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Recently got to sit in on an RWB build in North Carolina. I had written up a rather long excerpt on the process but stupidly erased it when I went to hyperlink pics so I'll TL;DR myself here and give a short opinion.
As a relatively purist Porsche fan who is extremely against cutting up clean cars and bolting on plastic flares, I have a new found appreciation for the cars and especially for Nakai-san. Will be glad to defend my position to those who dislike the cars. The perfect car to me is still a stock body, 993 RS Clubsport. However, I think if I found a car with some busted quarter panels and rusty fenders, this would be a very valid way to bring the car back to life and have some fun.
To each his own. Id rather see a clean 964 disassembled and sold for parts before being mutilated by him. But Im sure plenty of folks wont like my car when Im done so it all evens out.
To each his own. Id rather see a clean 964 disassembled and sold for parts before being mutilated by him. But Im sure plenty of folks wont like my car when Im done so it all evens out.
id heavily disagree here. If the heart is healthy and the body has a little cancer, cut the cancer off and let that car keep driving. And I wouldn't ever call the car mutilated. His cuts are cleaner than anything I've seen from any body shop by the time he's done with them. I actually thought the cuts from the fenders were spare overs when I saw them later in the day because they were still pristine.
I wouldnt have gone airride personally, nor would I have picked the recaros in the car over say something like a pole position, but those are personal preferences and easy to change.
These cars definitely arent to everyones taste, but the process and work is far higher quality than what many have given him credit for. I cringed when he first cut into the car but I was amazed at how much of a perfectionist he is.
The original car doesn't look in bad shape at beginning. Doesn't either when finished as RWB. I just prefer RWBs when they are tracked, not that much when they are just for posing.
But then it's the same with stock cars. They have to be driven hard, rest doesn't matter too much. I have more issues with v8 911s
id heavily disagree here. If the heart is healthy and the body has a little cancer, cut the cancer off and let that car keep driving. And I wouldn't ever call the car mutilated. His cuts are cleaner than anything I've seen from any body shop by the time he's done with them. I actually thought the cuts from the fenders were spare overs when I saw them later in the day because they were still pristine.
I wouldnt have gone airride personally, nor would I have picked the recaros in the car over say something like a pole position, but those are personal preferences and easy to change.
These cars definitely arent to everyones taste, but the process and work is far higher quality than what many have given him credit for. I cringed when he first cut into the car but I was amazed at how much of a perfectionist he is.
I am not a fan nor will I ever be of his style. Didn't like it when Gemballa and many others did their thing as well.... long before he hit the scene.
I do have to give the man credit for finding a way to get people to overpay him to do work that any decent shop should be able to do for far less and yet most of the real work isn't done by him.
It is much harder to cut a fender to butt weld than add bolt on plastic parts. It is no special skill and for what he is charging should be as precise as possible. My friend has done kits like these in his shop to some of the most talked about BMW's on instagram and other sites and IMO his work is comparable to any but ugly is still ugly no matter how top notch the quality of work that went into it.
To each their own. I am sure there are some that love these builds and I hope they enjoy driving them but I see a lot of stuff like this and I can't help but be embarrassed for the owner. Money doesn't buy taste and although he has done a few I like the majority of them I would only buy to convert back to stock.
I agree he is talented but I would prefer to see his talents used to create something unique instead of a sudo copy of a 993GT2 envisioned on other models.
id heavily disagree here. If the heart is healthy and the body has a little cancer, cut the cancer off and let that car keep driving. And I wouldn't ever call the car mutilated. His cuts are cleaner than anything I've seen from any body shop by the time he's done with them. I actually thought the cuts from the fenders were spare overs when I saw them later in the day because they were still pristine.
I wouldnt have gone airride personally, nor would I have picked the recaros in the car over say something like a pole position, but those are personal preferences and easy to change.
These cars definitely arent to everyones taste, but the process and work is far higher quality than what many have given him credit for. I cringed when he first cut into the car but I was amazed at how much of a perfectionist he is.
