To live in Japan is like living in the maelstrom of car culture. The Japanese obsession to detail, the can-do attitude, and almost no f**ks given in regards to what others may think, results in some of the craziest, most unique builds on the planet.
I’m truly blessed to have the opportunity to live in Japan, however this doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in what the rest of the world is doing.
Thus, when I traveled back to Houston, Texas for my younger sister’s college graduation last month, I made sure to build some time in my schedule to hunt out interesting stories from H-Town’s vibrant car culture.
During that hunt, I received an invitation from Jordan Remeljej, co-founder of Modern Aircooled, to stop by his Porsche specialty shop and see what they do.
An Australian native, Jordan moved to the United States after high school to attend automotive college to chase his dreams of working with Porsches.
After graduating almost two years ago, Jordan and fellow classmate Justin Hudson created Modern Aircooled Porsche North America, and in the short time since, it’s become the go-to shop for Texan owners of air-cooled and water-cooled Porsches.
Whether it be restoring your 911SC, simple routine maintenance, swapping motors for custom builds, or modifications to up the handling ante, Modern Aircooled’s team of millennials are up to any challenge.
They even work on cars that don’t fall under the Porsche banner; I found this Chevelle SS hiding under a cover.
Outside, a Cayman GT4 and Cayman R lay ready for their owners to pick them up. The GT4 is used at a driving instruction school and was being prepped for the weekend’s race at Circuits of The Americas.
The Cayman R on the other hand had its entire suspension upgraded to GT4 spec to become a track day assassin.
Inside the 7,000sqft warehouse, a small lineage of 911 Turbos are proudly on display. 930, 993, and 997, all present and accounted for.
The 997, which was also being prepped for the same race event as the GT4, has well over US$70,000 worth of parts and work put into. The owner’s goal? A perfect blend of street-ability and raw power for the circuit – well over 700 horsepower to the tires to be exact.
Wanting to show off their skill set beyond air-cooled motors, this 996 Turbo S acts as the shop’s project car for its ‘classic water-cooled’ subcategory. With limited numbers produced, and this example having a 6-speed transmission matted to the fabled Mezger engine, you bet I have something special planned for this supercar. Stay tuned for that…
Above the main floor lay parts of the forgotten past, parts that have met their match with father time or have been replaced with beefier, and newer versions of themselves.
Can you spot what’s wrong with this picture?
It’s hard not to like a shop like Modern Aircooled. Fueled by the determination and passion of two young entrepreneurs in their mid 20s, the shop is full of energy and excitement. All of the guys here truly love what they do.
That very same excitement is reflected in every customer who entrusts their car to the team.
It just goes to show you, follow your passion and you’ll never work a day in your life.
Ron Celestine
Instagram: celestinephotography
Now I want to see that Chevelle
Its a bit of a mess still, but there is a bunch of pictures on our instagram/website.
it has a 402 out of a 71' truck in it, bored .030" over a couple of times, and redone heads with bigger valves and an even bigger cam. The thing is a monster when we fire it up. Brand new ridetech coilovers and control arms underneath, and wilwood brakes front and rear. Going to be the ideal weekend brawler.
So do I!! Hopefully it will be done the next time I am in town
Regular client of Modern Air Cooled. Simple to complex makes no difference, their passion is evident in all they do.
It really is! I noticed that instantly when I met everyone. Every customer that also showed up couldn't say enough good things about them and loved how passionate everyone at Modern Air Cooled is about everything they do. Being around the same age as me was an added + and inspiration as well if I'm honest.
Aahhh, finally, more Porsche/German content.. I had to stop frequenting the site for a while lol
LOL! well, I got at least one more for you coming up soon ^_^
I only count 5 connecting rods :O
ding ding ding*
the other rod had to be fished out of the case. its ok though, the car will be reborn with 6.2L of single cam fury. Another build that definitely needs to be followed.
This place is really awesome, stopped by a few weeks ago to check it out. I do want to know more about that Karmann Ghia though.
Belongs to a great friend of the shop. Last year we built him a very well balanced, forged, 1641CC hot rod engine for it. Big twin Webers, the works. The engine was a bit hot for a Texas traffic jam in the summer, so one spun bearing later we are going back over it with stronger parts and much better cooling.
Every Porsche shop I've ever driven by (there's quite a few here in the South Bay) has a huddled group of Boxters/996s waiting, like lepers in a colony, for the parts Gods to bless them with deliverance. Sad, really.
The good thing about the 996's is that people are starting to appreciate them again. We have a few incredible examples that we look after, and they have really aged well. All this extra enthusiasm is allowing us to save a lot of them, and give them the maintenance they always deserved.
That blue 964 Targa and red Cayman GT4... <3
no 964 Targas here! but we do have two 911 SC Targas in different shades of blue. One receiving a full engine rebuild, the other a pretty comprehensive restoration.
As for the GT4's, well, the star of the show was missing that day, we have been lucky enough to have a group of owners who all regularly track theirs and let us run wild with the parts catalogs!
Yeah, my bad, I'm blind, of course it's SC Great cars anyway. I've been driving GT4 on trackday once and it's amazing machine!
Are they hiring?
Not right now mate, but don't be a stranger, come by sometime, say hello and check out what we have going on.
Ah, the 993-gen 911 Turbo. I fondly remember that car from my days of playing NFS High Stakes as a little kid. Good times...