Amrit Balraj

Christmas is two months away, and if you are still looking for the perfect gift for the Porsche aficionado in your life, this might be exactly what you’re looking for. The Amalgam Collection, based in Bristol, U.K., crafts spectacular 1:8 scale model replicas of the 1971 Le Mans triumphing Porsche 917K racecar with its Martini Livery. It is an extremely detailed replica of the car driven by Gijs van Lennep and Helmut Marko in 1971.

The limited-run 992 Porsche 911 Dakar has garnered widespread acclaim in its short time on the market. Its most recent celebrity fan is legendary comedian and all-around car nut Jay Leno. In a recent episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, he was joined by Porsche brand ambassador Jeff Zwart as they took the 911 Dakar for a spin to see what it could really do. Straight off the bat, he calls the Dakar the most fun 911 he’s ever driven, which is high praise coming from a man with 200 cars in his collection. Jay is no stranger to the Porsche brand, having owned several rare and vintage models in the past. He owns a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, a 1957 356A Outlaw, and a 1963 Porsche 356 Carrera 2. So it begs the question, could the Dakar really be Jay Leno’s next Porsche?

Something special caught my eye as I was browsing Bring-A-Trailer the other day, a special 911 Speedster with an interesting ownership story. The 1989 911 Speedster is a pretty rare car by itself, with only 823 examples produced. But the interesting thing that drew my attention was who the ex-owner of the car was - Walter Röhrl. That name is instantly familiar to those of us who are enamored with motorsports and the Porsche brand. The man is a two-time former WRC Champion and Porsche factory driver/brand ambassador.

Cole Kessel is an A.I. artist, a part of a growing tribe of folks who use A.I. tools like Midjourney, clever prompts, and their imagination to create some truly incredible art. I have tried my hand at Midjourney and Adobe’s Firefly and I’ve gotta say, making your art look good is not as easy as typing in a bunch of words and hoping for the best. Cole uses a combination of Photoshop’s Generative fill feature and Midjourney to create some beautiful, bizarre Porsche-themed digital art. His latest work, which showcases hyper-realistic images of wrecked Porsches displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris, highlights the perils of reckless driving. The reason he specifically chose Porshe was a recent 911 GT3 crash in the news. His latest work ’Drive-Safe’ digital exhibit showcases wrecked Porsche models, highlighting the dangers of reckless driving.

Porsche introduced the 911 S/T, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the iconic sports car. Limited to 1963 units, a tribute to the launch year of the original 911, the S/T is a driver-focused special edition model. Porsche has designed the ultimate 911 combining the best technologies and features from other stalwarts in their line-up. Every review of the 911 S/T that I’ve read or seen has unanimously called it the greatest 911 if not, one of the greatest road cars ever. Now, I have compiled the best reviews from some of my favorite channels and presenters on YouTube, where each one of them has presented a unique perspective on the brilliance and historical significance of the 911 S/T.

Every car owner projects a certain image or lifestyle, and owning a certain model or brand comes with certain preconceived notions or stereotypes. We’ve all heard of the more popular ones like how BMW owners are unaware of turn signals or how Subaru owners are outdoorsy. Some stereotypes are weirder than others, like how every Mini Cooper owner must be a vegan, who knows where that got started?

The Porsche 912 was the original ’affordable Porsche’, - where customers essentially got a 911 with the economical engine from the Porsche 356 SC. It was one of the first models to open the door to Porsche ownership to a wider range of customers. The 912 quickly garnered a cult following within the Porsche community, proving that you do not need crazy power to have a fun driving experience. Now a restomod firm from Budapest, Hungary KAMManufaktur is reintroducing the 912l in a modern avatar and calling it the 912c, where the ’c’ stands for carbon fiber, a go-to material of choice for shedding weight while not compromising rigidity and this one has a lot, as you’re about to find out.

We have all seen renderings of what a Porsche Cayenne pickup truck would look like, thanks to A.I. and imaginative graphic designers. While an official model might never be a reality, we no longer have to rely on our imagination. French YouTuber Elyascars decided to use his trusty angle grinder and pickaxe to make the Cayenne pickup truck a reality. A mere seven days ago he acquired an ’03 Porsche Cayenne (955) for just 2,300 euros ($2,500), one he calls the cheapest Cayenne in France.

