Dan Reese first turned a wrench on this white 1970 911T in 1983. At the time, he had no idea that the clean Porsche coupe would one day be his. He simply performed the oil changes, valve adjustments, and other general maintenance necessary to keep a good customer on the road.
That good customer was Jane Pryke, who had purchased the 911 new. Dan remembers Pryke well, as she was one of the most loyal customers at Scott’s Independent Porsche Service. For his part, Dan is one of the Anaheim, Califor­nia shop’s longest-serving employees. Today he’s shop foreman, and he says that he came to appreciate Porsches thanks to Scott’s; before that, all he knew was American iron. In search of a better job, Dan’s father had moved the family from Youngstown, Ohio when Dan was just nine. His father chose Southern California — and there are certainly far worse places for a young car enthusiast.
“When I was ten or eleven years old, I started working on Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engines,” he recalls. It was soon apparent that Dan had a gift for figuring out all things mechanical. “I worked on Mopars and Fords with my dad and my older brother, doing brake work and tune-ups. I would do anything — wash parts, whatever. We were car junkies.”
By the time he was 15, Dan had a job in Orange, California mounting tires, performing alignments, and doing brake jobs. “I planned on becoming a machinist,” says Dan, who for a time split his schedule between work and college, figuring that he would complete his education and then join the military. But everything changed in 1974, when the shop he was employed at shut its doors.
“The owner was not a good businessman,” he recalls. “But, across the way, there was a guy working on air-cooled German sports cars. I remember hearing him rev the crap out of those engines and thinking, Man, this guy’s nuts. He’s going to blow one of them up!” But the mechanic in question, Scott Hendry, never did blow one up. For Dan, it was a vivid introduction to Ger­man precision. When the Porsche wrench learned that Dan would soon be unemployed, he moved quickly to offer him a job.
“He asked if I wanted to come work on Porsches,” remembers Dan. “I said ‘sure’ and just pushed my toolbox over to his shop.” Soon Dan was revving Porsche engines too, and his plans to work for the military quickly receded.
When he wasn’t busy tuning Por­sches, Dan bought and sold cars on the side, eventually moving up from VW Bugs to 914s and 911s, including a beautiful Olive Green 911T he bought from a customer. In 1980, though, Dan and his wife had a son, and the ensuing expense and extra time spent raising a child meant that he had to take a break from the car hobby for a while.
Though he would have to go without a Por­sche for years, Dan counted himself fortunate to still be around them on a daily basis. Porsches like Pryke’s white 911T filled the bays at Scott’s Independ­ent all week long, but Dan says that he remembers this particular car better than most because it was in such great shape and because the woman who owned it was so interesting.
“The first time she came to the shop was in 1983 for an engine rebuild,” he recalls. “She was referred to us by an air-conditioning shop called Porschaire.” At the time, the 911T’s odometer registered 13,809 miles, but Dan was fairly certain it had already rolled over once. Even so, he said it was a special car: “It was in wonderful condition and the woman who owned it was the original owner. She lived in the high-desert area outside of Orange County and was a terrific lady, a real character. She would come by, drop the car off and take the bus to the train station — or we would give her a ride. She was a very faithful customer and she loved that car.”
Dan recalls Pryke as the kind of owner who had the shop do whatever was needed to keep the 911 in good running condition. “She would come into the shop every six months for an oil change and once a year for a complete service,” he says. “We also wanted to keep it in the best shape possible because of her age.” By the time she was patronizing Scott’s Independent, Pryke was already in her 60s. And, for 19 more years, Pryke remained a frequent customer. But by October of 2002 —32 years after taking delivery of her prized 911 — circumstances beyond her control intervened.
“She had an accident on the freeway,” says Dan. “Traffic came to a stop quickly and a Chrysler LHS hit her from behind and pushed her into a Mus­tang.” Ironically, despite the fact that the Por­sche was ignominiously sandwiched between two hulking American cars, the 86-year-old Pryke was fine. The same could not be said of the driver of the Chrysler, who had to take a trip to the hospital in an ambulance. When the tow truck arrived, Pryke had the 911 delivered straight to Scott’s Independent.