Home » What It Was Like Watching Akira Nakai Cut Up Two Perfect Porsches And Turn Them Into Art

What It Was Like Watching Akira Nakai Cut Up Two Perfect Porsches And Turn Them Into Art

Rwb Top

“BZZZZZZZZ” a saw blared loudly in Porsche Santa Clarita‘s “Wünderground” car museum this past Saturday as hundreds of people breathed a combination of dust and cigarette smoke just to get a glimpse of a legend. Wearing Dr. Pepper pajama pants, drinking sodas, smoking Winstons, and oozing with swagger, that legend is Akira Nakai, a Japanese car customizer whose controversial “RWB” widebody cars have changed Porsche culture forever.

RWB stands for Rauh-Welt Begriff, which translates to “Rough World Concept,” an appropriate name for a tuner whose process is undeniably “rough,” especially in the context of precision engineering outfits like Singer, RUF, and Gunther. The company’s founder, Akira Nakai, does all the work by hand, transforming Porsches into widebody monsters using little more than a cutting saw, a belt sander, a tube of sealant, and an impact driver.

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

The final result is a piece of art, and the process itself is a genuine performance, luring in eyes from all over the West Coast. What is it that draws so many people in? I had a chance to interview one of the many faces standing in that huge crowd in Porsche Santa Clarita’s Wünderground.

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

“I had seen a post that they would have a viewing of Nakai doing his work on these two RWBs. And I’ve been kind of watching his work online for a while now and had been wanting to see him doing his work in person,” Bryan — who goes by Car.Leaper on Instagram — told me. “I never thought that that would happen…When I saw the opportunity, I had to show up.”

Our conversation was one of the few taking place as everyone else huddled behind ropes, watching in quiet awe as the master worked.

“His process, the way he does his measurements and his cuts by hand… it basically just lives up to exactly what I was expecting to see…[It’s fun to watch] because you get to see the transformation,” said Bryan. “You get to see kind of what goes into these builds. And the time it takes for him to do all these cuts and measurements that he does in order to get these body panels to fit.”

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

There’s been a lot of controversy about Nakai-san from Porsche fans who think cutting up original Porsches is blasphemy, but among the people at Porsche Santa Clarita, it seems there were only fans.

“He just kind of takes his time and does things almost eyeballed in a way. He takes measurements, but for the most part, he’s done this for so long that he kind of just almost freehands this…It’s pretty impressive,” added Bryan. “I feel like other people would take more time in making sure that these cuts are, you know, almost perfect in a way. I feel like he kind of makes the imperfections seem beautiful, and it kind of makes sense because I think that’s just kind of his style.”

Fans of the cars themselves, and fans of the performance, which Nakai-san has down to the tee thanks to an effortless style that makes him unique in the whole car universe.

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

To describe a bit of that style, here’s Griffin Riley, The Autopian’s Video Manager, who spent a lot of time around these two RWBs and around Nakai-san this past week at Porsche Santa Clarita.

Akira Nakai Is A One-Of-One Rockstar

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

This section is written by Griffin Riley

“If I see a single brown M&M in my bowl of oh so yummy candy-covered chocolates, I swear to the high heavens that I’m gonna smite the nearest stagehand I see,” – Eddie Van Halen, probably. Okay, maybe that’s not exactly how the conversation went, but it’s a classic story of a massive artist having seemingly absurd demands as a condition to do work for someone. Sure, Van Halen’s clause was motivated by safety, as the M&M line was hidden in between a series of technical specifications about rigging pyrotechnics at their show, and it’s said that the M&M thing was a test to see if the venue was paying attention. (Even if it did set a precedent for highly-specific “Riders”).

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

Nakai-san, like many of your favorite rockstars, has a list of demands for whenever he does work on someone’s Porsche: He wants essentially a bespoke living room (complete with a retro refrigerator filled with Mexican soda), snacks from his home country of Japan, a plush seat for just his dog to rest in, and lots of cigarettes.

