Inside the company ripping apart classic Porsche 911s to restore them with impeccable detail

Once the car arrives at the Singer shop, the real work begins. Every piece, every bolt, every single tiny thing is evaluated and lovingly recrafted. Dickinson started Singer to recreate the classic Porsche 911 with modern science while keeping the essence of the car and making it better.

“I scrawled ‘Everything is important’ on a wall 10 years ago,” Dickinson says. “It all needs to be addressed with the same amount of excessiveness. This is part of what our clients love–that it’s bonkers. It’s the most important sports car in the world, which is why I chose the 911 to be the lens through which the Singer brand operates.”

For all of its engineering advancements and technology, here’s the surprise: At the end of the day, the car is analog. That means no touchscreens and no self-driving coding. It’s faithful to the era, and intensely focused on crafting a perfect vehicle, not a cyborg imitation.

Recreating a cultural German icon

Named partially after Norbert Singer, who began his career as a racing engineer in the development department of Porsche in 1970, the Singer Group now employs upwards of 600 staff in California and the UK. The 300th Porsche 911 reimagined through Singer’s Classic restoration services department was completed in February 2024, with unrelenting demand that has no end in sight.

“Whether you love the Porsche 911 or not, it’s a culturally important icon with millions and millions of faithful fans,” Dickinson points out. “Perhaps wisely or unwisely, we put ourselves out there as suggesting that we take this spectacular icon of a car and reimagine it to be better than it was when it started. And a little bit more relevant for the modern world.”

A client collaborates with Singer, picking their menu items to create the car they want to create within the boundaries Singer sets. It may be equipped with a normally aspirated or turbocharged engine. It may include bodywork that evokes the early 911 F-Model first introduced in the early 1960s, or the later 911 G-Model, or even a specific Porsche racing car, all based on the 964.

These cars are not recreations or continuations; they’re not simply restored, either. To riff on a classic 1970s TV show, these Singer-rebuilt supercars are like the Six Million Dollar Man: They can rebuild it. They have the technology. They can make it better than it was. Better, stronger, faster. One Porsche 911 reimagined by Singer might not cost you six million dollars, but it will approach a million or more. And that’s because of Singer’s fixation on perfection.

From start to finish, a Singer project can take about 10 months once the process begins, and the company has a long line out the door, says Maz Fawaz, the company’s CEO. Customers approaching Singer today might get their car back in three years after it proceeds through the gauntlet of disassembly and reassembly, guided by a cadre of experts in their craft. On the engineering side, Fawaz says, there are a multitude of Singer employees with motorsports experience, including F1, who understand the material science.

Tearing apart a 911 to put it back together, better, stronger, and technically perfect

The first step–disassembly–happens off-site from Singer’s pristine Torrance, California shop floor. Mostly, because it’s extremely grimy work.

“Imagine bringing in a car from 1990,” Fawaz explains. “It’s old and generally very, very dirty. Typically, the donor cars are high mileage, not precious.”

A donor car is media blasted to remove the muck and the paint down to bare metal, then given a rust inhibitor coating before transport to the Singer site.

Singer Vehicle Design is known for its meticulous restoration and modification of classic Porsche 911 cars. The process starts with the team repairing and reinforcing the chassis using seam welding techniques. They then remove the body panels and replace them with lightweight and durable carbon fiber panels, effectively restyling and rebodying the car. Once the new bodywork is in place, the car is painted and thoroughly tested for any potential issues like squeaks and rattles.

From a design standpoint, Singer blends modern technology with traditional restoration methods. The team creates full-size clay models and uses Autodesk Alias, a popular surfacing software in the automotive industry. Modern milling techniques are employed to craft hard models before the engineers take over. The artisans at Singer pay close attention to detail, treating the paint, leather, and trim with the same care as jewelry.

“We start with a specific 911 model, deconstruct it, and enhance its performance by making it lighter, stiffer, and more aesthetically pleasing,” says a representative from Singer. The team utilizes materials like carbon fiber, aluminum, and titanium to optimize the car’s overall performance without excessive costs. Despite the use of high-tech tools and materials, Singer’s approach to assembling these vehicles resembles that of a skilled watchmaker assembling a timepiece.

Over the years, Singer has evolved from building one or two cars annually to scaling up their restoration operations significantly. The company’s commitment to perfection and craftsmanship is evident in the time and effort they put into each project, with a typical restoration taking around 10 months to complete. Singer’s dedication to blending modern technology with traditional craftsmanship has solidified its reputation as a leader in the automotive restoration industry. The world of technology is constantly evolving, with new advancements and innovations being made every day. From smartphones to self-driving cars, the possibilities seem endless. One of the most exciting developments in recent years is the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).

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