Wide, fast, low and seriously desirable. With engineering input from multiple world championship winners Cosworth and from Red Bull Advanced Technologies, this is the latest reincarnation of Porsche’s 911 by the Californian dreamers at Singer Vehicle Design. Full name - they tell us - Porsche 911 Carrera Coupé Reimagined By Singer. Available to order right now, ready for your next trip down the nearest autobahn.
Squat stance looks just so right, to our eyes. Inspiration, say Singer, is the super-rare wide-body version of 911 Carrera from the Type 964 Series. It's an exercise in bulging bodywork from the 1980s – a time of excess and lapels almost as wide as those wheel arches. Being Singer this is of course no sharp suit, aimed at impressing only to deceive. Instead the aim is "captivating, high-performance sports driving on road and track”. Yes to all of that.
Everything from a donor Type 964 is taken apart, re-engineered, and - to use Singer’s favourite word - reimagined. Monocoque has chassis strengthening designed in conjunction with Red Bull Technologies who know a thing or two about making a car go very fast indeed. Owners can choose to provide their own donor Type 964 or ask Singer to find one for them.
Porsche 911 Carrera Coupé Reimagined By Singer: Not normal
Body is far from anything approaching standard, as you’d expect. All and every panel is in hand-formed carbon for lightness and toughness. Six-speed manual gearbox is a Singer essential. Interiors are to each customer’s own requirements, executed and finished to Singer standards that are so high they exceed those set by Porsche themselves. Or so owners say.
Biggest news of all is what’s out back. Which is how it should be. Like all pure 911s, Singer’s latest is rear wheel drive. Flat six engine is present and correct but in most other ways divergent from that which left the Porsche factory at Zuffenhausen. Cosworth, the British performance experts whose V8 engines dominated Formula One in the late 1960s and early 1970s, have been put to work to produce, as Singer put it, a “rebirth” of the air cooled flat six with a capacity of four litres, four valves per cylinder, variable valve timing and air-cooled cylinders. In short: an analogue but highly sophisticated bit of kit.
But not quite analogue in the cockpit: there’s ABS, traction control, and electronic stability control - developed with Bosch - all available to keep all of that power on the road.
No Singer is a cheap car. These Californians were among the pioneers of the restomod boom, to the extent that they’re to be regarded these days as full-scale manufacturers in their own right. Singer aren’t releasing price details to anyone but serious would-be buyers of the 100 to be made. But we wouldn’t expect much change from £1-million. Steep. Auction results suggest that even at that price point you might be on to an appreciating asset. With much fun to be had in the meantime.
Next up: Check out this incredible custom 1990 Porsche 964 Targa.