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Yes, Nakai is that big of a name in the car world, and his demands, you could argue, are instruments that he uses to create a special performance/image that drew in so many people from around Southern California. Seriously: I met a dad and daughter who drove in from Sacramento at 2 AM just to see Nakai-san do his thing.

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

If you haven’t heard of him or the brand and are just looking for another reason to hate on something, here you go: He takes pretty little Porsches, cuts them up, and turns them into touge drift monsters that look more like they came from Ganymede than Stuttgart. A Porsche lover, I am not, a rockstar I am not, but I’ve seen him work in person now at Galpin’s Porsche Santa Clarita dealership, and man…this guy is sick.

He does what he does because he’s a drifter; in his younger years, he was a bit of a Takumi Fujiwara, if you will — a true Initial D guy. He started his drifting lifestyle in a Toyota Corolla AE86, just like the famous anime’s main character, carving up and down the prefectures, undoubtedly with more control and poise than we Angelenos have when we’re carving the canyons of Angeles Crest.

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

The AE86 is a bit of an unsuspecting IYKYK car to folks in the car world, but he, like so many other gearheads in the world, fell victim to the allure of Germany’s once attainable sports car, so when one rolled into his shop, he needed to pounce. From Yokogao Magazine:

“As the years rolled by, while the rest of Japan fixated on JDM cars, Nakai found his eye wandering off to European cars, especially Porsches. […] Then, one fateful day, a battered Porsche 930 rolled into his shop. Instead of repairing it, Nakai made the decision to purchase it from the owner. The 930 became Nakai’s first and most cherished Porsche, granting him the freedom to push the boundaries of customization beyond the limits of AE86s, pioneering body widening modifications that would set the stage for his legacy.”

With a Porsche in his possession, Nakai-san proceeded to do all the track-focused modifications one could dream of, deleting any weight he could, lowering the car, adding carbon fiber where possible, optimizing brakes and suspension. While that’s all pretty normal treatment to a wannabe and professional racer alike, he took things a step further with the car, and set the stage for RWB’s design language going forward: He built fenders a mile wide and a spoiler that reached for the stars.

I like Nakai-san’s aggressive wide body styling, but there’s no shortage of people who don’t. Reddit user u/New_Inside3001 has a more measured criticism, saying, “To be brutally honest, the quality of his craftsmanship is highly debatable. As in, it’s still phenomenally good considering how raw the cutting and gluing approach is, but it’s still a raw and unsophisticated way of modifying what essentially are extremely rare and expensive cars.”

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

While Porsches are far from rare in Southern California, they certainly aren’t cheap, and the body kit isn’t cheap either. That fiberglass Nakai is screwing to your car — it’s well into the five-figures. And that’s before we get to the whole rockstar thing that I mentioned above.

Every RWB kit is personally installed by Nakai himself, so that alone is worth the cost of the kit for most people. And with the man coming all the way from Japan to tear your car apart, you gotta take care of him, and that includes a long list of requests, almost Van Halen-style.

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

Walking into Porsche Santa Clarita’s basement, I saw a pop-up living room setup next to their Wunderground museum, where Nakai takes his prolific smoke breaks every few minutes. Knowing Galpin’s style, I initially figured it was just the team wanting to go above and beyond in creating an ambiance for Nakai to work in. After chatting with PSC’s own David Osorio about the whole thing, I learned about a document filled with all of Nakai’s demands; it was nearly 20 pages long!

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

The list is littered with hyper-specific tools, Japanese snacks, accommodations for his dog, room and board; just truly an wild amount of stuff. And like any good rockstar through the eras, there appears to a confidence in his own work that borders on apathy, as the man does everything by the seat of his pants.

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

The first day I saw him in the ring, he was cutting up a 997 (which seemed like they’re floating around the mid-30s-40s price-wise) for a body kit that starts at $31,000 on the low end. Add the costs of room and board and food and furniture, and Nakai-san cuts your car with RECKLESS ABANDON. Or at least, that’s how some people on Reddit see it.

