HIDDEN TREASURES

Hidden Treasures

Discovering a discrete collection of incredible vintage Porsches tucked away in a Madrid warehouse.

Looking at it from the street, you’d never imagine what lies within this anonymous industrial building on the outskirts of Madrid. Take the freight elevator to the fourth floor, step through the metal door and, flooded with light from its large warehouse windows, you find a collection suggestive of a lifelong relationship with mechanical beauty.

Inside we met Xerxes, regaling us with tales of time spent with his father and how he first picked up “the virus”. Two Alfa Romeos defined those early years, one a project and the other a donor. Father and son spent long afternoons together stripping the cars, swapping components, cleaning, polishing, learning. Porsches would come later. The Alfas had been his father’s legacy, but Xerxes moved to the german brand to begin a legacy of his own.

First came a red 1969 911T, nicknamed Habanero. This was followed by a short-wheelbase 911S plastered all over with event stickers on its ivory paint, evidence of a life well lived. Its first owner was motorcycle racing legend Ángel Nieto, followed by Formula One racer Emilio de Villota and journalist Luis Alberto Izquierdo. Plainly, Xerxes hadn’t been seeking out cars with a gentle past.

Finally he acquired the central subject of this feature, a 1972 Porsche 911 2.4 S, which he found in Southern Spain shortly after moving into his Madrid home. It had been sitting among two other cars in a small showroom near the coast. It was a race-prepped car in an unfamiliar colour wearing a simple script on its flank: VANINA.

The car was driven by Vanina Ickx, daughter of legendary Belgian racer Jacky Ickx, during the first edition of Le Mans Historique.

The car was driven by Vanina Ickx, daughter of legendary Belgian racer Jacky Ickx, during the first edition of Le Mans Historique. Research revealed that it had once belonged to the Gerald Harrison Collection and had been converted to 2.7 RS specification by Gantspeed. Initially, Xerxes kept it as a pure race car, but he eventually reverted it to more of a street spec to enjoy it more often.

With the Vanina car being his third, Xerxes had the makings of a collection. Alongside it now sits a 1953 356 Pre-A, the oldest car here and a three time Mille Miglia participant. There’s also a 914/6, and though he admits he doesn’t drive it often enough, it remains among the most unique cars Porsche ever produced. A 964 RS rests quietly in the corner of the room and a whole host of vintage furniture and memorabilia turns what was once a sleepy warehouse into a space to celebrate a broad spectrum of air-cooled Porsches under one roof.