Haute couture for high-end sports cars. That’s the business of French restomod specialists Machine Revival, based just north of Biarritz in southwestern France. The MR26 Void is the latest creation to emerge from their workshop studio. It's as refined as anything from the atelier of Chanel or Dior. But this French take on a German classic is more than a creature of high fashion.
The MR26 is designed to be driven, not just shown off at the automotive runway shows that are the high end of the concours d’elegance circuit. Engineer Nicolas Quiles personally tailor-makes each Machine Revival piece. Here just the original monocoque of a 1982 Porsche 911 remains. Body panels are in super lightweight carbon kevlar. Including discreetly flared wheel arches to house hefty dished Campagnolo alloys. Front grille and rear detailing are in matching gold shades.


If the exterior majors on downplaying the full drama of what M Quiles and his colleagues have visited on the 911, the interior has no such qualms. Gold detailing is said to be inspired by tattoos, bespoke accommodation is in carbon fibre bucket seats, while a protective roll cage offers reassurance as you approach Paddock Hill Bend ever so slightly too fast on your Brands Hatch track day. Wool felt covering to the dash is distinctly non-standard - and while the MR26’s array of five dials is 911-familiar, present and correct, the gold skull to the rev counter is a unique hand-painted reminder that this is one formidable beast.


Porsche 911 MR26 Void: Under the hood
Under the carbon-fibre lid to the rear - drilled with signature gold-meshed circles for extra cooling - is an artwork of a power unit: the uprated 297 bhp, 3.0-litre flat-six engine, now equipped with individual throttle injection. Since the MR26 weighs just 932 kg - or not much more than a classic Mini - that’s going to mean quite sensational pace. Quite how sensational Machine Revival aren’t saying, but luckily you’ll have six-piston brakes to help you stop.



As ever with restomods it is the obsession with the detailing that catches the eye. Just take a look at the die-cut aluminium gear shifter, to take just one example. Or the accelerator: less a pedal, and more a board in the competition tradition.


And so it comes to the vexed question of cost. Machine Revival doesn’t list an asking price, but no remade Porsche is going to be cheap. Top of the tree restomods by Singer - the California outfit which more or less invented the Porsche part of this market - go for around £800,000 at auction. Would Nicolas Quiles accept a quarter of that for his latest creation? Half? The full amount? We’d suggest a phone call to find out - and we’d be happy to accompany you and MR26 on the next trip to the French Riviera, purely for research purposes, you understand.
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