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

If you ask me, his confidence in his art reminds me of a rock band that purposefully masters its tracks to be mindlessly loud and distorted. And I’m not ashamed to admit how much I admire those tunes that make my ears bleed, just as I admire how well Nakai-san cuts up these Porsches.

He is a one-of-one rockstar.

Photo: Griffin Riley
Photo: Griffin Riley

It’s clear Autopian cofounder Beau — who commissioned these two builds (and actually got to do some cutting on his 964 Cabrio!) — thinks so, too.

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Jay Mcleod
Jay Mcleod
8 days ago

Observations:

A. That’s a lot of hats in that crowd. I mean, like, I don’t recall the last crowd I’ve been in with so many behatted.

2. I’m clearly too old for this event. They probably card at the door and anyone born before Watergate is sent home with a binkie.

D. Most of the crowd are just watching, I mean, like, just standing there watching instead of holding up their phones and recording like at every other single event in modern life. It’s like church or something.

Near my bedtime now.

Narinder Mehta
Narinder Mehta
8 days ago

This is essentially anxiety nopor. His business is selling feelings.

Hobo looking unc cutting up wildly expensive car to make it look like a teenagers dream.

Last edited 8 days ago by Narinder Mehta
Waremon0
Member
Waremon0
8 days ago

I enjoy looking at RWBs. I like that each one is unique and named by Nakai, himself. I think the performance aspect is part of the fun.

I’ve always been curious about the performance modifications of RWBs. There’s some serious work to get the tires and wheels to stick out that much further from stock. I found this great write up but I’d love to read about Beau’s two cars and what it took to get them ready for the body kit.

https://motoiq.com/bbi-autosports-ultimate-porsche-993-modding-the-last-of-the-air-cooled-era-porsches/

Jsloden
Jsloden
8 days ago

The word “art” is definitely subjective here.

Waremon0
Member
Waremon0
8 days ago
Reply to  Jsloden

Isn’t all art subjective?

Jsloden
Jsloden
8 days ago
Reply to  Waremon0

Touche

Ricardo M
Member
Ricardo M
8 days ago

The thing about 911’s is that the supply isn’t really small, it’s just the demand that’s absurdly inflated, so “destroying” a stock one by turning it into something more unique isn’t really doing anything to hurt my already-slim chances of ever owning one. A 911 is many things, including expensive, pretty and desirable, but it ain’t rare.

Nakai-San is a great showman, a good designer and a skilled builder. His body kits look just right, and though I wouldn’t get one even if I had a 911 (doubling a car’s value with a body kit seems like a quick way to make the insurance so expensive that I can’t afford to drive it anymore), I love that he’s out there doing his thing, and I’ll stop to look at a Rauh-Welt long before I pore over a GT3 RS at a cars and coffee.

MostlyRedCars
Member
MostlyRedCars
8 days ago

Without digging too deep in to the pros and cons of RWB (I’d define my stance as: I think they’re really cool, but even if I had the budget for small collection of expensive cars, I probably wouldn’t buy one), I’d just like to note that I have those same Harbor Freight Daytona jack stands. So this article provides excellent validation to my garage projects. Though I doubt my two-car detached will ever be mistaken for the basement of Porsche Santa Clarita.

Colin Greening
Colin Greening
8 days ago

I really dig RWB Porsches. Have been since the first time I saw one at the LA Auto Show when I was 16. Nakai-San is an artiste and his work is incredible, even if it isn’t to everyone’s tastes. I do wish he’d at least wear safety glasses though.

What I find inexplicably annoying are the people who gawk at him while he works. The quality of his work aside, his process isn’t a fascinating display of elegance. It’s a guy in sweatpants smoking/drinking his way through a car project. That sounds like a pretty typical Friday evening for me, personally.

