Made To Drive | S03 E04

Porsche 911: A German Driving Legend In Italy

With its many curves, elevation changes, and natural beauty, the Italian countryside is a perfect place to own a vintage car. While many dream of the legendary cars to roam these roads, when Donatello Maniscalco was ten years old, his car of dreams was a Porsche 911. Years later that dream was realized when he purchased a 1968 Porsche 911t. Instead of keeping his collection of cars and his 911 in a garage, Donatello observes the rich history of Italian motoring and regularly participates in rallies and drives. Donatello can regularly be found whipping his car around the beautiful country hillsides of Italy.

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Carl Lynn

10 years ago

One of the best Petrolicious videos to date, I love it. Great subject, great personality, great location, and a superb 911.

Pedro Oliveira

Another week and another fantastic video. Loved the content and the music, they merged very smooth.
Please keep up the good work guys, it’s truly inspirational!

Jason Hoogerbrug

Brilliant video and background music. Love the original car.

Rolf Skala

Love the videos. For me I’m more interested in the visceral spark that ignites the initial passion, the human insights that define the “why” a particular vehicle is interesting to an individual. The form, the shape the history, music and emotions are entwined. As said previously, the material “what” can be easily found on other chat rooms or forums…my particular virus in Alfa’s but I would not dream of subjecting my anorak catalogue of 60″s Alfa facts and figures to dilute a video. This is not the place for that and it’s why Petrolicious is so enjoyable.

Please keep up the great work!

Ryan Storzbach

110 horsepower has never sounded better

Rodney Wren

Again and Again you guys keep producing great videos. Love the video and music from the car and background. Bravo!

Stefano Pasini

Petrolicious is GREAT. Thanks to everyone on this site for giving us all these pictures…the Goodwood Revival set was nothing short of awesome, and I would add that none of the big classic-cars mags (that cost us a few quid each issue) ever showed us pictures so inspiring as those we saw here. You want to show your ‘purist’ soul? Please, go ahead and make your own site. I’m involved in classic cars since 1977 and I find this site very, very special. All the best from Italy!
Cheers
Dr Stefano Pasini

Jim Valcarcel

Reply to Stefano Pasini

Thank you Dr. Pasini,

Some of the very best videos that Petrolicious produces are from Italy. The people, the roadways, the trees, and then the cars!

Darin Spyderdog

i really enjoy the videos on this site. to say we were hit like a baseball bat by the economic downturn and are still recovering would be a bit of an understatement. as a result im still being somewhat forced to sit on the sidelines of this hobby, and this site in particular sort of correctly captures the feeling of it that i miss so much, and it makes things a little easier. i understand what people are saying in regards to what they deem “missing” from the video segments, but i think they are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing (a lot of the articles on the other hand seem like they are starting to get a bit hijacked by pointlessness and self promotion however). either way, keep up the good work. i always look forward to tuesdays because of this site

rob latanville

I have to agree with Jim.Petrolicious……don’t change a thing.

Rik

Love the originality of the car and how the driver is really having to Drive! Here is an ad for NOT putting after market seats and a race steering wheel in a car. It just looks like fun.

I’m sorry I’m going to do this, but I’m going to do it! Here is a site that is free! Here is a site that caters to our favorite hobby and has wonderful people talking so kindly of their cars. Here is a site that promotes everything that is good about cars. And then what happens. Certain people have to come along and bitch and piss and moan about, “well I’m not getting this, and I’m not getting that”. Or a few weeks ago the guy that was the RS owner being some kind of jerk. Hey THIS SITE IS FREE! If you don’t like it go somewhere else! Guys like Afshin, work their tales off and what thanks do they get? Well I’m sure they are getting millions doing this so sure let’s beat them up and say we are not getting what we want. If these people were making constructive criticisms then fine. But that not what is going on here. This is just plain gripping. You don’t like these video’s go elsewhere. I for one think they are fantastic. The crew that make these video’s should be THANKED! I for one will. THANK YOU! THE BEST, KINDEST, MOST WONDERFUL, VID’s on the net! God love you folks that give up something uplifting every Tuesday. Did I mention it? IT’S FREEE!!!

