Sitting with Chris Turner

[Peter]

Ramon asked the below info posted for all attending

Hi Folks, contacted Suzzane regards attire at Chris's Funeral.

Suzzanes reply:
Well as Chris only ever wore jeans, t shirts and deck shoes i think casual is the order of the day!! Can you put the word out.

Folks can you please
spread the word.

Cheers Ramon.

[willbrown]

A sad day indeed, but I think Chris would have been happy to see the turnout and everyone on to the Fairmile. Plans already being discussed to keep the happy memories alive. Good to see you all. http://youtu.be/_Fr8A2lsG6Q


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KS]

Wonderful. Godspeed Chris. We'll all miss you.

[crisc204]

Quite sad day but a great send off as well, friends and family swapping stories and I'm glad so many were on hand to demonstrate to Chris nearest and dearest what a well liked and respected bloke he is.

They new he was a good un' but to see the crowd at the Crem and the display of Porsche outside... it was quite a spectacle.

I'm sure they'll be more tears but that's ok...he was quite a guy who genuinely wanted the best for others
I'll miss him that's for certain
RIP Chris Turner

[Mike]

Suzanne very kindly said she was happy for us to share pictures from the day, here's just a few from me for us to remember our good friend.

[911MRP]

Suzanne asked me to say a few words at Chris' Funeral on Friday. A great privilege/ responsibility. Posting my speaker's notes here as a I know a number of folks wanted to be there but were unable to make it. I was fortunate to learn a lot from and about Chris listening to his stories while working closely together in his workshop part-time over last four years or so, although I recognize Chris was a good friend to many here who have special memories too:
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Chris Turner (1951-2017)

While very few could match Chris’ extensive hands-on experience of Porsche, it was the unassuming, welcoming way he helped so many in the Porsche GB community for over four decades that truly marked Chris out as “one in a million.”

Progressing from a small moped that ferried the teenage Chris between his boarding school in Cowley, Oxfordshire and his family home in Birmingham, via a spell racing a Mini 1000, Chris found his true automotive calling when introduced to a 356 in the ‘70s. At the time he was working in London selling advertising space for the publisher of Autosport. Buying a 1959 356A Coupe through his employer’s classifieds for £40 was to prove more momentous than Chris might ever have imagined at the time. He fixed that 356 up and for a while raced it but the car was in very poor condition. By the market-values of 1974, it was considered uneconomic to save that car. Selling-off the 356’s good parts and scrapping the rest helped fund the purchase of a ‘65 911. Chris raced this early 911 in Porsche Club events until he rolled it at Castle Combe Circuit in 1978 earning him the “Awful Warning” award of that season.

Chris’ reputation for maintaining and repairing Porsches was growing steadily among the other racers and owners. This gave the impetus to leave secure employment with The Sun newspaper and set-up as an independent Porsche specialist focusing on 356; this was in 1974. Initially Turner Automotive was a 356 parts specialist business but after many requests from customers it evolved into a service business. Early addresses included Acton, West London and Hollyoake Walk, N2 - before buying the current premises in Willesden, North West London in 1984. Chris continued to provide racing support, for example to the Porsche Club 911 Team during the 1978 Birkett 6 Hour relay at Donnington Park. The eponymous Chris Turner trading name was also to be seen splashed across various 911 race and rally cars.

I first got to know Chris in the eighties. Typical of Chris, he later helped me in the car park of the Rose of York pub at bottom of Richmond Hill. This was during one of our Porsche Club GB Early Register every 3rd Wednesday of the month meetings in the early 90s where a handful or two of early Porsche enthusiasts used to meet up for a beer and a chat. Interest in Early Porsches wasn't so fashionable back then - nice to see a number of those folks are here today. My 911 had started backfiring on overrun when driving over to the pub so, with pint-in-hand, Chris made some adjustments to the MFI. He wouldn’t accept any payment. Poignantly, Chris with his son Daniel’s help recently made me a set of Bosch MFI adjustment tools exactly to the factory specifications – a present I shall treasure.

In the world of classic Porsches where so many have become money oriented, Chris was always refreshingly generous with his time and advice. A straightforward man of integrity. Something I witnessed time and time again when I helped out as his part-time “tea boy” for the last four years. At times he did work free of charge for friends and customers, other times sourcing a hard to obtain part at sensible money to keep someone’s prized Porsche going. Frequently not charging the full number of hours spent on the job when there was some complication due the car simply being old and worn out. His own cars were routinely loaned out to help friends —not just reserved for customers while their Porsches were being fettled. Friends would just drop in to the workshop using Chris’ lifts to fix their own cars. This selfless generosity to other Porsche folks was something Chris did for 40 years as is clearly demonstrated by this little advert in of a Porsche Post dated 1977:

“A REMINDER. I would be grateful if those members who have borrowed bits from me in emergencies (e.g starter motor, oil cooler, etc) would return them and/or contact me”. – Chris Turner

Unsurprisingly, Chris’ little corner of NW10 saw a regular stream of loyal customers and countless others drop-in just to enjoy the easy camaraderie Chris naturally fostered around him. The phone was always ringing with owners asking for his advice. Many a caller would ring at the most inopportune moment for example when Chris was upside down in the foot well adjusting a clutch pedal. Chris’ irritated cry of “Not that Bleeding Phone again!”. That quick flash of the infamous Chris Turner short-temper was soon forgotten once he got talking to a friend or a regular customer.