The people who OBSESS over Nakai-San, to me, seem to live very boring, wealthy lives, to the point where they have to spend 10s/100s of thousands of dollars to have a rough-around-the-edges guy to travel across the world to install a (admittedly VERY nice) body kit. I don’t know any of these people personally, so maybe I’m reaching, but that’s just the “vibe” I’ve gotten from just about every article/video I’ve seen showing Nakai-San work.

He really does build awesome cars though, and I respect the hell out of him for the brand and legacy he’s created for himself. I just dislike that a lot of the allure seems to stem from this weird “brokie cosplay” schtick that a lot of affluent folks dig so much. I don’t expect Nakai-San to build these cars wearing a tux, but he doesn’t have to do it looking homeless either. Some quality Carhartt or Duluth is functional and can still give you that aesthetic edge.

Waremon0
Member
Waremon0
8 days ago
Reply to  Colin Greening

I sympathize with the crowd a little. With Social Media, car modification has become an entertainment in itself.

Griffin is spot-on with his metaphor. You can watch the music video over and over, but to see your favorite band play live is something you won’t miss if you get the chance.

Griffin Riley
Griffin Riley
8 days ago
Reply to  Waremon0

That Griffin guy sounds like a poet

GirchyGirchy
Member
GirchyGirchy
8 days ago
Reply to  Waremon0

And when you see them live, you gotta film the whole thing with your phone so you don’t forget!

Jay Mcleod
Jay Mcleod
8 days ago
Reply to  Colin Greening

“The people who OBSESS over Nakai-San, to me, seem to live very boring, wealthy lives”

The socio-economic demographic of that crowd is not, by and large, what you claim it would be.

Colin Greening
Colin Greening
7 days ago
Reply to  Jay Mcleod

Could you expand on that? I probably could have worded my original comment better; I’m not trying to imply that everyone who admires Nakai-San is wealthy, but those are certainly the people buying the kits.

Frown Victoria
Frown Victoria
8 days ago

It’s not my style, but it makes Porsche people mad, so I’m all for it

Griffin Riley
Griffin Riley
8 days ago
Reply to  Frown Victoria

I’m weak

JP15
Member
JP15
8 days ago

The styling isn’t really my thing, but I can respect the artist. I know if I took a hacksaw to a Porsche, it would look a whole lot worse than this.

George Danvers
George Danvers
8 days ago

What am I missing?? where is the photo of the final “art piece” ?

Griffin Riley
Griffin Riley
8 days ago
Reply to  George Danvers

Should’ve called that out: these are both parts of significantly larger builds, so they are far from finished. All Nakai did was install the body kits, but I know at least the 964 is gonna be a much bigger project where it’s gonna be further painted by some big-name artists and a bunch of other things as well. No “final” piece yet.

Josh Taylor
Josh Taylor
8 days ago

So my completely built and custom old 95 subaru had fender flares. I had to cut the body to get rid of rust and I was going wider so I went for it. I have respect for this dude doing it on the fly because so much of fitting flares/widebody is just eyeballing it to get it to fit since it is never perfect from the start. So in the end I love RWB and watching people get triggered by him cutting up 911s is just icing on the cake.

Reece's Pieces
Reece's Pieces
9 days ago

Nakai is an interesting case. I like the RWB cars, I think he’s an interesting dude, and I respect both his vision and his ability to make it real. I don’t care about cutting up Porsches, they just aren’t that rare, and I think it’s cool that he’s making the car world more unique. Modified stuff rules.

Yet I can’t quite get myself to buy into the “aura,” as the youths say, that people seem to worship. I have no doubts that Nakai is representing himself honestly – that he really is as he appears to be both in public and in private – but his builds are undeniably performance art. I doubt he would argue otherwise.

So all the people standing around the perimeter with their phones out and their mouths agape just feel like they are trying so hard to legitimize this performance as pure reality in their heads – that he really does have to sit back and scrutinize the car from afar while smoking like a chimney, or that he really does need a living room, or any of his other idiosyncrasies – without realizing that he is doing it for their enjoyment.

