Talk about a dream job…
Jakob Pospieszynski lives his life at 911 percent. He’s not overexerting himself by a factor of nine - no, he’s just letting his passion for the car he loves shine through. That car is, of course, the Porsche 911.
Jakob’s obsession (and we don’t just go throwing that word around) has been a lifelong ordeal, but it wasn’t until he started putting his Porsche Moments online on his YouTube channel 911% that he truly found his voice within the global Porsche community.
We caught up with the Toronto-based creative director to ask him about his channel and the charmed life of a Porsche YouTuber.
Jakob, thanks for your time. First off, do you live, sleep, breathe, eat Porsche 24/7? Or do you have a day job where you occasionally have to think about something else?
I wish! Haha! But actually, as of late, I can say that I have been basically able to live, breathe, eat, sleep Porsche 24/7. I do have a day job - I work as a Creative Director at an ad agency that specializes in storytelling, content engineering and branding.
Where did your love of Porsche come from? Is it genetic?
Definitely not genetic, but my love of cars goes back pretty far. I’ve always been a gearhead interested in all types of cars and trucks and always had an eye for design. I’d always look at them from the perspective of interesting objects. But my imagination was captured by Porsche in the early 80s when I saw this beautiful metallic green 930 Turbo passing the car that I was in on the family road trip. I vividly remember a huge yellow fireball being shot out of the exhaust as the Porsche upshifted and left us behind in the dust. From that moment on, the shape, the sound, the drama, pretty much everything about Porsche really captured my heart.
What do you drive?
It’s a 1997 Porsche Carerra 4S, also known as the 993 generation of the 911. This is an S car, it’s the sought-after wide-bodied version and is the last 911 with an air-cooled motor - that’s why people are so drawn to this generation. My car is black on cashmere interior, which is a tan colour. It’s got a very classic ‘sports car look’ to it. I’ve had it for six years and I love it.
What have you done to it?
For the most part, I have the car in original condition. There are two basic schools of thought on this: the one side says “it’s your car and you can do whatever you want to it,” and then there’s the other side, the ‘Concours Purist’ side. I think I’m somewhere in the middle. My priority in terms of spending money on the car is maintenance and making sure it’s running at its optimal condition. Other than that, anything that I have done - like the Techart OZ Championship summer wheels or the three-spoke steering wheel or the Bilstein PSS10 suspension and many 993 RS driveline bits, can be reversed. I guess my whole theory behind mods is that they need to be reversible. And as a matter of fact, this season I’m removing my bolt-in roll cage and swapping it for a forward-facing baby seat so I can bring my 2-year-old with me and start sharing the passion with him.
What’s 911% about?
It’s a space for me to share my experiences with my car, the last of the air-cooled Porsches. My whole idea behind the channel is to give people a taste of what it’s like to own a vintage Porsche 911, be involved in the global Porsche community and turn a wrench on it after hours...just the whole Porsche experience.
What's the most memorable Porsche Moment you've had?
When the plans actually moved forward with the purchase six years ago. It was distilling the dreams of 20+ years when I actually pulled the trigger.
I actually bought the car two weeks before my wedding. That was a crazy time.
What's a Porsche Moment you dream about having?
Well, hopefully my wife won’t hear this, but the next Porsche that I will buy in the future will hopefully be purchased like 5,000 km from here on the West Coast of California or something. The dream is to road trip it back to Toronto, make some epic videos and have some epic experiences with it. That would be incredible.
What's the most popular Video on your channel?
The most popular in views is the Porsche Centre Oakville Cars and Coffee season-end video from last year (see below). I feel like people just love to see lots of Porsches of all different conditions and spec in one place. This video is always doing well.
How would you describe the Porsche community on YouTube and online in general?
That’s a difficult question because I feel like 97 per cent of YouTube users are 13-17-year-old kids. There are just a few users who focus specifically on Porsche on their channel, so this is a very niche space. When you look at 911%, which is specific to a model, it's even MORE niche. Because of that I feel like my community is very authentic and tight-knit. I think that’s really special. I’d love to grow the channel and do it fulltime, and if that ever does happen, I hope I never lose the Porsche 911 enthusiast community feel I've worked so hard to create. But no hesitation to explode and get more popular.
To join Jakob’s current enthusiast community, subscribe to his channel on YouTube.
Date Posted: August 2, 2017