Our never-ending hunt for the tenuous connections between mansions and motorcars continues. In this episode, join Jay and Donald at Aloha Landing, where the road meets the water, and where they explore Porsche's bathtub on wheels, a locally built runabout with maritime origins, and Ferrari's speedboat for the road. Buckle up and pedal down with the odd couple. It's Audrain Mansions and Motorcars.
Well, Jay, I'm not sure that it gets more ideal than driving by the ocean on a summer's day in a convertible Porsche from the 1960s.
Yeah, this is a beautiful car. You know, it's interesting. In the 1960s, this was what, 60 or 90 horse? 90 horse? This is a 60... a 60 horse, which seems ridiculous now, but 200 was a lot of horsepower. So this was right in there, you know. It was not—I don't think at the time people thought, oh, that's really little, you know, a useless amount of horsepower.
Well, driving this also reminds me of the story that you have told often about your brother and the Porsche he bought and your father's reaction.
Oh yeah, yeah. Well, my brother bought a Speedster for $800, had it four years, sold it for 1,200, and my father thought he was a genius. You go, 'How did you get that for that? It's a foreign job, you know. These cars are always full.' And this little thing with no horsepower, you know, you can add a Corvette, you know. But it's interesting. But, you know, 60 horsepower was not no horsepower then. Now it is. But that was all, you know, if you bought a Falcon or Nova, it has 75 horsepower, you know, and weighing a lot more.
Yeah. And any English car was certainly in the same range, you know. So the disparity between the two wasn't as great as it would be now. I mean, the thing that made these cars is just the build quality. It's just unbelievable. It's old school, you know, coachwork and the way everything is put together.
So incredibly simple, and this really, for anyone who is a Porsche enthusiast who, as most, has come to the mark through the 911, really needs to spend some time with the 356, because this is the car that established the company and their reputation and their ethos. This is what it's all about, I think.
Yeah. You know, it's funny. You wonder why original is worth so much more than restored. But I was reading about that Gullwing, original Gullwing that sold for like $5 million or whatever. And they were talking about when you get underneath and you look, the screws used under here are unique. You're not going to replace them. And any of the new screws you get are going to look different and might not be as effective. But when you have the original, you go, 'Oh, okay.' So it's exactly as it left the factory.
And very carefully chosen by the Mercedes engineers. And of course, who can forget that, you know, the company at this point is being run by Ferry Porsche, the son of the founder, right? And very much true to the ethos of Ferdinand Porsche and his engineering company started back in the late 19th century, and developed through lightweight cars, racing cars, right, in the 1930s, and then when he decided to actually make his dream come true after the war with his own company and the Porsche 356, it's something that I think the accomplishment of any German manufacturer, thinking about what Germany went through during World War II, to be in a state where you can make world-class cars, you know, frankly, just a few years after the war's end, is miraculous.
And plus, you got a level of protection from the elements you didn't get in MGs and Triumphs, other sports cars. Windows rolled up, roof fit tightly, it didn't leak, you know. I mean, it was a real year-round vehicle. You could use it the whole year.
And this is one of those things that also distinguishes. We're driving a 1963 356B, and this is in the final body type of the 356, the T6. And it's interesting to think about the fact that B production ended in 1963, and they built the first C's in 1963, and the 911 came in 1964. So this is really the end of this body and this concept. And it's also very true that so many cars that are developed, especially sporting cars, have a tendency to become more comfortable as time goes on.
Yeah. Bigger and wider, you know.
Exactly. This is a taller windshield for better wind protection. And the big advance, of course, that came with the C was four-wheel disc brakes.
Right. And this was not an inexpensive car.
This is probably the same price as a Cadillac, fair to say.
It was very close to the price of the Cadillac, and for a very obviously very different customer. But I remember quite vividly, you know, Porsche was winning races across Europe and across the United States, obviously not with cars like this Cabriolet, with purpose-built race cars after the Speedster. And I remember this wonderful ad. It was actually for the 356 SC, the last of the 356s. And you see a fellow in a 356 SC coupe waiting at a grade crossing for a train to pass, and he's commuting to work. And it said, you know, 'There's nothing like commuting to work in a race car.'
And there's that essential—we talk about this often—the brand feeling, brand identity. What makes a Porsche feel like a Porsche? You feel it in this car.
Yeah, you feel it in this car. You feel it in a modern 911, and they could not be more different. And yet there's just the sort of essential feel, the sound of—well, it does nothing—the sound of an air-cooled Porsche engine, which the modern 911 doesn't have. But you know, the sound, which is not at all—well, I shouldn't say it's not at all like a Volkswagen, because it sort of is, but you know, sort of a very sophisticated Volkswagen. It's just got this sort of rasp that is just such a cool thing.
