If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then where does that leave "re-imagination"? That's the term Singer uses when it turns a 964-generation Porsche 911 into a glorious restomod. A company in the U.K. is working on the same formula to restore and recreate old Porsches. Theon Design is ready to dole out Singer-esque sports cars, but for less than half the price.
Singer has a waiting list of about three years for its re-imagined Porsche 911s, and the final price tends to run around $500,000 and often much more. That's a long wait and a lot of cash, and now Theon Design provides an alternative. Tiff and Paul from the Lovecars YouTube channel have become properly acquainted with Theon Design and its take on both an upgraded Porsche 964 and a restored 911E from the late 1960s.
In the accompanying video, you can see that the duo compare the Theon 964 to a Singer right off the bat. The managing director of Theon Design, Adam Hawley, responds by saying, "Obviously Singers are nice cars, but we wanted to do something a bit better and a bit more aggressive." Those are strong claims considering that Singer has produced a 500-hp, Williams-powered beast, and created a growing list of happy customers all around the globe.
So what's Theon's goal with its cars? The restomods are referred to as recreations and Theon Design will rebody them in steel or carbon fiber. With the engines, customers can start "slow" with rebuilt original engines or jump up to supercharged, bored-out mighty mills. The 964 driven in the video above produces about 300 hp.
Tiff asks how much a Theon Design car costs, remarking that a Singer would be half a million British pounds. He learns that the Theon creations start at 155,000 pounds for a steel car or 185,000 pounds for one of the carbon-fiber-bodied beauties. That puts U.S. pricing at $205,000 for a steel-bodied, restomodded car and a bit more than $244,000 for a carbon-fiber car. While that's a lot of cash, it's hundreds of thousands of dollars less than what it would take to get into a Singer.
How does a Theon drive? According to the two hosts in the clip, the restomodded car is wonderful. It puts a smile on Tiff's face. The engine sounds perfect, and it has more than enough power for such a lightweight car.
The vintage Porsche market is exceedingly hot right now. Any newcomer has the chance to make a name for itself if it can present a proper car at a reasonable price. It appears that Theon Design is poised to do just that, at least for the British market.
