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My buddy isn't a car/Porsche enthusiast because he owns 918s, he's an enthusiast because he drives those cars HARD along with a RS and an R on the track and absolutely loves driving his cars everywhere. He had all of them out on Tail of the Dragon (with buddies "helping" to drive the other cars) in the pouring rain at 6am to avoid police and have more clear roads before they got busier later. I don't know many 918/911R owners hooning around the Dragon in a downpour. He lives, sleeps and eats cars and driving.
Good for him.
I am glad to see he enjoys his cars. Seems like one of the few lately. Unlike so many I see or know that will put maybe a hundred or so miles on these cars only to sell when something new comes along so they can show off to their friends.
I am glad to see he enjoys his cars. Seems like one of the few lately. Unlike so many I see or know that will put maybe a hundred or so miles on these cars only to sell when something new comes along so they can show off to their friends.
All the power to him,
Agreed. Not much makes me scratch my head more than seeing one of these amazing cars for sale with 238 miles on it. It goes against the whole ethos of the Porsche brand IMO; these cars were meant to be driven. I do know a handful of guys around town who fit your description, but they seem to be more into the Lamborghini/Ferrari scene though. More women that way I guess. They meet up with others in front of the nicest hotel in the city, pay valet $100 to park out front by the door and wear their Lambo/Ferrari gear at the bar to attract attention all while talking about the "finer things in life". People ask me "why don't you just buy a lambo?" and my reply is that "I'm just not a lambo kind of guy". General public seems to think Porsche is a stepping stone of sorts to better, more exotic cars -- they don't understand the beauty of driving a Porsche apparently.
Seriously? There are a lot of cars you can easily spend crazy money on. I know a number of people with insane collections most of them are serious about buying rare collectable cars and singers aren't on their list. The average cost of the cars in their collection would take the cost of multiple singers to buy just one.. I know of a couple of people that have singers and other exotic cars as well. I don't consider these as true enthusiasts. They seem to buy these cars as a way to show off and usually have little clue to what they own or why they have it other than it is the latest craze. They also flip their cars constantly. What I call the more money than brains club.
I'll send you my banking info and we can go from there. LOL.
Interesting an SC on BaT just brought $227k for a backdated 3.8L with torsion bar and 915 tranny. Nicely done but the parts used are readily available and if you have the skills and connections this could have easily been built for a fraction of the selling price. Seems there is a large following willing to spend up for cars like these.
^agreed. Surprising how much some of the backdated/recreations are selling for. I was surprised how much that SC went for as well. An orange version sold at a similar price a few months back.
Not sure what the whisper number is for Singers these days, I had heard $750,000 and up. Those days are gone and it is more likely double that now, with the Williams Engineering lightweights clocking in at $1.8M. But each one is different, there is no set price.
For those of you that have seen a Singer in person, the quality is pretty evident, truly, nothing prepared me for the attention to detail in the production process. As a schoolboy, a field trip took us to the old Rolls factory at Crewe and we saw what was considered the most luxurious car, at the time; the experience at Singer was very much the same feeling. Completely bespoke cars, half a millimeter gap not acceptable and the same level of detail to the interiors. I remember the Rolls guide telling us that a complete set of walnut for the dash was set aside for each car, so that if it needed replacement, the identical dash part to match was available for the customer.
Check out the blue interior in the photo (no photos allowed today, this was allowed from a distance, taken by my daughter), everything handmade and flawless. Wild color, Bruin fan owns it.
Techs wear watch and ring covers, gloves. No chrome, all nickel plated trim.
Once the cars are ready, they are taped up and test driven, paint work is best I have seen. Only then are the emblems drilled into the car. None of the techs want to drill into a finished car, so Singer has a jeweller come and do it. While everyone holds their breath.
Everyone at Singer is a car person, in love with the work, and it shows. A very pleasant, dedicated group. The final price might sound shocking but this is pretty much the opposite of going to a sausage factory, once you see what's inside, you really want one.
You do know that Nickel plating is the process done prior to the chrome plating applied and should cost less not more. Also any holes should be drilled prior to paint. The idea of drilling fresh paint is IMO no better than RWB cutting his fenders after the car is painted.