Chris only had eyes for Porsche (if we overlook his little penchant for Skodas!) Next door they used to fettle all kinds of old exotics but invariably Chris would point out these other car’s shortcomings – the E-Type styling was not to his taste, some Italian exotic too fragile and so forth. Not every Stuttgart offering floated his boat however: Cayennes were simply not allowed through his workshop shutters; Boxters were allowed in only begrudgingly but work on them would be accompanied by disapproving muttering about the factory’s design/ component quality these days. Plastic clips! Never happier than when fettling his beloved air-cooled cars, seeing Chris on a roll with a Porsche engine or gearbox rebuild was something to behold. Woe betides if he found any “bodgering” inflicted by others less skilled who had been there before him. He had very high standards and was able to set up and older Porsche by ear, smell and feel -- only using test equipment to confirm what he instinctively knew was right. One day I recall he arrived at work saying it was time to rebuild his 3.2 - he’d just heard a head stud ping.

Chris not only mastered the Porsche by-the-book way, he had immense hands on knowledge of what pragmatically worked for an older Porsche that might have materials and components that were no longer factory fresh. He understood that not that not every enthusiast has pockets deep enough to replace things with brand new parts, so he often applied a gritty determination and ingenuity to got the job done without breaking his grateful customers’ bank.

While Chris was very comfortable in later years being a one-man band, he had run a bigger Porsche Specialist business, including car sales. He had a huge network of friends and contacts in the car business. A player in the north London car scene for decades, he was friendly with a fascinating array of characters – people who often dropped in to Sapcote just for a cuppa or to exchange favours. Personalities who provided a constant source of the marvelous stories Chris he would tell as we worked. Too many good friends to mention by name today.

Chris had his own distinctive way of doing things and the workshop may not have been the cleanest or tidiest around. Being charitable, his workshop might be said to have resembled Porsche Racing at Teloche back in the early 70s. After I took Chris on a half-day visit to the normally closed-to-public of Williams Formula One factory he was fascinated to see how things were done in Formula One team that had just beaten Scuderia Ferrari in the FIA World Constructors' Championship. Chris quickly related to activity on the F1 campus particularly chatting with the guys in the machine room about some part that was being milled. He had studied metallurgy for a while at college! Amusingly Chris even had a bit of a tidy-up of his workshop afterwards -- something that visitors commented upon -- but that didn’t work-out when he couldn’t find anything so quickly reverted to his established ways of working that he was most comfortable with. Invariably the vital missing tool wasn’t actually lost; it was to be found exactly where Chris had last used it!

Chris was a very modest and easy-going guy, so it was easy to forget just how long-established he was in the world of Porsche. For example when Bob Watson sadly passed away Chris casually explained to me over a coffee in his office how he had first introduced Bob to the Porsche marque by loaning the keys to the ‘65 911. Although part of the Porsche community "old guard", Chris adjusted very easily to how the Internet changed the classic Porsche scene; quickly becoming an active and highly respected member of DDK forum. In particular he helped evolve the previous small third-Wednesday Porsche Club gatherings of the early nineties into the now well-attended Fairmile DDK monthly events and organized the DDK Christmas parties. Chris’ Carrera 3.2 was regular at Porsche get-togethers both here and further afield whenever he could get away from work. Always the first to get a round of drinks in, he was the heart of many a Porsche social gathering.

Opening the shutters to Chris’ workshop gave a a moment of anticipation as there was always an interesting array of Porsches to be found. Some were in there long-term for major mechanical work; others just passing through that day for a quick service or tune up. It is claimed that 70% of all Porsche cars ever produced are still on the road – a good many of those in the UK have passed though Chris’ capable hands. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of Porsches, regularly reeling-off the history and ownership of any car that had previously been though his workshop without ever needing to check his service records. Chris had a pragmatic, self-taught mechanical affinity for any Porsche; something that his customers appreciated. He possessed a level of skill other Porsche professionals respected. Chris often worked seven days per week, starting at the crack of dawn so that he could get away promptly to spend time with his family. Condolences to Suzanne and the whole Turner family; they have lost a wonderful man.

In the same week that Porsche made its millionth 911, the Porsche GB community lost “one in a million.” Chris will be very sadly missed. Rest in Peace.
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Steve

[neilbardsley]

Thank you for sharing Steve.

[23e Heure]

Had to chuckle today, when replacing a wiper blade on the green car.

A commonly repeated fact about Chris is that he had a habit of customers having parts on permanent loan.

When I went to the Targa Florio centenary in 2006 in my old 2.4E, Chris prepped the car for the road trip, and he also gave me a “parts and tools kit” to pack in the car.

I returned them all when I got back (car ran great all the way to Sicily and back of course, thanks Chris)...
Except I forgot to return a new Bosch wiper blade, which has hung around my lock up until today.

Fitted it to the green car, went to the pub, ordered a glass of red and said “Cheers, Chris!”

They retail on amazon for £3.95: donation made to the 10 for 10 page

[Bootsy]

I’m raising a glass as well!

[jb]

I've had the beer
now its time to open a bottle of red and raise a glass to Chris

[womble912]

A gent. Cheers CT.

[neilbardsley]

Still remembered. Rest in Peace