Behold ITA001 - Theon Design's latest 964

Black over tan is always a winner, right?

Choosing the paint of any new car is a big deal, let alone the colour of a very expensive and very personal restomod. Fortune may favour the brave, but what’s good for Instagram might not be so good at your house. Too restrained may not do the hours of work lavished on your new pride and joy justice. Heaven forbid you copy another spec. It’s a real bind.

Sometimes, you can’t beat a classic. Back when John drove a Theon Design Porsche 964 911 at the end of last year, he said the only thing about the whole car he’d want to change was the colours, preferring a more traditional silver with red leather rather than the Viola of the test car. This Theon commission, if not quite to John’s ideal spec, is certainly more traditional; it’s the very first car going to Italy, and it’s Schwartz Black with tobacco leather.

It’s classy, stylish, and, by the standards of the genre, really subtle as well. It’s only when up close enough to see the grey graphics and champagne petals on the Fuchs wheels that many will notice this isn’t just another old 911. And that’s pretty cool.

All the good bits that have made Theon’s builds so beguiling are in present and correct in build ITA001. It has the carbon body (meaning just 1,152kg wet), it has the 400hp flat-six snorting through Jenvey throttle bodies, it has the Tractive suspension and it gets all the juicy upgrades from really racy Porsches, including a 993 RS diff and gearbox. This might not be as attention-grabbing as some restored and modified 911s, but rest assured the experience is going to be just as vivid.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of this build, actually, is its practical nature. Rather than being another stripped-out, retro road racer 911, this one retains four seats. Custom built and inspired by the rear buckets of a 928, it means four people (albeit smaller ones in the back), can travel in quite some style. And, relatively speaking, some comfort as well, with a Focal stereo fitted and five modes - ‘carefully calibrated over countless test miles’ - for the clever suspension.

“We’re delighted to reveal ITA001 to the world,” said Adam Hawley, Theon Design Co-Founder. “It retains the air-cooled enthralling 911’s charm, but blends it with modern, focused performance and dynamic ability; it’s a classic 911 with an addictive dose of modern GT3 thrown in.” The restomod craze may no longer be the new thing, but that prospect remains a tantalising one, especially in black and tan - and even if interested parties must wait a year and half and pay at least £380k for the privilege. Best get that order in for silver and red soon, John…