You want to see something amazing. Watch the tech tactics seminar given by Rob Ida on the making of a one off Tucker torpedo made from scratch and copied from a plaster cast scale concept piece. True craftsmanship taking it to a completely different level. Reminded me of the barn find 250 GTO I saw restored. Basically only the vin plate was usable and the entire rest of the car was formed using wooden bucks and blueprints. I know someone who is building a complete Shelby 427 cobra on wooden bucks and fabricated the entire body out of aluminum just as they did with the real ones. When he is done it will be indistinguishable from the originals. (Actually far better) No doubt talent is needed to build these things but there are far more people out there that can still do things in a true craftsman style. It isn't limited to one company and at these prices there should be a 0 tolerance for mistakes.
The guy building the 427 is working on this 356. It had ben hit badly and poorly repaired. He has expanded and shrunk the metal so it went from completely mangled to this. I don't have before pics but there were pounds of bondo covering the mangled pieces. Now the original metal is back to its proper shape. A true artist in his skills. Still many many hours of work to go before it is perfect. When he is done it will be high polished with 0 bondo and all original metal
PS; Yes RR does save a second set of wood for each car so it can be replaced if needed.
I genuinely wish I had the skills to do metal work and even complex mechanical work. I’m always blown away by the skills some have including Singer and Emory which are some of the best known in the Porsche worlds.
I’ll also note that the more time I spend around the air cooled cars the more I want to hot rod one to my own specifications. There is something about taking what is already a very fun car and removing the aspects you don’t like to hone it into something you consider perfect. Perhaps it’s the oil/fuel smell in the car that infects our minds.
I visited Singer and understood why "it worked": they are huge petrolheads! The team there "gets it" and sure they make money but they do what they do because they like it.
Singer, Emory - yes great cars and great builders but there are many local, grumpy mechanics smoking Marlboro red at 7AM that could not give a rats *** about social media and will tell you to F OFF anytime you walk in their workshop and interrupt what they are doing.
I genuinely wish I had the skills to do metal work and even complex mechanical work. I’m always blown away by the skills some have including Singer and Emory which are some of the best known in the Porsche worlds.
I’ll also note that the more time I spend around the air cooled cars the more I want to hot rod one to my own specifications. There is something about taking what is already a very fun car and removing the aspects you don’t like to hone it into something you consider perfect. Perhaps it’s the oil/fuel smell in the car that infects our minds.
Like anything it is all about time invested. I worked with several customers for years that had metal working skills like I have never seen exhibited by even the best i see today. Unfortunately now gone but skill levels ware unbelievable. The Statues and metal work done for the Capital City of Brazilia plus the restoration of buildings like the Plaza hotel, the balustrade at the Palace hotel (Leonia made us paint it after making all the parts in Brass ????) Plaques for the Empire state building of the building, The elevators in the Flatiron building in NYC and all the grate work in the NYC libraries Work specifically for three different Popes etc etc. So many custom parts for countless memorials and other work all done the old fashioned way was a pleasure to witness first hand. I was shown how to use an English wheel which is not as easy as it looks and it has been so long I doubt I can still do it but it takes a special talent to get a part right the first time. We did a restoration on a vintage brass era car and we made all the vent slats without any need for drilling or welding. Most anyone who does it today needs to drill the ends so it doesn't tear the metal but he had a method that eliminated both drilling and welding. Several of the brass era cars ended up winning at Pebble Beach concours. It was a pleasure to watch these people do their thing. I love walking into places or seeing cars and recognizing things I had a hand in creating or restoring.
It seems more and more people are bringing back these skills and there are still some old timers out there that will amaze you. It used to take a decade or more of apprenticeship to be allowed to work on these projects years ago. A true skill and pride in workmanship is a must.
BTW these cars don't need much to take them far beyond what they are stock. More power is not necessarily needed and driving a trailing arm car fast with a lot of extra power takes a skill that is learned over time.
I wish there were more 964's to cut up myself as I have a couple of projects I would like to do but I'm not going to start with a $40k car to build something. Save those for the people that still have yet to experience what they have to offer as Porsche intended.
I have never seen one and while I cannot really understand the cost, I am sure they are amazing cars. That said, I thought about this plate for my 964 to be some sort of rebel
But, it might drive people crazy because mine's a cab
HA! I didn't catch that and click the link. I read stuff like this and it makes me nervous taking my car out of the garage since it seems to be getting rarer by the week.
12-06-2017, 11:35 AM
