One of the great mysteries in the Porsche 911 story is the absence of a proper production 993 Speedster. The lightweight, roofless model would appear in every generation of 911 before and after, but the 993 remains an outlier with only two specially-commissioned Speedsters in existence: one built for Ferdinand Alexander Porsche as a 60th birthday present and the other for legendary comedian and famed Porsche collector Jerry Seinfeld. Well, now there’s a third. The firm has revealed a new 993 Speedster at this year’s Monterey Car Week.
Obviously, it hasn’t done so just for kicks. The project was commissioned by Luca Trazzi, an Italian designer with a sizeable 911 Speedster collector, who came to the realisation that it could take an age for Seinfeld’s roofless 993 to appear on the market and there’s a fat chance of getting hold of the other given it’s on display in Porsche’s museum. So he appealed to the manufacturer to cobble one together for him. The firm duly obliged, presumably after a significant amount of cash was exchanged, resulting in the incredibly yellow car you see here.
It’s not just any yellow, either. If you think it’s difficult getting a PTS allocation, just imagine how much ‘business’ you’d need to provide for Porsche to allow you to develop your own colour. It’s called ‘Otto Yellow’, named after Trazzi’s dog, and features on the bodywork, the outer lip of the 18-inch Turbo alloys, the dials and as a contrast to the black leather interior. While the interior looks like any other 993 (albeit in a more, er, eye-catching colour), there are a few key differences, such as the carbon-backed seats and Porsche’s retrofit Apple CarPlay-enabled media system, complete with its own ‘Speedster LT’ startup screen. Even the symbols on the switches have been redesigned to reflect the Speedster shape. The attention to detail is impressive.
The Speedster itself is based on a 1994 Carrera Cabriolet, though much of the internals have been gutted and replaced with higher-grade hardware. Namely, the 300hp, 3.8-litre naturally-aspirated flat-six from the 993 Carrera RS, along with the track car’s chassis (work that one out), braking system and steering. Elsewhere, Porsche has ‘reinterpreted’ certain aspects of the 993 Speedster that sort of never were, including the fitment of modern lights, while the body kit has been lifted from that generation’s Turbo.
It’s extremely rare for Porsche to revisit one of its old models, particularly one that never officially existed. But we could see more in the future, with its recently(ish) relaunched Sonderwunsch (German for special requests) programme carrying out projects like this for particularly loyal customers. The 996-based Classic Club Coupe was developed under its watch, as was the one-off 992 Carrera GTS inspired by ‘Sally’ from Disney Pixar’s cars. This 993 Speedster looks to be its most ambitious project since relaunching, but anything seems possible if you're the right sort of customer. With the right amount of cash.
Luca Trazzi, the car’s commissioner, said: “My dream was to complete my collection with a 911 Speedster of Type 993. Out of passion, I designed what this model might look like. I wanted the project to unify the stylistic elements of all previous Speedster models. Because although this body version has always continued to develop throughout its history, it preserved the elegance of its predecessors and stayed true to its beginnings.” Oh Luca, how jealous we are.
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