He could build every car in his shop behind closed doors, but he does this performance instead, and as a performance no doubt it’s very enjoyable. I would 100% watch if he did a RWB build near me. But when his fans insist, even implicitly, that the performance is real, that’s where they lose me.

None of this is shade towards Nakai. I like his whole shtick, and unlike almost every other kind of performance, this one creates a very cool modified car in the process. I’m happy for him that people like what he does, even if they don’t realize themselves exactly what that is.

Mollusk
Member
Mollusk
9 days ago
Reply to  Reece's Pieces

Which begs the question – what is reality?

Jay Mcleod
Jay Mcleod
8 days ago
Reply to  Mollusk

Stub your toe. That’s reality.

Spopepro
Member
Spopepro
9 days ago
Reply to  Reece's Pieces

Theatre depends on the suspension of disbelief. Valhalla doesn’t actually burn at the end of gotterdammerung, you know? What constitutes “reality” in performance is defined in a spontaneous covenant between artist and audience and subject to them both.

Related, I had a director and theater professor once tell the story of when he and his partner went to the premiere of Albee’s Zoo Story. After the performance the walked to the subway talking about how much they hated it, all the parts they didn’t like, how bad it was. They talked about how much they hated it on the subway. They stopped at their local bar for a drink and continued to talk about how they hated it. They went home, and stayed up almost to dawn talking about how they hated it. They then realized it was a very, very, very good play.

GirchyGirchy
Member
GirchyGirchy
8 days ago
Reply to  Reece's Pieces

What would they do if they were watching someone chop a shoebox Ford, section a ’48 Buick, or channel a Deuce? Faint, have a stroke?

Scott Wangler
Scott Wangler
9 days ago

The world would of been a better place with the perfect Porsche’s still in it and without the art piece. The art must of been so forgettable that the story didn’t even include a photo.

GirchyGirchy
Member
GirchyGirchy
9 days ago

This hero-worship for this guy is chalked up onto my “things I do not understand” list, along with rubber duckies on Jeeps (or Jeeps in general) and $5/gal gas.

He’s half-assedly cutting up nice cars to screw on fender flares and other geegaws. That’s pretty much it. If these weren’t 911s or some other car declared by the masses to be worthy, we’d be calling them a hack job from a JC Whitney catalogue.

OptionXIII
OptionXIII
8 days ago
Reply to  GirchyGirchy

Watching someone install a body kit with Sikaflex and chicken wire while chain smoking and wearing Dr Pepper sweatpants is trailer park activities.

Oh, but it’s a Japanese man who’s going to sleep on my couch! And he’s doing it to an expensive car, not an SN95 Mustang! Suddenly I need to post this to the gram.

GirchyGirchy
Member
GirchyGirchy
8 days ago
Reply to  OptionXIII

All I can think of are the people who create actual custom cars…someone like Cody Walls who puts years of dedication into every little fitting and fastener.

Griffin Riley
Griffin Riley
8 days ago
Reply to  OptionXIII

Dropping this meme for no reason at all. And this one too.

TheJWT
TheJWT
9 days ago

I like Nakai for his place in AE86 drifting history. I’m completely indifferent towards his Porsches. But I can’t help but find it funny watching him work calmly while surrounded by a swarm of dorks recording every millisecond. Dude really knows how to sell himself.

Also- “carving up and down the prefectures, undoubtedly with more control and poise than we Angelenos have when we’re carving the canyons of Angeles Crest.

I wouldn’t be so sure of that-
https://youtu.be/zu6oaTUCWAA?t=548

Waremon0
Member
Waremon0
8 days ago
Reply to  TheJWT

Fantastic link

Greg
Member
Greg
9 days ago

Is there a finished example?

Art truly is in the eye of the beholder. I don’t care he’s cutting up cars, I just don’t get it, but that’s okay because that means its probably not for me!