Like I said, to each his own. I have been fortunate enough to "date" several young ladies before I met my wife, most natural but some with "enhancements." I much prefer natural over bolt-ons, no matter how good the quality of work.
Same with these cars for me - bolt on plastic clown car fenders have no place on a Porsche except for possibly a specific racing class - no matter how good the quality of work is. Not to mention I shudder when I see him take a Sawzall and belt sander to the fenders. To me that is like using a machete instead of a scalpel.
But again, just my opinion and I am nobody.
I have NOTHING against modifying cars and in fact intend to do some mods to mine. But I've seen average Joes at C&C with SC fenders grafted onto older 911s that looked better than RWB cars.
Porsche managed to build some beautiful wide fender cars (930 Turbos) and if the RWB cars had similar lines and fit and finish I would be all in.
Originally Posted by cobalt
....
I do have to give the man credit for finding a way to get people to overpay him to do work that any decent shop should be able to do for far less and yet most of the real work isn't done by him.
It is much harder to cut a fender to butt weld than add bolt on plastic parts. It is no special skill and for what he is charging should be as precise as possible.
To each their own. I am sure there are some that love these builds and I hope they enjoy driving them but I see a lot of stuff like this and I can't help but be embarrassed for the owner. Money doesn't buy taste and although he has done a few I like the majority of them I would only buy to convert back to stock.
I agree he is talented but I would prefer to see his talents used to create something unique instead of a sudo copy of a 993GT2 envisioned on other models.
I wonder at what point this reaches saturation. Seems like he has done a ton of cars in the last few years. Anyone have those stats? It only take him 2-3 days, right? So maybe 40 cars per year?
Suspension looks like it is bottomed out. How do you drive that on the road with out damaging body work?? How long did build take??
thats because it is bottomed out. It's on air suspension, and it's completely aired out in these pictures. Actual ride height is pretty reasonable.
Nakai's part took about 18 hours in total but this car didn't have any of the snags that he usually has with cars so he took a few long breaks throughout.
Originally Posted by n1ne11
The original car doesn't look in bad shape at beginning. Doesn't either when finished as RWB. I just prefer RWBs when they are tracked, not that much when they are just for posing.
But then it's the same with stock cars. They have to be driven hard, rest doesn't matter too much. I have more issues with v8 911s
the car is actually in great shape both before and after and it will be on daily driver duty and I believe see some track time. I'd very much like to see it on track once it gets some more power.
I wonder at what point this reaches saturation. Seems like he has done a ton of cars in the last few years. Anyone have those stats? It only take him 2-3 days, right? So maybe 40 cars per year?
he was says by he had about 20 cars left this year, so that's probably a good guess. My understanding is there's about 300 of them out there in the world.
I wonder at what point this reaches saturation. Seems like he has done a ton of cars in the last few years. Anyone have those stats? It only take him 2-3 days, right? So maybe 40 cars per year?
+1 My thought too...
Originally Posted by juntsky
he was says by he had about 20 cars left this year, so that's probably a good guess. My understanding is there's about 300 of them out there in the world.
I didn't realize there were that many. wow.
Originally Posted by rkwfxd
...I have NOTHING against modifying cars and in fact intend to do some mods to mine. But I've seen average Joes at C&C with SC fenders grafted onto older 911s that looked better than RWB cars...
We all know how polarizing RWB cars can be, which got to to thinking about this kind of car, seen at C&C this past weekend.
Its it a track car or a narrow RWB want to be? Would most people know the difference?
(answer: striped track/autocross/weekend fun car.)
I might have been turned off if it was a super wide, winged beast... instead it looked like a true focused, driver's car where someone was having a lot of with it (modding it and driving it).
Everything stripped and visible, with lots of little mods and touches everywhere you look.
I'd definitely like to have something like this that is solely built for fun and you can do whatever mods you want....
Regardless, a car like this looks very similar to an RWB but gets a completely different reaction.
06-05-2017, 11:56 PM
Sat in on a RWB build...my .02
