DISCOVERING PORSCHE HEAVEN IN THE PHILIPPINES

Discovering Porsche Heaven in the Philippines

Touring a private collection in Cebu that has to be one of the best kept secrets in the Porsche world.

Sitting somewhere between the Farnsworth house and the garage from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Jay Aldeguer’s home is among the most striking works of architecture we’ve ever visited.

Discovering Porsche Heaven in the Philippines second image

Built on the hillside in a suburb of Cebu, the house remains completely invisible as you snake down the driveway, it’s only at the very last minute that you emerge at a set of stone steps, a great glass front door and, in this tropical climate, the most inviting swimming pool you’ll ever see. Unstick your gaze for a moment and you might catch a glimpse of a yellow 1966 Porsche in a cantilevered glass box, hinting at the real reason we travelled all the way to the Philippines to visit this place.

Jay’s collecting journey began in 1997 when he picked up a white 911 Targa. Back then it was perceived as just an older second hand car, not worth the trouble of owning for most, especially in a country that didn’t yet have much of a culture around classic cars. Nearly 30 years later, that car remains in Jay’s garage now, along with a few more he picked up over the years. There’s a 930 Turbo, a trio of 356s, a 944 Turbo, a half-restored 914/6 and various other air-cooled Porsches to fill in the gaps.

“Initially I really wanted to have a car from each of the big six” explains Jay, as we wondered why the Porsche fixation holds so strongly in his life. “Maybe an E-Type, a Pagoda SL, a 308 Ferrari and of course, a 911. I travelled to Manila to test all of these cars (though some wouldn’t start), but when I drove the Porsche it just dawned on me that if I had all of these marques in my garage, I knew deep down in my heart that it would always be the 911 that I’d take out on the weekend.”

From there the collection naturally took shape. As Jay steadily found cars, the broader enthusiast community in Cebu grew as well. Jay and his friends started sharing their hobby, eventually forming the PACE owners club which today organises around events like the Tour de Cebu rally, a gruelling 3 day drive that carries these cars through some of the most beautiful landscapes of South-East Asia.

Entering Jay’s purpose built “car gallery” is a near-unparalleled experience. The cars are one thing, but the space they occupy is the stuff of sheer fantasy. Tucked away in the corner is the aforementioned 1966 911, a car ordered new by the royal family of Bahrain in a unique shade of yellow. The car was later gifted to the family’s Filipino pilot, who then brought it home and drove it for years. When Jay acquired it, he put it through a comprehensive restoration, using a clean patch of original paint under the sunroof panel to accurately re-create the original spec.

The next car that catches your eye is the outlaw 356A. Though Jay often goes to great lengths to restore these cars to the spec they left the factory with, the oldest Porsche in the garage is the obvious exception. The car was a wreck when he found it, long-abused and housing VW running gear. With a well restored 356C already in his ownership, Jay decided on a more personalised approach.

“It was like a blank canvas” Jay explained. “I really read up a lot to get it right. The original cars are easier to restore because the spec is already fixed, but I wasn’t as confident about executing this one. I bought a crate engine from a champion Southern California racer who had passed away. I had to detune it so it wouldn’t have to run on aviation fuel, and all the other parts are period-correct 356. It was highly experimental, but I’m very happy with it, it’s one of my favourites to drive.”

Nearer to the entrance sits a separate workshop, currently occupied by the freshly painted shell of a 914/6. It’s only the latest restoration project in Jay’s life, almost all of these cars have been through some degree of recommissioning in the last 30 years. “That should be finished in about a month, conservatively.” Between Jay and his mechanic, the process is a well-oiled machine. “The engine runs now. We’re going to swap it into my 911T to test it first so that when it finally goes in the 914, we’ll know it’s a working unit. That’s an easy swap, it only takes half a day.”

The most recent addition to the collection is probably the most unusual of the bunch. The 944 Turbo is Jay’s first transaxle car, a journey nearly 30 years in the making.

“Initially I really wanted to have a car from each of the big six. Maybe an E-Type, a Pagoda SL, a 308 Ferrari and of course, a 911. I travelled to Manila to test all of these cars, but when I drove the Porsche it just dawned on me that if I had all of these marques in my garage, I knew deep down in my heart that it would always be the 911 that I’d take out on the weekend.”

Discovering Porsche Heaven in the Philippines image text 1 image

Discovering Porsche Heaven in the Philippines image text 2 image

"People often ask me what my favourite car is, and they often assume it’s a 911, but it’s actually a 356. I’ve always felt that for the roads we have here in the Philippines, the 356 is the most suitable. We have very narrow, technical roads and the older cars suit me and that environment best.”

“I’d always been curious” he says, “but I’d never pulled the trigger. I think the 911 did a disservice to all the other non-911 Porsches because they’ve always been in its shadow. I’ve always loved the 914 for instance, but in my early days, they were frowned upon, or not even considered a real Porsche for some. Now that I have the lineup of air-cooled cars that I’d always dreamt of, I’m really curious about the different pivots Porsche made to stay relevant in this world. When I first drove a 944 Turbo, it really caught my attention.”

Since we visited, an early manual 928 has also joined the roster to keep the 944 company. Both represent a tentative step into modernity for Jay, who’s Porsche tastes typically don’t extend beyond around 1980. “I used to have a 964 before, I know it’s considered one of the greatest out there, but I quickly found it to be too new for my tastes. Even a late G-Series is something I find a little too refined.

People often ask me what my favourite car is, and they often assume it’s a 911, but it’s actually a 356. I’ve always felt that for the roads we have here in the Philippines, the 356 is the most suitable. We have very narrow, technical roads and the older cars suit me and that environment best.”

When Jay bought his first 911, he was just 27 years old. The classic car world was a very different place back then and Porsches in particular hadn’t risen to quite the same prominence that the internet has since given them.

If you were to put together this collection today, Jay’s cars would all seem like natural choices. Back in the early 2000s however, impact bumper G bodies, 914s and even 930 Turbos inspired little interest from the collector crowd. Fortunes have changed for these cars since but for people like Jay, that’s ultimately immaterial. The world could lose all interest in Porsches tomorrow, and not a single car would leave this garage.