The Porsche-Piëch connection is a deep-rooted family relationship that goes back decades and has shaped the history and success of the Porsche and Volkswagen automotive groups. Now, for those of you who haven’t heard of the Piëch name before, the late Dr.Ferdinand Piëch was one of the most influential automotive personalities of the 20th century. He was involved with the motorsports division of Porsche and Audi in the 1970s and ’80s and was instrumental in proliferating technologies such as Quattro and TDI. As CEO of Volkswagen in the 1990s, Piëch was also responsible for acquiring iconic brands such as Bugatti, and Lamborghini into the wider VW Group portfolio. Despite these phenomenal achievements, no car ever bore the Piëch name, until recently.

Bonhams is set to auction a very special 993-generation 911 Turbo at Goodwood Revival Collectors’ Motor Cars And Automobilia. Officially named ’The Last Waltz’, it is the last air-cooled Porsche to be built and released from Zuffenhausen. An important milestone in the brand’s history, the Last Waltz was built at the factory on March 27, 1998. It’s too bad that I was only eight years old and completely oblivious to history unfolding. It was commissioned via the Sonderwunsh program for German Author Clauss Vanderborg. Jerry Seinfeld’s famed 993 Carrera 4S Cabriolet was finished and delivered on 31st March, shortly after the Last Waltz came off the line. However, the latter spent six months with the special wish wing of the brand getting specially kitted out with a bunch of aesthetic and mechanical modifications.

Regardless of the generation, beyond the 911 Turbo models, the GT range is the next natural step. These track-bred cars have continued to evolve since the late 90s and early 2000s with the introduction of even more hard-core models with the likes of the GT3 RS and GT2. Given how most of these track-bred cars are limited-run models, they tend to command a premium over your average run-of-the-mill Carreras. I was curious to see how the GT3 market in particular has been faring over the past few years, given the wild ride we had with regard to pricing, through the pandemic, and here’s what I found.

Sometimes I like imagining purely hypothetical competitions about some of my favorite things- Godzilla vs Kong, Edison vs Tesla, Autobots vs Decepticons, etc. I also like to imagine the odd supercar match-up from time to time, something I am sure we are all guilty of. The question of whether one car is better than another is a question that is as old as automobiles itself. And while we can only compare spec sheets or watch the drag races of some of our favorite supercars, some of us are fortunate enough to take it a step further.

The 911 Turbo S may not be one of the world’s most beautiful cars, but it does have a timeless appeal, and if you are lucky enough to have one in your garage, you probably spend a lot of time just admiring it. However, if you ever feel like Porsche’s vibrant PTS colors do not offer the individuality you are looking for, this is where TopCar design’s Stinger GTR comes into the picture. TopCar Design has always been about pushing the boundaries when it comes to crafting custom Porsche body kits and the Stinger GTR is a spectacular manifestation of their unique creative process.

Ben Mellors, M.D. of Fifteen Eleven Design, based out of the U.K. decided to do something completely different from the rest of the Porsche restomod world. While most shops are obsessed with building the next crazy iteration of the 911, Ben decided to create a modern redesign of the lesser-loved 914 instead. The result is a compact retro sportscar that looks like it was designed in the modern era, with the performance to match. It might not appeal to everyone, but it ticks all my boxes. The only parts retained from the donor car are the A and B pillars and the floor.

The 909 ’Bergspyder’ was a race car designed and built by Porsche in 1968, for dominating European hill climbing competitions. It gets its name ’Berg’ from the German word for mountain and ’meister’ for master. It is a relatively unknown model, but the technology and innovations it fostered became the base for the 908/3 racecar. The RUF Burgmeister is a modern interpretation of the Bergspyder, created from RUF’s admiration of the hillclimb legend. Based on the Type-993 chassis and resembling a speedster body, this is a car that we wanted to touch upon despite being first revealed over two years ago at the Quail. This is because the 993-Speedster is a bit of a unicorn, and several resto-modders and Porsche themselves have been taking a dig at this format off-late.

The 991.2 Speedster was a limited-run special edition model released on Porsche’s 70th Anniversary. With just 3,585 miles on the ODO, this low-mileage example is one of just 1,948 Speedsters built. Set to cross the auction block at this year’s Chattanooga Motocars Festival, this Speedster comes with the optional $24,510, Heritage Design Package (XWW). The core design concept remains consistent with the 911 R or GT3 Touring: a sleek windshield, removable top, and the iconic double-bubble silhouette.