In The Metal - Latest Porsche 911 By Singer

If you're new to Singer, here's some background. The company is essentially a coachbuilder that adds 21st-century technical updates to late-model air-cooled 911s while crafting a '70s-vintage 911 aesthetic. The list of partners enlisted by the company reads like a "who's who" of Porsche motorsports suppliers and specialty shops.

What you see here is the fourth 911 to be Singer-ized, and it started life as a 1991 Porsche 911 -- a 964-series 911. At the time of their introduction, 964s were said to be more than 70 percent new compared to their predecessor, boasting a new floorplan, stiffer body shell, revised engines, assisted steering, new suspension geometry, ABS and more. All that, and 964s can still be visually backdated to emulate the look of the pre-1974 "long hood" 911s, making them Singer's donor vehicle of choice.

This is the first 964-series 911 to receive the Singer treatment and future Singers will follow suit.

Singers are much, much more than simply 964s with backdated bodywork. Donor 911s are first stripped to bare metal and chassis reinforcements welded in. According to Singer Principal Maz Fawaz, "every nut and bolt on the car has been nickel or cadmium plated, even the ones you'll never see."

Then comes the carbon fiber, all of it executed by Singer's partner, the Aria Group. Aria crafted carbon front fenders, hood, bumpers, deck lid and wing out of fancy-pants pre-preg carbon fiber cloth. Bumper caps and "bullet" sideview mirrors are composite.

Fawaz goes on to explain the carbon-fiber rear fenders, too. These pieces replace the steel below the doors' bottom shut lines, the entire rear fender area all the way back to the taillights and up to the top of the rear window. This particular car has the original steel roof, as the owner wanted to retain the sunroof. Do the right thing by skipping the sunroof and you can have a carbon roof panel as well.

We saw this car's engine on the dyno a few months ago at Cosworth. It's still a built 3.9-liter, but since then the mill has received further updates in the interests of broadening the power band. Visually it's a treat -- among numerous other tweaks, the GT3 intake manifold has since been polished smooth, nickel-plated and laser-etched. Power is TBD as this car will receive more dyno work shortly, but you can expect something in the ballpark of 380 hp.

Every detail on the car has clearly been obsessed over. The deck-lid lettering is plated in gold (the element and not just the color). Notice the lustrous door trim, which is nickel-plated. The radio head unit is a Becker DIN unit that's been disassembled and integrated to retain that old-school look.

 I examined this car while it was still being assembled, and the attention to detail under the skin is every bit as OCD as the stuff on the outside. For example, just look at this nickel-plated billet aluminum deck lid hinge, held in place by socket-head cap screws.

The end result is staggering to behold. Interested? Bring your checkbook. At $190-300k, Singers aren't cheap. The longer you pore over them the more you realize that the asking price isn't really out of whack with the execution.

--Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor