Porsche purists may want to look away now, but we can't help thinking the rest of you are going to like this. Or perhaps we're all a bunch of hopeless Philistines here at PH HQ...
The Singer 911 is the latest 're-imagining' of a classic performance car with contemporary engineering, and it's pretty obvious which one. Or perhaps not, as Singer says its 911 is the result of 'a fusion between purity of the original 911 and modern materials, design and updated technologies that recaptures the essence of he early 911's golden age'. By which they mean it nicks all the best bits of 40-odd years of air-cooled Porsche evolution.
Singer starts its conversion process with any 1969-'89 Porsche 911 donor, then strips it back to its shell for reincarnation. The wheelbase, A-pillar, roofline and suspension mountings are retained, but pretty much everything else is uprated and/or updated.
The car's monocoque is reinforced by stitch-welding and the addition of a new backbone structure to improve rigidity, and a carbon fibre 'second skin' body adds further stiffness. Suspension is converted from torsion bars to MacPherson strut and Carrera SC trailing arm/coilover set-up seen on classic racing 911s. The Singer 911 also gets electric power assistance for the steering and a fully adjustable suspension set-up.
Braking is courtesy of Brembo, with a competition set-up derived from the 917 and 930 models, while the wheels are period-evoking five-spoke alloys - 9x17ins at the front, and 11x17ins at the rear.
The engine is a 3.8-litre unit (bored-out from the standard 3.6 litres) lifted from the 993, which spins up to 8000rpm and delivers either 360hp or 425hp, depending on state of tune. Weighing only 1088kgs, the hotter version will do 0-60mph in 3.9secs, 0-100mph in 8.5secs and exceed 170mph according to company figures.
The interior features an original 911-style cluster, but with all new instruments in a revised dash panel, and the uncarpeted cabin will be trimmed in dark green leather - including the re-modelled Recaro seats which have been strengthened with carbon fibre. Electric air conditioning and Bluetooth connectivity are all on the options list.
On the outside, only the door panels are original. The rest of the body is re-skinned in carbon fibre to emulate the early Porsche 911 RSR with its trademark flared wheel arches - but Xenon headlamps and an electric rear spoiler are contemporary touches. The prototype pictured here is finished in vintage-style Orange, but the car will be available in any colour, says Singer. No prices have been released, but you can find out more at
www.singervehicledesign.com