“I was looking for a car I would want to keep for life,” said Vince Santiago, owner of a 2001 Porsche 911 named Wally. Santiago was searching for a car that he could only call “well-sorted”; when he ran across Wally in the Porsche Club of America classifieds, it was an instant match.

Santiago has since logged 6000 miles on his trusty 996, performing his own annual oil change in his driveway. With fresh Mobil 1 and a Mahle filter, Santiago stands prepared for the return of 500-plus-mile roadtrips in a post-Covid world.

Wally hauls Santiago’s Cannondale bike, which regularly embarks on hour-long pedal-powered tours of the California byways. There’s something satisfying about seeing a Porsche doing blue-collar work, especially when equipped with a proper transmission.

Santiago covers California’s Porsche events on Instagram, where he uses a Leica M240 digital rangefinder camera to bring out the warmth and depth of classic lines. Most of his car show coverage is presented in full color, but when he turns his lens on Wally, moody grayscale and sepia tones bring forth the quietness of moments spent in exotic locales.

Wally wears The Manual Gearbox Preservation Society insignia on his rear windshield, a tremendous honor to those of us on the TMGPS team. Santiago found his dream car, and drives it to its fullest — a story emblematic of the Society.