By Julius Aballera We were a part of the Second Great Migration. I was born in Arkansas in 1949 and when I began school my family moved to South Central Los Angeles. 10 years later we moved to Pismo Beach in Central California. When I wasn’t playing sports, I was running a paper route, pulling…
Casper’s Story By Bill Pugh It all began way back in 1957 when I acquired the new 1957 Triumph TR3 hardtop (this was the Midwest) with wire wheels and overdrive. I was just a young Navy Petty Officer then, and AnnaBelle was still a Nursing student. Going to the Electronics School in Memphis, I met…
I have long admired Joseph Lucas and when you get done with this article maybe you will too. A hard working family man, Lucas was never an English born Diogenes who wandered the streets of Birmingham trying to plot a scheme to keep you in the dark. The fact of the matter is that old…
Most automotive enthusiasts appreciate the innate differences between sports cars from America, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom even if they are unable to articulate what makes them unique. Even the casual car guy can tell you that American muscle cars have large displacement engines; Italian engines make their power with lots of…
For Triumph enthusiasts, words cannot properly describe the singular importance of Giovanni Michelotti to the success and survival of the company in the Sixties and Seventies. Constantly hindered by limited development funds and hampered by a confused management situation, Michelotti’s designs enabled Triumph to differentiate itself from its competitors by offering an entirely different sense…
There are some people that spend their retirement doing yard work or reading quietly in a favorite chair. After 30 years as an engineer, James King decided to try and turn his hobby into a business with more success than most have in their regular careers. King Triumphs made its reputation performing TR6 restorations and…
What do British sports cars have to do with the Ford Model T? There was a time when the Ford Model T was ubiquitous in the classic car firmament. Almost every car collector had one at some point and it was both an entry level and aspirational car for many enthusiasts. They represented a good investment as prices rose…
I used to rule the world Seas would rise when I gave the word Now in the morning I sleep alone Sweep the streets I used to roam — From Viva La Vida by Coldplay I spend way…
It never fails to surprise me how much real life is like high school. Back then we were typically identified with a group and that appellation likely stayed with us throughout our entire four years. Jock. Nerd. Slacker. Freak. Sometimes you were lucky enough to cut across such crass distinctions by creating a niche for…
Having walked through the doors of countless shops that work on British sports cars, it seems as if an overwhelming majority are small, cramped and packed to the rafters with parts accumulated over the decades. In this respect, Porter Customs is no different than hundreds of other specialty shops around the country. What sets this…
