What's the news?
Two of the absolutely stunning 're-imaginings' of the Porsche 911, by SoCal-based Singer Vehicle Design (SVD), will be on display at the Quail Lodge Motorsports Gathering in August - and the real sickener? Both of these beauties belong to one lucky, lucky person.
SVD, founded by former rock star and 911 fanatic British ex-pat Rob Dickinson, specialises in creating glorious optimisations of older Porsches for well-heeled clients. At least eight of its creations, which are extremely expensive (think $350,000 or so, which is about €309,000), will be heading to Quail, near Monterey, which is said to be the largest gathering of SVD projects in one place.
However, two highly specialised and bespoke restorations - the 1990 Luxemburg Targa and the 1994 Minnesota Coupé - are guaranteed to steal the show. It's the first time these two have been on public display and their jammy owner comes from (yep, you guessed it) Minnesota, with Luxemburg being a township in the northern US state.
Starting with the Targa, it is based on a 1990 964 version of the uniquely styled open-top and features a 'Tyler Tartan' interior with a seven-colour weave pattern: two oranges, four shades of blue and a cream. This complements Navy Blue leather details and an exterior finished in Deep Orange. It has an optional carbon fibre removable roof with a Navy canvas covering, although there's a factory folding black hood as well. Underneath is a sporting emphasis, provided by an Ed Pink-developed 4.0-litre engine, a six-speed gearbox and Brembo brakes. And there's a specific Singer feature on the distinctive rollover hoop of the Targa, which has only two air filtering louvres rather than the three of the factory Targas - this is something Dickinson claims will be an identifier of all SVD's projects based on Targas going forward.
The Minnesota is also a 964 underneath, albeit a slightly newer 1994 model. It packs a 3.8-litre Cosworth engine rated at 350hp, mated to a six-speed gearbox. There's a roll cage in the rear, a blue rev counter instead of the traditional Singer orange, and an exterior in Gunmetal Grey with a Tobacco Brown cabin. And whichever way you cut it, these are two beautiful classic 911s - we'd give our right arm just to own either of them, never mind both. Sigh...
Anything else?
SVD has delivered 50 optimised 911s to customers worldwide since 2009 and another 80-plus commissions are in the pipeline. The US company is very keen to stress that its customisations should never be called 'Singer 911s', 'Singer Porsches' or similar, out of respect to the German car company which made the vehicles in the first place. It prefers to term these creations 'restorations and re-imaginations'.
Founder Dickinson said: "The Minnesota Coupé and the Luxemburg Targa are clear examples of the wide range of services we can provide our customers to enjoy. What seemingly began as simple colour customisation and engine desires has emerged into a truly bespoke means of extending a customer's yearning for 'special wishes'. We're deeply committed to incorporating nearly anything our clients can visualise and we deem feasible."