Spyrius Robot
Spyrius Robot
9 days ago

Gemballa did it better.

Emil Minty
Emil Minty
9 days ago

I’m replacing my brake pads Wednesday night, you are all welcome to come watch. No charge. Maybe bring a six-pack if you’re feeling sociable.

Christocyclist
Christocyclist
9 days ago
Reply to  Emil Minty

Mexican Cokes or PBRs?

TheDrunkenWrench
Member
TheDrunkenWrench
9 days ago
Reply to  Emil Minty

Deal. Send me the address.

Phonebem
Member
Phonebem
9 days ago
Reply to  Emil Minty

You too? I’m doing a brake job on my DD tomorrow as well. Doing pads, rotors and a brake fluid flush too which is always a good time!

Emil Minty
Emil Minty
8 days ago
Reply to  Phonebem

I hate flushes. Though it gives me an excuse to sing (badly) Welcome to the Jungle – “you’re gonna bleed but it’s the price to pay.”

TheDrunkenWrench
Member
TheDrunkenWrench
9 days ago

Thanks to AI’s enshittification of search engines, I can’t find it any more. But I remember reading at one point that he got his start in 3D modelling of Theme park rides in CAD software in the early 90s.

Which makes sense why when Hoonigan had him design a bodykit for their Kei truck off a 3D scan, everything fit PERFECTLY when it arrived.

People can kick and scream and be anti-hype all they want, there is real skill behind those hands.

It takes a TON of talent to be able to do what looks like a hack job to onlookers, that turns out how it does in the end.

This is the modern equivalent of when wealthy people used to just pay artists to come create art and sculptures for the sake of it. There doesn’t need to be logic behind it.

Josh Taylor
Josh Taylor
8 days ago

Yeah he is clearly an artist and loves his craft. He is not any different then getting those old pin stripe masters to paint on your muscle car back in the day.

TheDrunkenWrench
Member
TheDrunkenWrench
8 days ago
Reply to  Josh Taylor

Exactly. Art is art in all it’s forms, and I’m glad there are people out there dedicating their lives to it.

Cars make amazing rolling art pieces. Instead of traveling to them, they travel to YOU.

M SV
M SV
9 days ago

Porsche guys are getting more and more like Corvette guys. “Rare and expensive” like the 1 of 1 Corvette because it was built on a Tuesday in April.

It’s a look for something that probably isn’t driven much. More of an art piece and he is a famous artist. Definitely a character like most famous artist.

Boosted
Member
Boosted
9 days ago

RWB is something I’d never do on my Porsche, but I 100% appreciate when I see one on the street.

Cerberus
Member
Cerberus
9 days ago

Both those colors are f’n awesome and I don’t even usually like the pale pinks. Living in the Northeast, the idea of the exposed points for corrosion from the cuts make my eyes twitch, but they’re not my cars and they’re not spending their time driving in winter conditions, anyway.

Porsche has to have one of the most annoying fanbases. Friggin’ 911s are not precious, they made tons of the stupid things and IDGAF how many they only made on Mondays in May with the ashtray delete package (yeah, that’s right, Porschephiles, you’re no better than a New Balance Corvette owner), it’s the same damn thing as the others with some overrated engine differences and similar. Moreover, these “fans” hobble a company whose namesake was into mechanical diversity, innovation (a f’n AWD hybrid with 4-wheel brakes around 1900!), and not looking back, pushing Porsche to be stuck reheating the ancient 911, itself derived from a damn prewar design, torturing its lines to fit the requirements of a modern car and even sticking its styling on SUVs that end up looking like a beached 911 whale carcass bloating in the sun and waiting to explode. Like Harley Davidson, they’re unable to move on for fear of loss of their traditional fanbase while failing to attract enough new people. Good for this guy if for no other reason than he’s figuratively poking Porschephiles with a sharp stick!

86-GL
86-GL
9 days ago
Reply to  Cerberus

I have nothing against Porches and would like to own one at some point, but you’re right. They’re just fancy Volkswagens.

