ROADRUNNER

Roadrunner

Livery designer Eric Williams and his immaculately built Porsche 911S.

Though it lives a more relaxed life than it used to, Eric Williams’ 1971 911S looks ready to return to the racing scene at a moment’s notice if called to do so. It’s dripping with motorsport details, aided by a paint scheme that you’d be forgiven for thinking had been on the car for decades. In fact, it’s Eric’s own design, one of several cars in his collection that have been given a similar treatment.

Livery design began as a personal pursuit for Eric, but it grew once fellow enthusiasts in the Southern California scene began noticing his cars, and subsequently approaching him for commissions of their own.

“The most challenging livery I worked on was for a good friend’s 911 ST build”, explains Eric. “It was a light ivory car and a clean slate, leaving no excuse for anything less than great. We studied numerous ST photographs so the design would feel authentic to the era. Applying the graphics to the compound shapes of those arch flares was particularly difficult, but we were very happy with the result.”

The car we approached him to talk about had been known to him a long time before he bought it, and to others in the community too. Within California’s Porsche scene there are a handful of particularly coveted cars, and each command a line outside the door of people waiting for the chance to own it next. Actually securing a car like this means biding your time and being ready for the moment.

“The 911S came to me through a random phone call. It had belonged to the president of the Early 911S Registry, he’d had it since 1986. I knew the car well and had long visualised what I’d do to it if I ever owned it. In fact I’d offered more than once to buy it if he ever wanted to part with it. In 2020, while on a call with a mutual friend, I’d learned that the owner was considering letting it go. I hung up immediately and called him. By the next day, the car was mine.

I spent several months refreshing it to the level I’d always envisioned. Rebuilt suspension and brakes, recovered sports seats, new carpet, a vintage-style roll bar and rally lights. Of course, the livery came next. The car had raced as number 51 since the 1980s, so I was happy to carry that forward.”

Livery design began as a personal pursuit for Eric, but it grew once fellow enthusiasts in the Southern California scene began noticing his cars, and subsequently approaching him for commissions of their own.

"I spent several months refreshing it to the level I’d always envisioned. Rebuilt suspension and brakes, recovered sports seats, new carpet, a vintage-style roll bar and rally lights."

Alongside his livery design work, Eric Williams works with Porsche parts supplier SMC, so naturally his 911S often works as a test mule for prototype parts before they’re produced for general sale.

“I started in sales and graphic design but soon found myself designing and testing products for their sister company, Bursch Exhaust. My car has had a range of experimental configurations in it since, from Bursch headers paired with a 997 GT3 muffler to its current Rally Sport setup.

I drive the car often to local gatherings and I’ve tracked it with PCA at Streets of Willow. The AASE built high-compression 2.4L engine and close-ratio 5-speed gearbox make it an absolute blast in the canyons around Los Angeles and Malibu.”

Its competition days may be a long way behind it, but the bones of a road-racer still remain in this 1971 Porsche 911S. Even at 55 years old, all it takes is a competent pair of hands to keep a car like this at pace on these tight, twisty backroads. Needless to say, Eric spends more than enough time in these environments to make the best of it.