Ib Erik Soderblom

Reply to Jim Valcarcel

Yes, it’s its free, and I love it, and love the videos.
Thats not it !
I only suggest another angle to it.
If Petrolicious takes any notice of it or not, I don’t know…

Someone having a passion for his car and the story behind it is always well told (and beautifully) on Petrolicious.

Like Donato Maniscalco and his carismatic Porsche !

Horst

I agree with Lawrence to a degree, but I disagree that the videos should change.
Petrolicious does sometimes feel like an Abercromie & Fitch Catalog, but thats ok, I dont come here to talk to other gearheads, there are other blogs for that. Sometimes its ok to be all eyecandy and no substance.
If anything, Petrolicious could consider starting another seperate video series.

Kuroneko

Reply to Horst

> Abercromie & Fitch Catalog
Bwa ha ha haaa… There’s a fine line between style and being pretentious. To someone devoid of taste, any ‘style’ is pretentious. To someone with a modicum of style, the pretentious threshold pushes out a little. Considering the resources available, what Petrolicious costs us (nothing), and what we get in return, I would suggest they get to wave their pretentious attitude at the rest of us as many times as they like.

Plus, I would prefer to stomach people with double-barreled names, extra initials after their names, faux hipster attitudes & mustache, even the odd misconception about style, simply because anything is better than nothing. Thanks to all who contribute, as it is not easy, and takes time & effort to put yourself out there to have your ideas exposed & to be consumed by the sometimes ungrateful masses. Dedication is commendable, and the views I get here, may be stale to some, but I thoroughly enjoy a little snippet of style, and even do not mind admitting, being a little pretentious myself sometimes…

Andrew Worrell

Team Petrolicious! Great Video…again. I liked the pseudo James Bond background music as well. What stood out in this video was the in-car video where it showed the driver moving with the car as he was negotiating corners and rowing through the gears. Other than Magnus Walker’s website, you don’t get to see guys really ‘Driving’ their cars like you’ve captured here. Also I thought it was interesting for an Italian gent to be so passionate about a German make. I liked the way he was portrayed as a Gentleman Driver in his button up shirt, tie, sports coat and jeans…but again, it shows him moving with the car. Great was to capture the ‘fun’ of driving. P.s., I bet the guy on the bike in fram 3:24 nearly crapped his pants when the Porsche came around that left hand corner. 🙂
Great video

Xander Cesari

Reply to Andrew Worrell

I’ve never driven or ridden in an early air-cooled 911 but from this video and a few others like it I think I know what it’ll feel like. They’re such unique and special cars.

I totally agree with Lawrence P.
The videos are beautiful, but some oil-carisma is missing…
I wanna see a guy with dirty hands and no knowledge about what a café is !
And there are sooo many Porsches on here…

Vincent P

This vid inspired me to get out of my office chair drive home at lunch and get the vintage 911 out of the garage and drive it back to the office. Pretolicious, mission accomplished.

Afshin Behnia

Reply to Vincent P

Vincent, you just summarized what our inspiration to start Petrolicious in the first place was all about.

Lawrence Peabody

I’ve been watching since the very first video, but I have to say that they are starting to get a little stagnant and repetitive.
The videos look slick, but once you get past the surface you start to realize there is not much there.
It wouldnt hurt to show the actual engines of these cars, infact I cant even remember the last time there was a substantial shot of an engine or undercarriage of a car in any of your videos. How about some technical info? All we get is some passing comments by the owners, but how about some researched information about the production and technical specs for the specific cars. It would be nice to learn a little something about the cars.

Matthew Lange

Reply to Lawrence Peabody

There is an engine shot at 1:24 and to be honest there are many great things said about 911’s but I don’t think to many people have complemented the looks of a stock 911 motor.

I think your right that the technical specs are interesting if it’s a custom or very rare car but for something like a 911T I for one am more interested in hearing the owners experiences with the car, and look the technical specs up with google afterwards.

Changing the subject nice to see a video of a stock early 911 rather than a hot rodded one (as nice as they are too).

Reply to Matthew Lange

“There is an engine shot at 1:24 and to be honest there are many great things said about 911’s but I don’t think to many people have complemented the looks of a stock 911 motor.”

