Body and Soul
What makes a Porsche 935 a Porsche 935? Race cars constantly evolve through a race season, after which they’re usually modified to meet next year’s requirements. The 935 was no different. The first ones had 2.9-liter single-turbo flat-six engines derived from the standard 911 (930) Turbo, but with enough changes to produce 590 horsepower at 7,900 rpm. Later, there were Kremer K-3 935s (built and campaigned by Kremer), Kremer K-3 copies that Kremer sold directly to customers, and conversion kits that updated factory-built 935s to Kremer K-3 spec. The 935/J had 2.8-liter or 3.2-liter engines, and finally there was the Andial 935 with 780 horsepower.
There are “survivors” and full nut-and-bolt restorations, cars with “period-correct modifications” and “period modifications” (which are absolutely not the same thing), factory-issued continuations, or factory-approved recreations. Some restoration shop out there might be hard at work at this very moment taking an old race car – delivered on a trailer as a mangled ball and looking like the aluminum-foil-covered leftovers in your freezer – and replacing everything but the VIN and a few square inches of firewall, and calling it a “restoration.”
Car folks get all existential when discussing these things. It’s like trying to understand what makes a human a human. How does one distinguish between the mind and the brain? Start with the Bible. In understanding body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit, first consider that God is the creator and source of life of all these things. At the end of 1 Thessalonians, Paul promises God’s total blessing to the totality of each person:
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
The body, sometimes called “the flesh” throughout the Bible, was made by God from the dust of the ground he created. Matter belongs to God and was created by God, and humans are part of the same substances that form diamonds, weeds, rainbows, dust bunnies, real bunnies, stars, and everything else in the universe. Yet only humans were privileged to receive God’s life-giving breath, according to Genesis, and his Spirit.
This means you have a lot in common with the rest of the created world, and a lot in common with God himself. The Spirit was breathed into you to give you God’s life, and Jesus breathed the Spirit into you to give you God’s power. You’re not a random collection of parts and components, but a carefully designed piece of truly incredible machinery – miraculous in its own way – that is animated by the supernatural, divine life of God. Sometimes you’ll go through upgrades and updates, sometimes you’ll feel like a wrecked chassis in need of a rebuild, and sometimes people will come to you, asking to be as equipped as you are. It’s part of the plan God has for your body, made by God; your mind, attuned to God; your heart, cleansed by God; your soul, alive by God; and your spirit, given by God. You are you – a one-off, “One of One” – and you’re equally original and restored.
The Porsche 935 was an uber-911, built within World Championship for Manufacturers requirements to resemble the “silhouette” of a 930 (if you squint really hard). But things quickly got absurd. The chassis designer for Andial’s 935 “Moby Dick” long-tail, Glen Blakely, came from a drag racing background. He didn’t downplay the importance of sheer power: “When you’ve got 700 horsepower, you just rely on killin’ ‘em coming out of the corners,” he said. Other 935s had less-powerful engines. Driving them was a different experience. It feels like the car just has a different soul.
John V16 is the intersection of God and cars. Please support our work and donate a V16-powered 1940 Cadillac Series 90 Sixteen to John V16. Or share this article with a friend.
