ORIGINAL: George Elliott
However, if JMG or some-one developed a 951 in a similar way that Singer have the 911 - very high attention to body & trim area craftsmanship - and say Tuthills who put the same attention into 911 Mechanical areas, and in the process achieve effectively a New 951 with say 450rwhp, what would it be worth....?
This is not the first time you have said this George, and I know where you are coming from.
Problem is, there are some high rolling air cooled 911 fans out there. People with names you would recognise from films and addresses in exotic locations, for whom laying down half a million dollars on a restored and improved Porsche 911 is as much of a financial concequence as you or I should replace our StarWars DVD set with the BlueRay version (or something along those lines) Whereas the 944 has some followers, but none of them willing to drop $500k on a 944.
That is not to say that people do not love the 944, and it is not to say there are not some people spending large sums on their cars.
I have had customers quite frequently over the years who have spent large amounts on their 944's, more than you would imagine have spent approaching a tenth of what what a Singer 911 costs.. And those who have, would often have got a lot more for their money if they had known what they wanted when they started, followed my advice and started with a better base car.. Not only that, but if they had known what they wanted in the begining, their car would have been completed in weeks rather than waiting months.. My schedule goes four weeks in advance, someone changing their mind or saying "Let me sleep on it" often means we then can't carry on for another 4 weeks.
Recently I have had a change of position on "Project cars", in the past the customer could buy a Mexican turbo if that is what they wanted, they could follow the advice of some random guy on Rennlist if they really had faith in them, even if I did advise against it, and a customer could change their mind as often as they like and I would let a project evolve for them rather than being a bit more strict with them and saying "Hey, I thought the original plan was..." .. But it has taken me years to realise the end result is I end up with a car here for ages, the car ends up being a shadow of the car it could have been and the customers less than great choices end up biting them in their bum and making me look bad in the process... So, I recently decided "No more!".
Now, if someone comes to me wanting advice about tuning or project cars, I give it freely.. Every day I spend a great deal of time sending out essay length emails to people explaining my advice, all the pro's and con's, and a lot of time getting to know what the owner really wants.. Which is often not the 400bhp and race targeted suspension they ask for.. But also I am quite clear with them that if I do not believe their car is going to be the vision that we both share, and that we are on the same page, then I will not be involved.. I will still offer them advice, but the car will not be coming into the workshop. I also usually warn them that unless this is a car for life, what they are spending is unlikely to repay them when it comes to sell the car, except in some very rare cases.
There was a car we converted years ago to a 3.0 Turbo, we let him call the shots, he followed the advice of RennList gods, and decided some aspects of the project he would revisit later... He ended up with a Mexican turbo we complained about installing, he igored advice about nearly every aspect of the project, instead sticking with the advice of people on Rennlist, and many years and thousands of pounds after I last touched the car, the owner still has dissapointing performance, has been seen on forums complaining about aspects of the project I performed badly, even though I have documented evidence that he asked for those specific items to be installeed in that exact way, and the chap still fails to see we modify well worn 2.5 944 Turbos which produce more power than his 3.0 turbo with every gadget and Rennlist recommendation installed.. To be honest, sadly, too many 944 projects go this way, we just do not want to be part of that anymore.
We still take on projects.. either just a few modifications through to a complete rebuild or restoration. We do something named a "Porsche Legend", where we take a limited production run example car as the vision, such as a 924GTS, 944 Turbo Cup, 968 Turbo S, 964RS, 993RS or even the RUF-CTR, and decide how could Porsche have made it better today? What better parts are available today which did not exist back then, what advances have their been in the understanding of particular areas of the car, and build something which is a recreation of that "Porsche Legend" but better, much better, not because Porsche were "Pants", but because time has moved forward.
We have a customer who is dropping off his car next week.. He bought a 968 and decided he loved it, but wanted more, much more... He wanted air con, his didnt have it, he wants a turbo charged engine, a better transmission, better suspension... Not so it gets better lap times, but so it crosses Europe in more comfort, at great speed, but knowing that nearly every nut and bolt on the car is new and as good as it can be... His budget is £60-70k.. He set that budget, not me.. He may end up with change, he might not, it all depends on the final spec, but that spec is being nailed down after we have inspected the car, and after we have agreed the project.. After that and the project begins, the spec only changes with mutual consent, not just because someone on a forum has come up with a "cunning plan" or a great idea.
I would love to dedicate enough time to taking a 944 turbo to the same levels as a Singer911, the attention to detail is awesome, I would love to pay that much detail to the stitching used, buy the best, best best, parts regardless of cost, "Hello Fabspeed, can you make an exhaust in Titanium?", it would be easy to spend that kind of money on a 944, and an amazing car would be at the end of it, and you would have to be really careful to not also ruin the car and its character in the process..
Autograph cars often get poked fun at for their 944's... Maybe a decal of a snake down the side is not to everyones taste, it certainly is not mine, but it must be to someones, even if it is just the taste of someone at Autograph.. But it is a good example of why I am now being choosy about what projects we get involved in and what can go wrong when someone is given a completely free run to do what *They* think is cool and why Specialist and customer need to be on the same page from the start.. But it is also another good example of how some money spent can make a car remain unsold and potentially ruin it.
The key to the Singer911 is that they have spent a shed load of money on things that they know will appeal to everyone, and built it from the ground up with a good solid vision.. It is also why not only will they sell them in small numbers, but those that buy them will in the future probably not loose their shirt when they want to sell them again, because everyone knows the Singer is one hell of a car.. You can't say that when the car is a bitsa with lots of peoples advice being thrown into a mixing bowl and the person building it seriously disagrees with many of the parts being used and the advice which is being promoted.
I also like what Magnus Walker does to 911's for approaching similar money out in the states, with almost identical clients and bank balances.. He has good taste, he does good work, but he would not have built the first one if he did not have a clothing brand paying the bills in the background, and allowing him to indulge in his vision.. Luckily, again, his vision is shared by many, importantly by some people who can also afford it, but do not have the skills to build a car... It probably helped a great deal having a film company wanting to make a cool documentary about him and his cars as well
)
Anyway.. thats enough for this essay.. You in the market for such a car George?