This quote is pretty much embodies the spirit of petrolicious and its videos. Why is it only about looks?
Whats wrong with admiring the engineering of a clean stock engine? Why not inform us a little more about the car?
Where are the technical articles and ‘how to” posts? Why hasnt there been a single article about tires, tools or mechanicals?
Instead we get pretty videos, articles about what to wear and poster design.
Im not saying Petrolicious are posers, but with the number of videos theyve done now there are no more excuses for why the videos havnt evolved. Maybe its time to hire a writer/editor with a more technical knowledge who can add a little more than driving glove tutorials.

Christopher Chin

If you want tutorials, how-to’s, and DIY videos and articles, there’s a place called the Internet…mostly community message boards and forums. Petrolicious is about capturing the joy of driving cars with character, which seems to have been lost in the modern day of super-mass produced appliances and overwrought marketing and left in the pages of history. The saying goes, hindsight is 20/20, and everyone’s now beginning to appreciate the originality of classic automobiles. Nobody does this better except Petrolicious…and Top Gear but you can’t compare (small time vs. big time).

Von

Lawrence, I respectfully disagree. The videos aren’t supposed to be educational or technical; they give a cross section of cars and their owners, you see people from all over the world (literally) driving all sorts of machines and telling the stories of their cars and why they love them. So yes it is a bit formulaic in that sense, but its the format of this “show”. You could say Top Gear is repetitive because its the same guys mostly reviewing cars you’ll never drive let alone purchase, they do some funny stunts with some junkers and then interview someone I’ve usually never heard of because I live in America. Repetitive? Yeah it’s a format, but the content is always fresh and and entertaining. Just like Petrolicious.

Future Doc

Reply to Von

I agree Von. The videos are more to capture the emotional, not the technical, side of cars.

I kinda agree that the format is now “less unique” only because I have gotten used to Petrolicious style. At first, it was “wow – new” now, it is not stale but the new-car smell is gone. Then again, I still think the videos are as good if not better than the early videos as “Loud & Fast Art” is my favorite despite having no personal taste in Mustangs.

However, I would like to see less ’60/’70s era cars and maybe a few more in the late ’70s and ’80s. The Mark 1 Celiica Supras/RX-7 arrived 35 years ago, the Mk1 MR2/Civic Si is nearly 30… and despite a “dark age” for many ‘regular’ cars, there are great “tasteful” cars of that era.

Kyle Snarr

Totally. There are literally THOUSANDS of sites, forums and blogs devoted to “technical articles, ‘how to’ posts” and “articles about tires, tools [and] mechanicals.” Petrolicious is something distinctly different and completely unique. It’s purposefully UNLIKE other automotive sites on the interwebs and for that reason it’s become my hands-down, go-to auto enthusiast digital destination. Petrolicious is all about the art of owning and driving a car with character. You don’t need to have a technical bone in your body to own and love a car of this kind… you just need taste to appreciate it.

Lawrence, I agree that the technical details are important. Our videos are unscripted, and we look for passionate owners who have a connections with the car. Many sites (including wikipedia) already do a great job of providing the technical details, so we didn’t see the need to duplicate that.

These videos satisfy my ‘slice of life’ automotive tastes. I especially enjoy the ones that highlight how these desirable cars that we’ve all seen pictures of actually fit into someone’s life. Like the Lancia Stratos video or my personal favorite, Morning Ritual with the Ferrari Lusso. Like others have pointed out, there are plenty of technical details available on the web about any of these cars and oftentimes after a Petrolicious video I’ll go look up more information. But for 4 minutes or so, it’s nice to see the car simply presented as a car that someone owns and drives.

“The videos look slick, but once you get past the surface you start to realize there is not much there.”

I don’t think you’re looking hard enough or in the right places. This gentleman has dreamed about these cars since his youth, that’s very interesting coming from an Italian who had plenty of desirable automobiles closer to home. I think that’s very interesting and made me think about the cars that capture our eyes as kids. Many of the Petrolicious videos are even more personal than that, clearly this owner just wanted to chat about his car and that’s fine as well.

Porsche 911: A German Driving Legend In Italy

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