Even in a world populated by more restomod companies than ever before, Singer Vehicle Design continues to stand out for the quality of its work and its reputation as a pioneer. When someone as significant as Raj Nair is being brought in as CEO, it’s clear that Singer has elevated itself to something like exalted status in the automotive world. Few would suggest it’s merely hot-rodding 911s these days…
Not that that was ever really the Singer way; the obsessiveness of Rob Dickinson is what made their builds stand out, along with the transformation of relatively humble 964s with tremendously exotic components. People had modified 911s pretty much from the beginning, whether for racing or canyon carving, but nobody had really gone to such extremes chasing Porsche perfection as Singer. So for the past 15 years or so, a lot of people have wanted to get hold of a 911 reimagined by Singer. Or indeed create their own version, for a slice of a very lucrative pie.
Because each of Singer’s builds is so personal (not to say valuable), it’s fairly rare that one comes up for sale. Particularly so when the car in question is right-hand-drive, low mileage and not long completed, but that’s what we have here. While recent Singer headlines have been about the more extreme creations it’s conjured up, cars like the DLS and Turbo study, for many the Classic commissions are what drew them to the company in the first place - and keeps them buying Euromillions tickets every Friday. Reasonably unassuming until up close - especially with so many backdates out there - but with an unrivalled driving experience, these 964s remain true dream machines.
Furthermore, with a temporary pause on Classic commissions from Singer, buying a preconfigured car is the only option for prospective buyers right now. It’s handy, then, that this build - known as 'Silverstone' (all Singer projects are named after a place chosen by the owner) - features an absolutely glorious spec. As one of the later cars (it was only completed in 2022), Silverstone benefits from all the advances made by Singer over the years of restoring and modifying Porsche 911s. So it gets the 4.0-litre Ed Pink flat six with RS+ cams, Surface Transform ceramic brakes, Ohlins Sport dampers and even Apple CarPlay, which would have seemed like real science fiction little more than a decade ago. There are even rear seats.
And while we’re yet to see a Singer-transformed car look bad, the combination of a unique Blue Blood colour with Weiss Gold wheels and Vivaldi leather really is very special indeed. If you have to take someone else’s colourway, there can’t be very many better for a 964. Yet despite the money invested (and what must have been a substantial wait), the owner of this one drove only 661 miles in it.
Still, the flipside of that is an exceptionally rare opportunity to grab a Porsche 911 reimagined by Singer without delay. Which nobody really needs a second invitation to take advantage of - it’s the missing million (and maybe a bit more) that’s the only stumbling block for most of us. Even those wealthy enough face a conundrum, too, because there’s actually a choice of UK cars on PH right now: there’s the first UK commission, built a decade ago and retained by Singer for a period, plus a stunning Light Yellow 4.0-litre. Which is being sold - get this - with the 2.7 RS it’s colour matched to. What a time for those after the ultimate 964s…
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