Taken from recent 911 Porsche World Feature

Based on the outskirts of North London, family-run sales and repair specialists Portiacraft have been supplying, fixing and maintaining all manner of Porsche models for the last four decades, and they dont plan on stopping any time soon.


Whether it was their dads pristine 964 or their cousins ropey Carrera, many people can attribute their proclivity for Porsche to a member of their family. But, however the brand was burned into your head and heart, few Porsche fanatics can boast the same kind of family connection as 37-year-old Ollie Ioannou. You see, Ollie has literally grown up in the curvaceous silhouette of countless Porsches over the years, as his father Harry has been trading the marque since before he was born.

I established Portiacraft back in 1982, explains Porsche dealer Harry Ioannou. The aim was to have a business specialising in the sales, maintenance and servicing of pre loved Porsches and we have been going ever since

Harry can trace his love of Stuttgarts finest to the purchase of his very first Porsche, a slightly ropey 911T that he bought in 1974 when he was just 22 years-old.

I have been a petrolhead all my life really, says Harry , When I was a teenager I used to race 100cc go karts in the class 1 National series at Rye House and at circuits around the south east, which not only fed into my need for speed, but also my love of engineering, which was the subject I was studying at Barnet college while working as an apprentice tool maker at Cambridge instruments at the time.

Even back in the mid 60s, karting wasnt a cheap pastime, so Harry put his engineering nous to good use working on his kart, even fabricating many of his own parts too, as to buy them off-the-shelf was prohibitively expensive. Of course, as time went on, karts evolved into cars and Harry soon began to get a name for himself in the local area as being a bit handy with the spanners.

I have had loads of different cars throughout my late teens, with various MGBs, Ford Anglias, and a Jensen Healy too, recalls Harry. Back then, they were cheap, and more often that not, needed a lot of maintenance, so I always had my head under a bonnet. The 911T was just the same, and needed some work to get it running properly, so along with some other cosmetic work and minor rust repairs, I rebuilt the carburettors and tuned them to get it running sweetly. It was a great car in the end, and, through owning it, I was introduced to many other Porsche owners in the area, many of whom soon started coming to me to work on their cars too.

At the time, Harry was swinging the spanners on his home driveway, servicing and repairing not just Porsches, but Triumph Stags too, a car which he seemed to have a knack for improving their traditionally unreliable nature.

I sold the 911T around nine months later to fund the purchase of the next car that I planned to recommission and sell, he says. And this was the cycle that would continue for years to come, eventually leading to Harry expand his fledgling startup into car sales as well as repairs and maintenance. All was going swimmingly, until the local authorities stepped in to supper his plans.

The council said I couldnt run the business from my home anymore, as there were just too many cars around and people were complaining, he shrugs.

Unbeknownst to Harry at the time, his nosey neighbours probably did him a big favour, as it forced him to seek more suitable premises, a move which no doubt helped Harry grow the business exponentially.

In 1978 I started renting the unit that were still in to this very day, he says. Back then it was just a single unit, but it was a big step up from trading on my driveway.

Located just off Watford Way in Mill Hill, North London, the unit was in a prime location to make the most of the affluent clientele that were based nearby and, within a year, Harry was confident enough to make the investment to buy his unit and make the move permanent.

The business continued to grow over the next four to five years until, in 1982, I decided to drop the Stag side of the business and focus solely on Porsches, says Harry. I could see that Triumph had had its day, but Porsche seemed to be a brand that was only getting stronger, so that was when I founded, what was then known as, Porsche Craft.

Sounds similar doesnt it Well, theres a story behind that too.

We went under the Porsche Craft name quite happily for years, but then, in the late 90s Porsche started really clamping down on companies using its name and, in 1999, it was clear that we would have to change the name or face an ugly legal battle against one of the worlds biggest car brands, Harry reveals. Spelling the name phonetically was a bit of a sneaky way around the rules, but it seemed to satisfy Stuttgarts men in suits, so thats been the name of the business ever since, he chuckles.

But as much as Harry has been the backbone of the business since its inception, he has had help along the way, with everyone involved playing a key part in making up the Portiacraft family. And one the key members is Martin Robinson.

I grew up literally across the road from Portiacraft and loved seeing all the amazing cars that were spread out on the forecourt, says Martin. Then one day, when I was about 14 years old, I walked in and asked if they needed someone to clean the cars for them.

Impressed by Martins gumption, Harry gave him a part time job at the firm, cleaning cars after school and at the weekends. That was in 1985 and Martins been there ever since.

After I finished school, around two years later, I started working full time at Portiacraft,he remembers. At first I was still just cleaning the cars, but I was super keen and would devour car magazines to learn as much as I could about all the different Porsches we were selling. I would also spend a lot of time around the mechanics, finding out how they were put together.

