, and in particular since the pandemic. Back then, driving provided a safe, isolated experience, and many used that strange time to rekindle lifelong passions for the automobile. A number of those folks, notably residents in and around Danbury, found their way to Lagas and his team at SST. With services that include repair, race prep, storage, and transportation, SST aims to be what a small one- or two-person shop can't offer: everything to most car enthusiasts. While the crew leaves bodywork to other pros, they focus on meeting the often exacting and varied needs of folks who really love their cars.
At SST, the workspace is about to double to 63,000 square feet
SST customers run the gamut. Some entrust a singular, prized vehicle to them and drive it daily, while others have the shop oversee large, museum-quality fleets that rarely leave the warehouse. While SST is prepared to handle a range of European marques, there is a definite tilt towards Porsche new and vintage, with marching orders ranging from concours-quality overhauls to race-ready tune-ups.
“The customer base certainly doesn’t seem to be getting smaller,” he says. “We have a 35,000 square-foot facility now, but we’re in the process of building out and moving to a 63,000 square-foot shop.”
Porsche fans increasingly want to add restomod gems like Singers to their collections
“Ever since COVID, it seems people are more willing than ever to spend money on cars,” says Marc Carson, who oversees SST’s Porsche customer operations. “Most of our customers are not investment-driven, even if they know the value of their cars. Maybe you’d call it more of a ‘life is short’ mentality. All these cars, whether it's a Porsche or something like a Singer or a Gunther Werks restomod, they’re all built to be driven.”
Those particular companies, which perform massive overhauls of 964 and 993 generation air-cooled 911s to the tune of seven-figure price tags, have seen a big jump in business as collectors look to add unique variations on the 911 platform to their stables.
Carson estimates that only about a quarter of STT’s clients strive to keep their cars idle, aiming to keep miles low and resale value high. More often than not, the aim is to make sure the cars are in tip-top shape in order to run at the track or participate in vintage rallies such as the Colorado Grand.
Porsche's four-cam engines can't be fixed by many, but SST has a guy
That latter part is especially the case for Jeff Adams, SST’s boss of vintage operations and one of the very few mechanics in the nation, if not the world, who is capable of working on Porsche’s iconic four-cam engines. Those high-horsepower-for-the-time powerplants were fitted to early racing Porsches like the 550 Spyder and 356 Carreras, and were known for being German-made Swiss-watch type engines that could spin at high revolutions forever (think 24 Hours of Le Mans) but then required significant refurbishment after such endeavors. With four-cam engines valued at anywhere between $250,000 and $450,000, Adams is not surprisingly in high demand.
Want guaranteed work for decades? Master vintage engine rebuild skills
“We have a (Porsche) RS60 in the shop right now, and five other four-cams we are working on,” he says, adding that his workload has been reduced a bit thanks to taking on a young apprentice who is interested in being the new generation of four-cam experts.
That’s no doubt music to the ears of those who own these wildly valuable cars. Consider that a mid-‘50s Porsche 550 Spyder, which packs that legendary four-cam, routinely changes hands for upwards of $4 million.
“The thing about the four-cam is you really have to know your way around the engine, because there’s no going by the book,” he says. “There are lots of moving pieces and booby traps, so it helps to have a lot of experience.”
Modern Porsches are magnificent, but for many, nothing beats that air-cooled past
Increasingly, that’s what it comes down to as modern cars become computers on wheels propelled by, in many cases, hybrid or electric powerplants. As something like a Porsche air-cooled engine increasingly becomes a thing of the past – the German company stopped making them in 1998 and switched to water cooled engines before now focusing on EVs – it helps to know that you’re entrusting an increasingly valuable possession to people who not only know your car, but will fuss over it as much as you do.
“We are all car guys here; we share the love of the automobile with you,” says Adams, adding that those cars seem to give something back to their owners that is almost an intangible joy. “Even when things are going bad in the world, the cars keep rolling in here.”
How Bryan Lagas and His Car Geeks Perfect the Analog Porsche Experience first appeared on Autoblog on Aug 4, 2025
This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Aug 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
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