Yahoo Autos This Gorgeous Porsche 993 Restomod Looks Great, Drives Better
The flexibility of the Porsche 911 is astounding. From Targa to GT3 RS, rear-drive Carrera to Turbo S Cabriolet, S/T to Dakar, there truly is a 911 variant for every sports-car occasion. Yet people who love Porsche's icon clearly want more, and as the 911 has become bigger, heavier, and more refined, so the qualities of the older air-cooled cars have become more highly prized. Porsches have always been hot-rodded for motorsport and road use by individuals and specialists, but now it has become a sizable global industry.
Singer Vehicle Design is the poster child of the Porsche restomod scene, of course. The company's backdated, beautifully finished creations have become the lottery-win first purchase for numerous gearheads and have inspired a raft of imitators. It sometimes feels as if another Singer-wannabe arrives every month. You know the score — pumped up, smoothed-out Seventies shape draped over a 964 donor chassis, Fuchs-style alloys, crosshatched leather, and (likely) a houndstooth interior. Gorgeous, but derivative.
This isn't that.
The PS Autoart 993 R is a radically different take on the ultimate air-cooled 911. It's the brainchild of U.K.-based Porsche specialist Paul Stephens, and in many ways the exact opposite of most 911 restomods.
Instead of pulling together a series of Greatest Hits styling cues, backdating and exaggerating the 911 form, it sticks closely to the aesthetics of the 993 it is based on, purifying the base car rather than trying to add anachronistic details to it. There's a hint of a ducktail — my personal pet hate on more modern 911s — but otherwise the shape is restrained and subtle. Imagine it as a 993-based GT3 Touring.
There is also more than a little RennSport in here, though, the 993R being a proper lightweight. Its body shell has been completely stripped, seam-welded, and reinforced with an integrated roll cage for greater rigidity. The hood is now a genuine Porsche Motorsport aluminum piece, there is thinner glass for both the side and rear windows, and the rain gutters are gone. The engine cover is made out of composite, as are the unique front and rear bumpers.
Inside the cabin, the interior has been removed and then refitted with significant weight savings, including carbon-fiber seats, new composite door cards, and the loss of the standard car's center console. Central locking and electric windows have also been deleted for the cause of minimalist purity. The 993R is claimed to weigh just 2690 pounds with half of a tank of fuel, 330 pounds less than a standard 993 Carrera 2.
The engine and chassis have been subject to a similarly thorough round of upgrades. The flat-six goes from the original 272 hp 3.6-liter unit to 3.8 liters, now making 360 hp at 7400 rpm and 258 lb-ft at 5400 rpm. The engine now features a crankshaft, a bearing set, and an oil pump from a 997 GT3, and 993 RSR barrels and pistons. The camshaft is bespoke to Paul Stephens design and works with solid lifters from the Porsche Motorsport catalogue. Finally, a 996 GT3 intake plenum and individual throttle bodies complete the work.
The peak power figure might seem solid rather than otherworldly, but the truth is that most air-cooled Porsche engines claiming to make over 100 hp per liter don't actually manage anything of the sort, while this one is sweet and powerful and endows the 993R with really sharp, modern, GT3-chasing performance.
The chassis also utilizes Porsche Motorsport know-how with adjustable and lightweight components from the 993 RS, plus Tractive semi-active dampers. There's a WaveTrac torque-biasing limited slip differential, and 993 RS brakes ensure consistency and durability on road or track. Basically, the 993R has been optimized, lightened, and upgraded wherever possible, using all of Stephens's huge experience. He started racing 911s back in 1987, began specializing in Porsches in 1994, and built the first PS Autoart car (what we'd now term a restomod) as far back as 2002. This is the latest and greatest. It costs from $445,000 plus donor vehicle. Which is a vast amount of money but still not more than half the cost of a Singer.
Weighing up the investment versus driving experience is always difficult with a restomod simply because they all cost so much. Hard though it is, you have to forget the price and accept that plenty of people are happy to pay huge sums for a bespoke old-school 911 experience — and then try to work out if that brief is nailed convincingly. In the case of the 993R, it is. This thing is fantastic, even better than I'd hoped and a compelling experience on both road and track.
The good stuff starts immediately. The simple interior doesn't have the lavish look and feel of some rejuvenated 911s, but it's closer to what a 911 means to me. I'd happily forgo some fancy stitching for fabric door pulls for the basics delivered. Yet there is a palpable quality here. The materials feel top notch, and there are a lot of great touches, like the column stalks recreated perfectly in cool, tactile metal. It adds up to a really special environment.
Yes, the details matter. The MOMO steering wheel is the same one found in 996 GT3 Cup race cars, the Rennline pedals feel substantial and look beautiful. The rev counter and speedometer have been rotated so the big numbers are straight up, a nod to the old 911 race and homologation cars. The 993R celebrates the 911's heritage without descending into caricature.
On the road, it continues to press all my 911 buttons. The engine is superb and combines the character and soundtrack of an air-cooled flat-six with the revvy, low-inertia feel of something like a modern GT3 RS. While 360 hp might sound almost puny by modern standards, it is plenty in the small, stripped-down 911. Performance feels full and vivid, and there's just so much enjoyment to be found from extracting the maximum from the 993R. Or in experiencing its ever-changing voice and growing intensity, if you prefer a less frantic approach.
The chassis is definitely hardcore. The 993R bobs and weaves, and there is the occasional sound of contact as something on the underside kisses the road lightly—a noise likely familiar to anybody who has driven an RS version of a recent 911. For me, it added a no-nonsense race-car vibe, with only a slight bit of dead travel at the top of the brake pedal eroding the motorsport experience. It is a distraction, but the steering feel is so rich, the sound so pure and clean, and the body control so excellent, it's not enough to dent the immersive driving experience. The 993R is physical and requires concentration, but it still manages to flow with the road.
On the track it's easier to indulge in the 993R's ultimate balance. There are hints of the car's adjustability on the road, but such is the grip and traction that it doesn't slide around freely. With a race track on hand—the tight, demanding Anglesey circuit in north Wales—the car really comes to life. There was almost no understeer under hard track loadings; the flat-six's pendulum is always on the move but never seems to swing out of control.
The result is pin-sharp balance and pure entertainment. Here the 993R treads its own path, lacking the pure mechanical grip and speed of a potent water-cooled 911 but with its lower limits making it a little more accessible. Personally, I'd prefer a conventional mechanical locking differential instead of the torque-biasing one, but traction is outstanding, and Stephens has done a great job tuning the Tractive dampers. They make a really positive difference when clicking up through the modes, providing a surprising depth of ability.
The PS Autoart 993R is a great example of the 911's inherent qualities being polished and tweaked to increase intensity and excitement. It distills the 911 experience rather trying to enhance it with massive amounts of grip and wide-body attitude. I love that it recognizes the value of the base car, not trying to hide the fact it is a 993. There's no artifice, no following of the crowd.
I fully understand if you feel a little jaded about yet another Porsche restomod in a world that seems packed with them. Yet there's a reason people can't stop playing with the ultimate supercar icon; it's so inherently good. Nurture the qualities that make it so special, and more of the magic is revealed. The 993R's highly detailed development has made for an unforgettable driving experience.
Less is more, isn't that what they say? In this case, that very much rings true.
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