This encyclopaedic knowledge of the brand and its models meant that Martin was not only a dab hand with a sponge, but was a stellar salesman too, and he soon graduated from head detailer to a role in sales and stock acquisition.

Martins role within the business has grown over the years and he is now the general manager, as he knows every element of the business inside out, says Harry. He has been with the firm for 38 years now, and has become a real asset to the business, and I am sure if he has his way, he will be here for another 38 years too.

Another Portiacraft member thats likely to be staying around indefinitely is Harrys son, Ollie, who joined his dad in the family business in 2004 when he was 18.

I started off much like Martin, washing cars and generally learning the business from the ground up, explains Ollie. I have been a Porsche fan for as long as I can remember in fact, I was picked up from the hospital in a Porsche the day I was born so it was pretty inevitable that I would end up working with Porsches in one way or another and growing up with my equally Porsche-mad dad, just sealed the deal.

Nowadays, Ollie does the majority of the firms buying, so is often out and about finding suitable cars to add to their ever-changing stock list.

We tend to focus the bulk of the business on the early water cooled models such as the 996 and 997s, says Ollie. These are great cars that are generally much better value than a lot of the air cooled classics or the latest new machinery, and are often owned by real enthusiasts of the brand who want a Porsche they can use and cherish, and these cars fit the bill perfectly.

Thats not to say that they dont still trade in both early and modern 911s, as well as the occasional Boxster, Cayenne or Macan, for example, but in the main, they tend to stick with what they know best, and what sells, which is typically 911 models priced between 15k to 70k.

I have always been keen to price the cars sensibly to allow as many people to enjoy Porsche ownership as possible,says Harry. That way we can offer the very best value for our customers, whatever their budget.

The other reasoning behind their stock selection is simply as these are the models that they love, even if they do come with certain stigmas attached to them.

Theres a lot of issues with these models that have been massively blown out of proportion, Harry reveals. The IMS bearing, for example, is certainly not as common as the internet would have you believe. We have been working with these cars for years, and we hardly ever come across an IMS issue and, even then, it only seems to affect a small percentage of models mainly those with a single row IMS bearing such as later 3.4 litre 996s and all 3.6 litre 996s and all early 997 models. But even then, failure is exceptionally rare.

According to Martin, bore scoring is a much more prevalent issue than IMS failure, with 2004 onwards 996s and 997s models which Porsche moved to a two year servicing schedule, meaning some owners didnt change the oil for two years being the most likely to suffer.

Every car we sell has been rigorously checked for any signs of bore scoring, and if found to have an issue, will have had the appropriate engine rebuild completed before we put it up for sale, explains Martin. This will then be backed with Portiacrafts own comprehensive in house warranty, which is applied to all cars sold to give the customer complete peace of mind in the car they are buying.

Back in the early days of Portiacraft, much of the mechanical work in preparing the cars was farmed out to a third party, but it was getting more and more expensive to have the work completed to the standard they demanded. The solution came in the early 90s, when the business was expanded into the adjoining units to bring all the mechanical work into the firms own bespoke workshops. But its not just about meticulously preparing the cars for sale, as Portiacraft also offers a complete range of servicing, repairs and maintenance services for customers, including full engine rebuilds.

We have two dedicated and knowledgeable in-house technicians, Paul Defreis and Claudio Costa, and charge an hourly rate of 95 pounds +VAT for labour, says Martin. Along with excellent relationships with our parts suppliers, this allow us to diagnose and fix any issues or fit any upgrades as efficiently and cost effectively as possible. We also strongly believe in being open and honest with our customers and will never push any work or parts on people that isnt completely necessary.

Building trusting relationships with their client base has been one of the cornerstones of Portiacrafts ethos and also the key to much of their longevity, as not only has it given them a loyal customer base, but it also aids their stock supply.

We buy back around 90% of the cars we sell as we already know their history and have good relationships with the owners, says Ollie. Many Porsche owners tend to trade up their cars on a fairly regular basis, so we are used to seeing cars with multiple owners, but unlike with some other brands, we don not see this as a negative, as almost all are true enthusiasts who have looked after the cars and maintained them to a high standard.

This cyclical nature of the business ensures a steady stream of stock for Portiacraft at a time when rising values has meant that sourcing good cars at the right price is becoming harder than ever.

The Porsche market has changed a lot since we started the business over 40 years ago, laughs Harry. But we have always managed to roll with the times and keep on going.

And with Martin, and now Ollie, ready to continue the firm in his fathers footsteps, we reckon Portiacraft will remain supplying and maintaining Londons Porsche population for many years to come.