Reimagined
LEGENDS REBORN AS RESTOMODS
Bill Schwartz
Introduction
Bisimoto
Canepa
Classic 9 Motorwerks
DP Motorsports
Drive My Quest
Emory Motorsports
Everrati
Gunther Werks
Hedonic
Kaege
Kalmar
Kamm
Lanzante
Lightspeed Classic
Marc Philipp Gemballa
Nardone Automotive
Paul Stephens Autoart
Rennsport
Rezvani Retro
RSR Project
RUF
Singer
Speed Service
Stärke Speedster
Theon Design
Thornley Kelham
Tuthill
Werks Gruppe
Picture Credits and Acknowledgements
DRIVE MY QUEST
Veurne, Belgium, isn’t the sort of place you immediately associate with the dust and grit of a high-speed rally. It’s a small city, cornered by the North Sea and the French border and best known for its market square, which is banked by rows of medieval and renaissance buildings. And yet, it’s also home to an extraordinarily violent off-road-ready Porsche restomod. If you hadn’t noticed, this kind of juxtaposition is typical for restomod brands and sums up the restomod genre.
Drive My Quest is a company that understands Porsches inside out and have concluded that a great Porsche, with a little work, needn’t be confined to the track.
Their signature creation, the Quest, is a beautifully purposeful machine. They begin with a classic 911 – a G-body or a 964 – and transform it from a road car into a long-distance rally machine, thanks to the finer details of a meticulous re-engineering, focused on durability and endurance. The chassis is reinforced and the suspension is a custom-valved affair designed to absorb the punishment of unpaved roads. Under the engine lid, the classic flat-six is rebuilt and fortified, if you will, for added reliability, often with a twin-plug ignition and a modern fuel management system for trouble-free operation in remote locations. It’s a car that gives you the glorious analogue feel of the past with the guts to go anywhere in the world. It’s a brilliant statement of intent. If restomod fans can be described as the kind of people who tire of the straight and narrow, then this car is most definitely designed to be the cure.
Speedster
Starting with a convertible 911, Gunther Werks removes the roof and enhances the chassis, adding roll cages and roll hoops for safety and to allay any of the performance wobbles usually associated with open-air cars. Taking style cues from the exclusive Porsche Speedster of eras past, the bodywork is lightweight, allowing 0–60 mph in under four seconds and a reported top speed of 190 mph.
• Transmission: Six-speed with custom ratios
• Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
• Power: 435 hp
CTR3 E VO
A symphony of power, precision and pure evolution resulting in a matchless 800 hp power plant with a top speed of 236 mph and a 0–60 mph of just 3.2 seconds. With front MacPherson struts and a rear multi-link with horizontal coil-over shock absorbers as well, this is arguably the pinnacle of RUF’s precision engineering.
• Transmission: Seven-speed, double-clutch
• Engine: 3.8 litre twin-turbocharged flat-six
• Power: 800 hp
THORNLEY KELHAM
Based in the UK, Thornley Kelham is renowned for refinement. The company’s European range is just dripping with class. These are classics rebuilt with the obsessive, fanatical precision of a Michelin-starred chef hunched over some prize-winning bergamot-infused reduction. As well as a selection of gorgeous Jags and Lancias, the range also includes Thornley’s jaw-dropping 911 European RS, a direct riposte to the soul-crushing beige of modern luxury cars. Every stitch of the leather, every notched gear change, feels beautiful in the way a perfect steak au poivre is beautiful – blood, salt and fire. It’s everything we forgot driving was supposed to be. Underneath the deceptively clean silhouette lies a 3.8-litre air-cooled heart that shrieks when you bury your foot. It’s loud, it’s mechanical and it smells of spent fuel and tastefully concealed aggression. It demands your attention. You can’t just drive it; you have to negotiate with it.
Porsche Rebels: Legends Reborn as Restomods presents the best of the best from the exciting world of reimagined and customised Porsches, capturing one of the most dynamic trends in the global automotive industry today.
The restomod boom represents a cultural shift to bespoke automotive artistry. Fusing classic models with cutting-edge technology requires an almost impossible level of creativity and workmanship. The resulting builds are configured to shine as brightly on today’s roads as the original models did in their own time, frequently testing every technical limit imaginable.