STRIKING RETRO GOLD
WHY PORSCHE JUST BUILT A NEW 993 TURBO
Anyone can restore an old Porsche, but only Porsche can build a new one, and to celebrate the company’s 70th birthday, Porsche Classic created Project Gold, a brand new, one-o
993 Turbo built 20 years after production ended.
‘The starting point was a new bodyshell left over from 993 production,’ explains Alexander Fabig, head of Porsche Classic, the company arm that deals with parts and restoration for pre-997 cars.
‘We’d seen what our colleagues at Porsche Exclusive had done with the 991 Turbo S Exclusive and we wondered how a car like the 991 Turbo Exclusive would have looked if Porsche had built one back in 1995,’ he says.
Seven of Porsche Classic’s tiny 14-man crew spent 18 months working on Gold. Modiications to the standard Turbo body included recreating the rear wing vents found on Turbo S cars and inishing it in Golden Yellow. The interior is trimmed in black leather with gold stitching, while the lightest internal components are selected for the S-spec 3.6-litre lat six, meaning it most likely produces more than the quoted 444bhp.
‘When we restore a customer car we spend around 15002000 hours rebuilding it to factory original speciication,’ explains Fabig. ‘But with Project Gold there were probably an additional 1000 hours spent on the features that make it di erent.’
But couldn’t it have been more di erent? Comparisons with Singer’s wilder creations are inevitable and some are bound to ind Project Gold a little meek.
‘We have huge respect for the other companies out there,’ Fabig admits. ‘We discussed making more modiications to bring in more modern components, like a newer engine or more carbonibre, but we decided not to do that. We wanted it to feel authentic and what we have done better relects what we do at Porsche Classic.’
On the surface this is simply a fun 70th anniversary present to itself, a showcase of what Porsche Classic can do and a reminder of how extensive its range of available parts is. But it’s also Porsche reaching out to comfort and reassure hardcore fans as it prepares to launch the electric Taycan and make another giant leap away from its air-cooled past.
Project Gold will be auctioned at RM Sotheby’s Porsche 70th Anniversary Sale at the Porsche Experience Centre in Atlanta in October. Proceeds go to the youthfocused Ferry Porsche Foundation.