Cerberus
Member
Cerberus
9 days ago
Reply to  86-GL

While the cars do little for me for whatever reason, they’ve definitely been one of the great companies over the decades and, if the modern stuff gets a shrug from me, that’s pretty much how I feel about all the higher end companies’ modern stuff, so that’s nothing specifically against them. It’s the weird 911-worshippers that annoy me (not people who merely like 911s, the people who pretty much only like 911s), the ones who, for decades, made owners of nearly any other model feel excluded and lesser at shows (except the owners of the real exotic stuff they wish they could afford).

86-GL
86-GL
9 days ago
Reply to  Cerberus

Yup. The 911 has long been an ‘I’ve made it’ status symbol amongst a certain portion of the middle class. It’s not just a sports car- It’s an “everyday supercar” for the dignified professional. Lots of identity, status and ego wrapped up in all of it.

I think it really messes with some of these dudes heads that there are other people out there (wealthier or simply committed gear heads) with the same cars, who treat and enjoy their would-be status symbols like any other piece of depreciating machinery.

On second thought, maybe I’ll stick to Volvos.

Last edited 9 days ago by 86-GL
Hlokk
Member
Hlokk
9 days ago
Reply to  86-GL

An admittedly somewhat narrow perspective: While I like and own various different (non-Porsche) cars it is hard for me not to be attracted to the incredible ability that the 911 has had to be competitive and at times completely dominate GT racing for decades based on something that most people would describe as an inherently compromised design. There is a reason 911s of all kinds are ubiquitous at track days – out of the box it is hard to beat the combo of speed, reliability (under track conditions) and driving fun of a 911. Sure, they also attract fetish-like fandom but that does not diminish the rare engineering accomplishment involved.

Last edited 9 days ago by Hlokk
Griffin Riley
Griffin Riley
8 days ago
Reply to  Cerberus

Agreed about Porsche fans; it’s the primary reason I’m not much of a Porsche guy. In the beginning, it felt like Porsche ownership was an attainable thing, and you’re getting almost like a working-class Ferrari level of craftsmanship and performance. Now, it’s Ferrari prices with Ferrari business practices, and the same level of sniffing of one’s own farts, which gets annoying to me. And that feverish, rabid following is for something that, at the end of the day, is just a Volkswagen Beetle in its lineage.

I fully admit that part of my disappointment with the trajectory of Porsche is that the 911 was always the direct comp to Corvettes in terms of attainable performance vehicles that you can also drive daily, and if we’re looking at the base price of both model years, Corvette is ~70k while a 911 is ~135k. Porsche got so high on its own supply, they chased themselves out of the market they used to be leaders in, and cars worth half are gonna spank it anyways (I don’t care about the truck interior, I’m on record as loving it anyways).

And that disappointment on 911 inflation is also a bit of jealousy of the 911’s insane fans, which isn’t replicated entirely with the Corvette. Every day I wake up and see another restomod brand making a million-dollar 911 (although it is crazy Gunther made an aircooled one with 1000 HP), but there’s not a SINGLE restomod Corvette company? Really?! Yeah, C1s and C2s are insanely gorgeous, and I’d be hurt by anyone touching them, but I also can’t help but wonder how cool it would be to have a full carbon fiber build of any generation with stupid power and design, but we’re still too focused on the rear engine Beetle to think about other historic cars. It’s annoying.

Hell…I’d even take a restomod C4.

Son of Dad
Son of Dad
8 days ago
Reply to  Griffin Riley

have you seen kindig’s CF1?

GirchyGirchy
Member
GirchyGirchy
8 days ago
Reply to  Son of Dad

Those are awful caricatures.

I have seen some very well restomodded C2s but never a well-updated C1.

