KAMM AS YOU ARE

The flat-four Porsche 912 was once seen as the 911's poor relation. Budapest-based firm Kamm aims to unlock its ultimate potential

- JAMES TAYLOR

APPARENTLY, WE ALL OUGHT TO SPEND MORE TIME being 'present', 'in the moment', 'conscious'. Right now, both hands on the unassisted wheel, sole of my right foot in conversation with the servo-free brake pedal, ears full of four horizontally opposed cylinders doing their thing and mind absorbed with the road ahead and the next gearchange to come, I feel pretty darn present.

Such is the way with many classic cars from the '60s of course. Just as so often the downside is that brakes, power, reliability and so forth aren't quite present enough. Herein lies the appeal of the restomod, a classic car with modern engineering upgrades, and the Porsche 911 has become the darling of the scene, myriad specialists offering their own take on the legend. Hungarian outfit Kamm Manufaktur, however, is concentrating not on the 911 but the 912.

On sale from 1965 to '69, the 912 was once snobbily seen as the poor man's 911, with a Porsche 356-derived flat-four in place of the 911's six. Today it's a sought-after classic. But not an especially potent one, with around 90bhp in most standard cars. The car pictured here has 190bhp and weighs 760kg, giving it a similar power-to-weight ratio to a presentday 911 Carrera.

It's Kamm's demonstrator, acquired by company founder Miki Kázmér as a solid but careworn standard 912 before beginning its transformation. The Budapest-based operation's 30-strong team (12 of which are full-time staff) includes engineers with expertise in motorsport, restoration, 3D scanning and composites, and the company manufactures almost all of the components in-house. Kázmér has a particular love for air-cooled engines born from his first car, a Beetle, and explains that Budapest has a culture of sympathetically tuning and improving classic cars, an ethos Kamm wishes to apply to the 912. The company's first three customer cars, created to buyers' individual specifications, are in build now.