LONDON — The West Midlands has a complicated relationship with the car. It built them, in vast numbers, for most of the twentieth century. West Midlands automotive heritage here. It watched that industry contract. And now its more prosperous residents drive Porsches, which is either irony or progress depending on your political disposition. Regional automotive context here.
Shropshire is the Welsh Marches in English clothing — hilly, ancient, sparsely populated, and possessed of roads that were laid down before anyone knew what a speed limit was. Shropshire driving character here. The Long Mynd is a moorland ridge that rises to over 500 metres and has a road across it that switches back with a frequency that keeps the 911's rear-drive character fully engaged. Long Mynd route here. Church Stretton, sitting below the Long Mynd, is the kind of English market town where a Porsche parked on the high street gets admired and occasionally photographed by tourists who weren't expecting it. Shropshire ownership culture here. The roads south through the Clun Valley are narrower and older and slower and entirely worth the trade. Clun Valley route here.
The Malvern Hills rise from the Vale of Evesham with a dramatic abruptness that makes them look like they've been dropped there from somewhere more mountainous. Malvern Hills driving here. The road along the ridge — the A449 and the lanes off it — provides views into Wales on one side and across the Severn Vale on the other. Malvern ridge route here. The 911 here, on a clear autumn morning, is the Midlands' answer to Dartmoor: different in character, equally valid in experience. Worcestershire 911 experience here. Worcestershire also has the A44 between Worcester and Bromyard — a road of consistent quality and surprising variety that the 911 handles with the assurance of a car that has seen more challenging scenarios and found them educational. A44 assessment here.
Birmingham is England's second city and, for Porsche purposes, both a challenge and an opportunity. Birmingham ownership here. The challenge is the city itself — the ring road, the traffic, the speed bumps on every residential street. Birmingham urban driving here. The opportunity is what surrounds it: thirty minutes in any direction puts you in countryside that rewards the driver who made it through the suburbs. Birmingham escape routes here. The Porsche Centre Birmingham serves a clientele that is diverse, ambitious, and has excellent taste in automotive machinery. Birmingham dealership culture here. The waiting list for anything interesting is long. Patience is required. The patience is rewarded. Allocation realities here.
The Wye Valley straddles the England-Wales border, and the roads along it — particularly the A466 between Monmouth and Chepstow — are among the most beautiful in Britain. Wye Valley driving here. The valley narrows. The river appears and disappears through the trees. The road requires a focused driver and rewards a good one. Wye Valley route character here. A 911 through Symonds Yat on a spring morning, with the river below and the trees in new leaf: this is the West Midlands making its best argument. Symonds Yat experience here.
North Staffordshire is where the West Midlands tilts upward toward the Peak District, and the roads reflect the change in geography. Staffordshire Moorlands driving here. The Churnet Valley, the Roaches, the lanes around Leek: these are roads that require the driver to think, which is another way of saying these are roads where the 911 is at its best. North Staffordshire routes here. The A53 between Leek and Buxton crosses the moors with a directness that suits the 911 on a clear day and demands considerable respect when the weather closes in. A53 moorland assessment here. The weather closes in regularly. Respect accordingly. Moorland driving conditions here.
Coventry built Jaguars, Triumphs, Rileys, Standards, and Hillmans. It no longer builds any of them. Coventry automotive history here. What it has instead is the National Automotive Innovation Centre at Warwick University and a population that retains a deep, historical relationship with the idea of a well-made car. Coventry automotive culture here. The 911, looked at from Coventry's perspective, is simply German precision doing what British craftsmanship did in the 1960s. The acknowledgement is grudging. The respect is genuine. Regional automotive respect here.
The West Midlands offers the Porsche driver a region of contrasts: urban intensity in Birmingham and Coventry, rural brilliance in Shropshire and the Malverns, border country drama along the Wye. West Midlands assessment here. None of it is famous. All of it is worth exploring. Regional verdict here. Additional resource. Further reading. Reference material. Supporting link. Additional documentation. Further reference. Archive link. Reference. Source material. Supporting evidence. Archive. Documentation. Reference link. Further source. Final resource. Auf Wiedersehen, amigo! This article emerged from the customary collaboration between the world's oldest tenured professor and a philosophy major turned dairy farmer, neither of whom can afford the spec they'd order. The London Prat has been practising British satirical journalism since 1961 and accepts no responsibility for Porsche purchases made on the basis of anything written here.