Rauh Welt Idlers video
#16
Addict
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
![Default](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
Originally Posted by Drew Phillips
Previously, RAUH-Welt RWB Porsches have been the sole domain of Japan, but here at this week's SEMA show in Las Vegas, the company has unveiled their two latest cars, both of which were constructed here in the United States. The car pictured here is owned by former 0-60 Magazine editor-in-chief Brian Scotto. The white 911 was built in part to promote Ken Block's new Hoonigan brand (Scotto runs it), so we get the feeling that we'll be seeing more of this car on the interwebs in the near future.
![](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/11/rauh-welt-rwb-porsche-sema.jpg)
#20
![Default](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
I still think the RWB cars are the best looking cars period. Not sure how functional any of their stuff is. Can these drive on a street in the States without getting destroyed within a mile?
#21
![Default](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
This one drove 850 miles to and from Vegas for the show:
http://www.eurotuner.com/news/eurp_1...rbo/index.html
and even hit SNOW on the way home!
http://www.eurotuner.com/news/eurp_1...rbo/index.html
and even hit SNOW on the way home!
![](https://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/299023_10150359487278440_271545148439_8315974_206543909_n.jpg)
#24
Rennlist Member
![Default](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
Here's an interesting opinion about RWB
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...one-out-there/
Still love their style though...
When Porsche “tuner” Uwe Gemballa was found dead and wrapped in cellophane late last year, everyone in the Porsche community expressed sympathy for his wife and friends. Nobody deserves to be killed the way Gemballa was.
On the other hand, however, at least the guy wasn’t going to ruin any more Porsches. His “Mirage” 911-slant-nose-arossa-droptops were perhaps the most hideous custom supercars ever built, and Gemballa himself never really appeared to develop anything even remotely resembling an aesthetic sense. His goal in life appeared to be to simply create terrible cars, and he was reasonably successful at this. Porsche purists hated the guy. There was only one thing he could have done for us to have hated him more: he could have turned his attentions towards the irreplaceable aircooled cars once again and ruined more of them.
Which is precisely what “RWB” does.
This hard-hitting piece by former Jalop Davey Johnson covers one of the first two “RWB” cars to be built in the United States. Go read it if you care; if not, here’s the important passage.
In the past couple of years, Nakai-san’s Rauh-Welt Begriff (literally “rough-world concept”) 911s have gone from in-the-know whisper cult status to commanding respect and lustworthy drools from Porschephiles and tuner kids alike. Scotto’s always been a cat excited by new forms—the man was at the vanguard of the hi-riser movement—but he’s always wanted a Porsche. More specifically, a white 964 turbo with a Lobster Red interior, a classic case of the-car-one-drooled-over-as-a-kid made flesh. Meanwhile, he’d been as captivated as anyone with RWB’s cars during his stint at 0-60 Magazine.
The rest of the story unwinds as so: guy buys Porsche 964 Turbo and has Japanese guy hack out some hideous-looking bodywork, drop that bitch into the weeds, and basically turn what was a very complete and satisfying performance car into a rolling caricature. The car is then taken to SEMA so the tribe of mildly retarded sideways-ballcap mooks who clutter this country’s unemployment lists and convenience-store parking lots can crown Scotto as their king.
According to the never-wrong Wikipedia, Porsche built a total of 3,660 Porsche 965 Turbos. That’s not vanishingly rare, but neither is it 1965 Mustang or 2011 Camry volume. Aircooled 911s don’t seem rare, but they are. We are fast approaching the day when there will be more Cayennes on the road than aircooled Porsches of all kinds. A 1991 Porsche Turbo has already survived twenty years. My suggestion is that at that point, the owners of these cars should consider themselves caretakers, not nouveau-riche toolbags with a license to deface. These cars will all have future owners, if we don’t destroy them.
The good news? RWB’s “expertise” runs pretty shallow. Akira Nakai isn’t running Rinspeed or Ruf. He probably doesn’t understand the cars well enough to make major changes on them. Twenty years from now, a future owner of this car will be able to restore the 965 back to stock. Sure, it will cost money, particularly in the rear quarter-panels (and the suspension, which will almost certainly be ruined by the ridiculous wheels) but it will be possible.
It’s bad enough that Porsche’s legacy is under such consistent attack by Porsche itself; to have people like this RWB dude take perfectly decent, streetable classic Porsches and turn them into pallid parodies of race cars that never really existed — well, that’s just tragic. In the long run, everybody wants to see original, period-correct cars. Owners of aircooled Porsches should be conscious of their obligation to future generations. The enthusiasts of the future may not know what a proper short-wheelbase 911 looks like, or a ’79 SC, or a ’95 Turbo, unless you keep yours the way it was meant to be. If you are absolutely compelled to race an old car, go ahead — but start with a basketcase so you’re not taking a nice car off the street.
These “RWB” cars are just as ridiculous as all the “stance” garbage out there, but in this case the victims aren’t thousand-dollar Jettas or Marysville-built Accords. They are limited-production automobiles, built in small quantities under regulatory and business conditions which will never exist again. They’re precious to future generations and they should be left alone.
If you disagree… well, I hear Vanilla Ice’s Gemballa is up for sale. Just don’t expect much in the way of warranty service, okay?
