RDB L.A. Acquires RWB 911 Sporting $300,000 of Upgrades
Built by the famed Los Angeles shop a couple of years before, special RWB 911 widebody includes a streetable race setup.
RWB. Those three letters mean one thing to Porsche fans: only the finest custom 911s to ever leave Japan. Founded and run to this day by Akira Nakai, RAUH-Welt Begriff turns each and every 911 to enter his shop into a work of art unique to each and every customer, all of whom will only be able to receive one such car from Nakai’s shop.
RDB LA, too, is a big name for Porsche fans. The Los Angeles shop works on everything from GT3s and Caymans, to Cayennes and Panameras. Recently, the shop’s YouTube channel showed the crew bringing over a special RWB 911 for some minor maintenance in order to place the car on the market.
“We’re also picking up an RWB Porsche,” said RDB LA boss Vik Tchalikian. “We did this a few years back. This is one of the really nice ones we’ve done; we’ve did a few of them. One of my favorite Porsches ever.”
Before it can be picked up for a once-over and some maintenance, though, the purple widebody RWB 911 first needs a battery jump. Unfortunately, the battery was just out of reach for the RDB LA crew, meriting a bump start and a short trip down the hill to wake the unique Porsche up.
“All that chatter is from the lightweight flywheel,” Tchalikian says while piloting the RWB 911 back to RDB LA, “which I used to have on my M3, and I’ll never do it again. It’s louder than the exhaust setup.”
Once at the shop, the crew has better access to the front-loading trunk. The battery is then removed and replaced. The 911 is then taken out by Tchalikian for trip around town to find out what else needs work.
“We are sitting in this beautiful 1996 C2 Porsche 911,” said Tchalikian. “RWB kit on it, obviously. We did this car a couple years ago. Nakai-san came and did the car at our shop. We did about three of them. This one is the Ultraviolet Purple one. I’m talking as loud as I can right now, because this has a racing motor in it with racing clutch flywheel, racing cams. It’s super loud at idle. This thing feels so powerful, drives amazingly well.”
The entire build took $300,000 to make happen, paying for items like the custom Rotiform wheels, banging audio system, Nakai’s custom racing suspension, and so on.
Just to prove how drivable the RWB 911 is, Tchalikian removes the limited-edition Momo ‘Illest’ steering wheel from the column, then steers the Porsche down the alleyway with just his thumb and forefinger on the attachment point. Obviously not something we’d recommend, but it goes to show that cars like these can handle the street as easily as the track.
“So, this thing’s got racing cams,” said Tchalikian. “It doesn’t idle too well. I think it needs a little bit better of a tune, but it does have racing cams. Sometimes, it likes to shut-off at a stop. You gotta kinda give it some gas… it’s gonna be tough to drive.”
RDB LA is selling this special RWB 911 for around $200,000. And while Tchalikian admits to not being a big Porsche fan, he says this 911 is his favorite because of its stunning looks. We hope the car’s new owner will take it out everywhere for all to see.
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