ACE OF BASE

What happens when you take Porsche's old school entry level model and give it a very not entry level upgrade? This is a 914 as you've never seen it before

- TOM FORD

There’s a kind of involuntary tic that comes with anyone mentioning a restomod Porsche these days, yet another 911 claiming to be honed, reimagined, bespoke. Money and ideas thrown, sometimes quite randomly, at an above average base, aiming to elevate. And they all seem to cost the kind of cash that would see most of us homeless a couple of times over. At least.

But for all the myriad companies messing with 911s, Fifteen Eleven Design caught the TG eye, simply because it decided to turn its attentions to the 914. A choice that’s interesting in itself, the 914 being the mid-engined, targa-topped, budget coproduction between VW and Porsche back in the late 1960s and 1970s. A car that hasn’t been on the most wanted list for quite a while. So, interest piqued, with the backstory of the company that produces it the elevator pitch, but more on that in a minute.

First, a quick jaunt into this funny looking little 914. This is a car that’s not so much been restomodded as completely rebuilt. What remains of the original donor is sparse, consisting of A- and B-pillars, floors and bulkheads. There’s now a strengthening central tunnel filled with the bits that didn’t fit anywhere else. Mainly because the guts of the thing are now brand new Cayman S. So that’s 3.8-litre flat six, 6spd manual box and the looms to support it.

The doors are steel, the rest de rigueur carbon fibre, all subtley and not so subtley reworked with a modern twist, although always with a lot of sympathy. Arches are widened and flared, the new turret on the front wings housing LED headlights, replacing the original 914’s pop-ups. Which is a shame (pop-up headlights rule), but the replacements look good, and the arches themselves are much more elegant than some of the faster in-period Porsche 914/6s used for racing, which look like they’ve been stuck on with chewing gum.