On the other hand, however, at least the guy wasn’t going to ruin any more Porsches. His “Mirage” 911-slant-nose-arossa-droptops were perhaps the most hideous custom supercars ever built, and Gemballa himself never really appeared to develop anything even remotely resembling an aesthetic sense. His goal in life appeared to be to simply create terrible cars, and he was reasonably successful at this. Porsche purists hated the guy. There was only one thing he could have done for us to have hated him more: he could have turned his attentions towards the irreplaceable aircooled cars once again and ruined more of them.
Which is precisely what “RWB” does.
This hard-hitting piece by former Jalop Davey Johnson covers one of the first two “RWB” cars to be built in the United States. Go read it if you care; if not, here’s the important passage.
In the past couple of years, Nakai-san’s Rauh-Welt Begriff (literally “rough-world concept”) 911s have gone from in-the-know whisper cult status to commanding respect and lustworthy drools from Porschephiles and tuner kids alike. Scotto’s always been a cat excited by new forms—the man was at the vanguard of the hi-riser movement—but he’s always wanted a Porsche. More specifically, a white 964 turbo with a Lobster Red interior, a classic case of the-car-one-drooled-over-as-a-kid made flesh. Meanwhile, he’d been as captivated as anyone with RWB’s cars during his stint at 0-60 Magazine.
The rest of the story unwinds as so: guy buys Porsche 964 Turbo and has Japanese guy hack out some hideous-looking bodywork, drop that bitch into the weeds, and basically turn what was a very complete and satisfying performance car into a rolling caricature. The car is then taken to SEMA so the tribe of mildly retarded sideways-ballcap mooks who clutter this country’s unemployment lists and convenience-store parking lots can crown Scotto as their king.
According to the never-wrong Wikipedia, Porsche built a total of 3,660 Porsche 965 Turbos. That’s not vanishingly rare, but neither is it 1965 Mustang or 2011 Camry volume. Aircooled 911s don’t seem rare, but they are. We are fast approaching the day when there will be more Cayennes on the road than aircooled Porsches of all kinds. A 1991 Porsche Turbo has already survived twenty years. My suggestion is that at that point, the owners of these cars should consider themselves caretakers, not nouveau-riche toolbags with a license to deface. These cars will all have future owners, if we don’t destroy them.
The good news? RWB’s “expertise” runs pretty shallow. Akira Nakai isn’t running Rinspeed or Ruf. He probably doesn’t understand the cars well enough to make major changes on them. Twenty years from now, a future owner of this car will be able to restore the 965 back to stock. Sure, it will cost money, particularly in the rear quarter-panels (and the suspension, which will almost certainly be ruined by the ridiculous wheels) but it will be possible.
It’s bad enough that Porsche’s legacy is under such consistent attack by Porsche itself; to have people like this RWB dude take perfectly decent, streetable classic Porsches and turn them into pallid parodies of race cars that never really existed — well, that’s just tragic. In the long run, everybody wants to see original, period-correct cars. Owners of aircooled Porsches should be conscious of their obligation to future generations. The enthusiasts of the future may not know what a proper short-wheelbase 911 looks like, or a ’79 SC, or a ’95 Turbo, unless you keep yours the way it was meant to be. If you are absolutely compelled to race an old car, go ahead — but start with a basketcase so you’re not taking a nice car off the street.
These “RWB” cars are just as ridiculous as all the “stance” garbage out there, but in this case the victims aren’t thousand-dollar Jettas or Marysville-built Accords. They are limited-production automobiles, built in small quantities under regulatory and business conditions which will never exist again. They’re precious to future generations and they should be left alone.
If you disagree… well, I hear Vanilla Ice’s Gemballa is up for sale. Just don’t expect much in the way of warranty service, okay?
Still love their style though...
#25
Rennlist Member
![Default](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
Here's an interesting opinion about RWB
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...one-out-there/
Still love their style though...
...The enthusiasts of the future may not know what a proper short-wheelbase 911 looks like, or a ’79 SC, or a ’95 Turbo, unless you keep yours the way it was meant to be...
Still love their style though...
#27
Racer
![Default](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
That's a great read. If these cars are tuned for the track with specific performance modifications that's one thing but if it's purely for show I tend to buy in to the authors sentiment. I remember when the longhood owners were converting their cars to the impact bumper look since at the time that was the fad of the day. That didn't pan out very well in retrospect either. I don't deny that the look is intriguing but if it's all poseur then better to stick to Civics and Accords.
Of course being a slantnose owner I realize I could open myself up to charges of hypocrisy but there is a subtle difference...
Of course being a slantnose owner I realize I could open myself up to charges of hypocrisy but there is a subtle difference...
#28
![Default](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
That's a really good point. I still have a black slant nose poster I had on my wall when I was 12 years old. I loved that car then as much as I do today. Gemballa and Strosek took too much away from the over all look of the cars. Rauh Welt seems to be in line with what a lot of people have been doing to track cars before they came to light.
#29
Burning Brakes
![Default](https://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon1.gif)
The blauth rant on 'thetruthaboutcars' was very difficult to read.
I think the best reply is from the owner of RWB-USA when he wrote this;
http://fatlace.com/cars/rwb-pandora-one/#comments
It begins with, '... you really shouldn’t believe everything you read or hear on the interwebs until you hear it from the person (him)self…'
I think the best reply is from the owner of RWB-USA when he wrote this;
http://fatlace.com/cars/rwb-pandora-one/#comments
It begins with, '... you really shouldn’t believe everything you read or hear on the interwebs until you hear it from the person (him)self…'
#30
Three Wheelin'
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Reston, VA
Posts: 1,339
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts