GUNTHER WERKS 993 SPEEDSTER REMASTERED

American restomodder seeks to turn 993 cabriolet into the ultimate, money-no-object, air-cooled Porsche 911

- MATT PRIOR

TESTED 7.4.22, CALIFORNIA, US ON SALE NOW PRICE £650,000

Gunther Werks' headquarters is white and clean, spacious and cool. What adorns the walls depends on which area you're in: some car stuff, of course, but also expensive bottles where customers receive their cars and sci-fi models elsewhere - an apparent enthusiasm of Peter Nam, founder of both Gunther Werks and a company called Vorsteiner, which makes wheels and high-end carbon fibre components.

There's an element of cartoonish fantasy to Gunther Werks' cars, too - although technically they don't make cars. You buy a stock 993-series а Porsche 911 Carrera 2 (1994 to 1998) and they take it and remaster it, creating the 993 Speedster Remastered by Gunther Werks - the sort of naming convolution that keeps intellectual property people happy. But let's call it the Gunther Werks Speedster. And let's call it a resto-mod born from the idea of what would a money-no-object 993 look like?'

Nam and co think it would look like this; a bit like if Porsche had built a GT3 RS version of the 993, last of the air-cooled 911s.

There will be 25 Speedsters like this, following 25 coupés, whose production/modification run is now drawing to a close.

Gunther Werks can help you source the donor 993 coupé or cabriolet; ideally a car with a clean title with no accidents, probably costing £40,000 to £60,000, and there are enough in the US that they're not going to run out. Then the work starts.

The most obvious thing is a widening of the front track, for which the suspension already has mounts from racing homologation.

Then a fair degree of weight reduction and adjustment goes on.

The air conditioning and power steering pumps are moved from the back, where they were driven by the engine, to the front, and made electrically powered.