Plus, at the time, you know, you had a lot of veterans, and this was the enemy car. You know, a lot of people, just like a lot of Jewish people did not buy German cars, a lot of people did the same thing with Porsche. 'Oh boy, I don't know. I don't really want to get one of those,' you know.
And you know the baggage that Ferdinand Porsche carried along because of the work that he did, right? Cannot be understated as well.
An XKE was less money than this. Quite a bit less, heavily, with a lot more power. Yeah, a lot more power, and quite frankly, a much sexier body.
Well, yeah. You know, it's a very funny thing. You know how I absolutely love pre-World War II aerodynamic design, right? And I love the early 356s, the so-called pre-A cars, because they do look so much like those 1930s streamliners, the Silver Arrows. Exactly. And frankly, by the time you get to the B and the C, it doesn't have that same purity because they've made it more practical. You know, the trunk is a little bigger, the hump of the front hood is a bit larger, things like that, door handles, and so it's less of a pure shape. But nonetheless, it still is something that really harks back to that. And it's an interesting lead-up to the house we're going to see today, which is actually technically not a house, but it is a house. What is a house not a house?
I'm curious. What does that mean? So what is it?
Well, you have houses for your dog if you keep it outside. You have a house for—well, you don't have horse houses. This is called stables for us.
Well, what is Newport known for? I guess sailing and...
Exactly. Boating. So you have a boathouse. We're going to see a boathouse.
And I think that the connections with the three cars that we're going to have in this episode are not—well, they're actually direct in the case of the other two cars. And I think not so tenuous even with this Porsche, because people often refer to these as sort of bathtub Porsches, but they also have a very boat-like appearance as well, with the rounded corners and edges. And plus, we're in a convertible, and I'm wearing my nautical best, and we're smelling the wonderful scent of the ocean. And I think that you will get a great feeling of greeting as we go to Aloha Landing.
Aloha Landing is the name of the structure we're going to see.
Could we be further from Hawaii?
Well, when we get to Aloha Landing, I'll explain that a connection to it would get you there shockingly quickly in the period in which this structure was built.
Jay, welcome to Aloha Landing.
Wow. Well, I love that ceiling.
Arthur Curtis James needed a place to dock his yacht, the Aloha, here at Newport. And so he commissioned this boathouse, which was built in 1912.
1912. Now, see, it looks to me like it's a contemporary house built to mimic an old house. I mean, just the way the woodwork. Wow. It's pretty amazing.
And that's one of the reasons why this property won its owners and its builders a Doris Duke Heritage Restoration Award, because they really saved this place. It was in very, very, very bad condition, and many of the windows have been covered up to help to insulate it as a home, and they really brought it back to its full and open 1912 feel.
And I imagine 1912 you probably had almost the same amount of boats out there, wouldn't you say? Would that be fair to say? Or was it?
There were probably more boats out there. Although more of a very different pattern, because again the Aloha for which this was built was a very large boat—a 185-foot bark-rigged sailing and steam yacht.
And that could pull up to this dock. And that was pulled up to the dock. It's that deep there. Okay.
Yes. Exactly. It's an extraordinary thing. And you see, of course, the entire vista of Newport Harbor. And we've got Fort Adams in the back. And of course, the home that you remember from a previous season of Mansions and Motorcars, Beacon Rock, just up there as well. So this is really a prime location here on the sea coast at Newport Harbor. Next door is the great mansion Bannister's Wharf. And for many years, I actually thought that this was the boathouse for Bannister's Wharf, but in fact, Arthur Curtis James had actually bought the sliver of land from the owner of Bannister's Wharf in order to have a place to put his yacht.
Oh, I see. Okay. And no shades on the windows or anything. It's just...
No, the windows actually—the windows are of course modern windows, and they are UV glass to keep some of the heat and light rays out. And the construction company, which specializes in very high-quality millwork, did the millwork in this home to mimic that of a Herreshoff yacht. So again, yet another non-tenuous connection for our visit.
I mean, is this the original way it was done, and it's just been sort of reinforced or filled in, you know, you fixed up, or is it a totally new design on...
This is exactly the way the original roof was made. Again, it was in very poor condition. So some of the roof beams have been replaced with the new construction, but the main beam above the fireplace is original. All of the window beams are also original. And the main ship supporting beam of the main door is also original to the house.
And how long was—how long ago was this done?
This was completed about six years ago.
Oh, that's all. Okay. It's not like...