Cerberus
Member
Cerberus
8 days ago
Reply to  Griffin Riley

I saw a CF 2nd gen Charger, so maybe there’s something for an old Vette, though FG is pretty light and a lot cheaper. Being as it’s not load bearing, it would mainly just be to spend money unless the entire vehicle was redesigned as a composite unibody structure, but then it becomes something very different. I think they don’t have the same snob following that would pay 7 figures for a common car done fancier largely so they could brag to “lesser” 911 owners.

“How do you eat a Snickers? With your hands?!”

LTDScott
Member
LTDScott
9 days ago

Not really sure what my opinion is on RWB cars. I’m not really a Porsche guy so I’m not crying about cutting one up, and the actual style isn’t my thing either, but they are certainly attention getting.

Earlier this year my Lemons racer was on display at a Euro car show when an RWB Porsche parked next to it and I was a little nervous about the juxtaposition. I joked to a friend “At least I know both of these cars were built with the same level of craftsmanship!” He responded “At least one of these cars has actually seen a race track!”

Rob Stercraw
Rob Stercraw
9 days ago
Reply to  LTDScott

LOL – see also SEMA Camaro.

1978fiatspyderfan
Member
1978fiatspyderfan
9 days ago

I was surprised this was a Tracy article. An artiste not a car guy just hacked away at great cars and makes half assed artwork. No way he attached anything and made a vehicle that past performance let alone safe. This is a clown artist I would rather watch Jason take a chainsaw to the battery compartment of a Svengali. Yes I know it is Changli but Svengali is better.
Oh this guy sucks.
Worst DT COLUMN EVER

Last edited 9 days ago by 1978fiatspyderfan
Josh Taylor
Josh Taylor
8 days ago

Sure buddy. Take a deep breath.

1978fiatspyderfan
Member
1978fiatspyderfan
8 days ago
Reply to  Josh Taylor

To be clear I meant the subject matter not the quality of the writing

Angel "the Cobra" Martin
Member
Angel "the Cobra" Martin
9 days ago

Pajama pants, slides and no safety glasses. This guy is a bozo.

Angel "the Cobra" Martin
Member
Angel "the Cobra" Martin
9 days ago
Reply to  David Tracy

Two things can be true.

Laurence Rogers
Laurence Rogers
9 days ago

Not that different to my uncle and many of the old-school car builders out here, except change the pajama pants for footy shorts and the footwear for thongs (flip flops).

The quality of the work is the goal, fashion and safety are a distant thought.

Bkp
Member
Bkp
9 days ago

Somewhere I have a fridge magnet from a friend that says:

“Safety Third!”.

Hoonicus
Hoonicus
9 days ago

He arts in your general direction.

Urban Runabout
Member
Urban Runabout
9 days ago

You misspelled “Boso” – Short for “Bosozoku”, meaning “Reckless/Violent Speed Tribe”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%8Ds%C5%8Dzoku

MikeInTheWoods
Member
MikeInTheWoods
9 days ago

I taught my boys a good lesson when I was welding while wearing Crocs (which I hate, but my son’s were close by and his 4wheeler needed a quick weld repair). When some welding slag landed in the shoe, it burned the top of my foot quite nicely as I hopped around and the boys laughed. “Don’t do what Dad does”.

Scoutdude
Scoutdude
9 days ago
Reply to  MikeInTheWoods

Do as I say, not as I do. Heard that more than a few times back when I was a kid.

Peter d
Member
Peter d
8 days ago
Reply to  MikeInTheWoods

Don’t feel too bad – the slag would have likely gone through most footwear- even leather work boots can have issues – especially around the laces, etc.

_Electrified05ViggenFeverDream
Member
_Electrified05ViggenFeverDream
8 days ago

Maybe I’m misreading things, but if there’s any cutting/installation of fiberglass, no mask seems pretty stupid as well, and unacceptable to expose an audience to it.

If they’re pre-fabricated parts and just getting bolted onto the cut metal, then it’s just the cigarettes…and I can’t say that copius amounts of secondhand smoke isn’t the mark of a true auteur lol

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