Porsche's Project Gold 911 is a brand-spankin'-new 993 Turbo
The body shell is original, but everything else is as fresh as the produce from your garden.
A number of high-end automakers have dipped their toes into the pool of continuation models -- vintage models brought back from the dead due to the demand of some high-paying customers. But while some are building dozens of now-revived nameplates, Porsche built just one, and it's called Project Gold.
Project Gold is a one-for-one recreation of a 993-generation Porsche 911 Turbo, two full decades after the 993 finished production. The body shell is original, complete with Turbo S air intakes inlets, but just about every other part slapped on the final product is brand-new. The entire project took a year and a half from start to finish.
I'm going to put the odds of this car actually being driven on the track at 1,000 to 1. It's basically a guaranteed appreciating asset.
Here's how Porsche did it. First, the automaker took the stripped-down 993 shell and applied the same kind of corrosion protection and painting methods that it uses on new production vehicles. From there, the car went to the Porsche Classic restoration center in Germany for reassembly.
Given the car's name, it shouldn't come as a surprise that both the interior and exterior are absolutely littered with gold. Gold stitching adorns just about every piece of the interior, from the seats to the dashboard panels. Porsche Classic's updated radio with Bluetooth and navigation replaces the original unit. What isn't covered in gold is trimmed with carbon fiber, from the dashboard to the spoiler out back. Porsche's Exclusive team, which helped craft the 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series, was on hand to help guide the interior reassembly. Fun fact: The two cars share the same paint color.
And then there's the engine. The most powerful variant of the 993 Turbo, the Turbo S, packed up to 450 horsepower from its twin-turbo flat-six engine. For Project Gold, Porsche built a brand-new 3.6-liter flat-six that should put out the same 450 hp. It still has a manual transmission, as well as all-wheel drive, and parts for both were sourced from Porsche Classic's range of replacement parts.
Porsche's Project Gold is, sadly, not road-legal -- the car can only be driven on private roads and tracks and can't be registered as a normal car. But that doesn't mean you can't attempt to scoop it up for yourself. Porsche will auction off the car through RM Sotheby's at the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta on Oct. 27. If you want to know how much it'll fetch, this probably isn't the car for you.