No, no, no. Quite recent. And again, these things done to this incredible nautical finish, which also helps to give a wonderful feeling of place for some artifacts which are from the original yacht Aloha. Right. They have some of the silver service from the yacht Aloha. We'll see downstairs later some signal flags from the yacht Aloha as well as its bell.
You know, as little as 20 years ago, you could get places pretty cheap in Newport because it was just a little too far from Boston and just a little too far from New York. So it was for you either had to be retired, you couldn't commute, and then once the computer age came in and people could work from home and do all the kind of things, then that's when all the prices just started to go crazy here.
It is remarkable. It's not just about the values of the property as well as the fact that especially in the 1960s and 70s, so many of the Newport mansions were really in danger. Many were torn down.
80 were torn down. Is that correct?
Yeah, absolutely. And it's astonishing. There's a wonderful research that you can do called Lost Newport. And it's amazing to see the number of amazing homes. And while it's sort of a shame in some ways that so many of these houses were converted into condominiums, it's also a blessing because so many of them were saved. Our good friends at Salve Regina University also are very responsible for saving so much of the fabric of mansion Newport, because many of them were donated to the school, and the school acquired others in their area so that they have some amazing houses that we can still enjoy today. Right. And let's just take a look downstairs as well at the sleeping accommodations, and then out to the wonderful deck in Newport Harbor.
Oh yeah, this is great. Wow. Wow.
Everything finished as if you were on a first-class yacht like the Aloha. And in fact, we've got some wonderful artifacts. This is a set of signal flags from the Aloha. And even more impressive, we just walked by that new post, which is the compass of the Aloha.
Okay. Now, you would use those the way we use the internet now instead of texting. You'd have...
Come on Thursday. [laughter] Dinner is delayed by 10 minutes. That is just absolutely astonishing.
Well, this is great. Look at this. And this is obviously the compass off the ship. Yeah. Yes. Very nice. And in this theme of yacht building, you really see the wonderful work of the builders and designers in this bedroom, which is just like the stateroom on a wonderful luxurious Herreshoff yacht. Everything designed for maximum use of space. The storage underneath the bed, inside the wall there, with exquisite millwork, all exquisitely lacquered to a wonderful high finish.
Boy, it really is. It's just unbelievable. Very nice. I think I just heard a bell. It must be time. Look at the telephone. It's absolutely...
Oh, yeah. And that's all the original stonework, right? All the original stonework.
And they just reset. I imagine this is probably all broken and everything.
It was—it was almost abandoned, this place. And it was really the rescue and the work here cannot be underestimated, quality and the detail.
Because you'd think, how could this never not be a high-price, valuable piece of property that would deteriorate to the point where people just...
Who needed a boathouse if you didn't have a 218-foot yacht?
Right. I guess that's true. And what do we have here?
I guess it's just the... just the closet.
Let's take a step out onto the dock and witness Newport Harbor at its best.
Wow. The glory of Newport Harbor. Yeah, this is great.
Absolutely extraordinary. And when you think about what Newport Harbor was like in 1912, when a lot of people were not only using their boats for recreation but also for commerce, so you also have a different mix of boating here. Newport's always been a place about recreational boating, but also this is a real working harbor, right? And you get a real sense of this property. You think about boat houses typically, like a lake boat house, it's a very sort of spindly structure. This is a structure built like a bank or a church.
It is. It really is. Look at that. And I love the—is that like a treasure chest over there? Right, you know, right there.
I think actually it is the lost treasure of Long John Silver or the Spanish Armada. I can't quite figure out which either. Oh, another great artifact from the Aloha are those lamps on the side of the building are also from the yacht Aloha.
Oh, okay. Now, was this—the yacht Aloha, was it scuttled? Was it...
It was—it was scrapped. It was given to the US Navy, became the USS Aloha, and served during World War I. Wow. And it was used through the 1920s and then finally scrapped in the 1930s. An astonishing piece of...
Why would you scrap that? It's just...
Again, who is going to use a 218-foot bark-rigged sailing and steam yacht? Wasn't the big market for it in the...
Depression. I mean, a Carnegie or a Rockefeller or...
And the builder of this, Arthur Curtis James, was a railroad magnate, one of the Gilded Age railroad magnates. And you know, you had to have something to do in your spare time when you were running railroads around the country.
It's an absolutely astonishing place, and I also love the details of the drainage caps on the ends of the roof there, so it catches the water and directs it away from the building.
Oh, I see. Yeah. Yeah. Very nice.
It's an astonishing thing. You can also see a great view here.
I imagine you have to re-oil that wood every two years at least. Correct.
Maintaining a res— as you well know, maintaining a residence on the water is a constant challenge.
