4.0litre, 405bhp Theon Design 911 review. And you thought Singer made the best 964 restomod..

Well, welcome to a new Harry's Garage video and today's car is very special. It is the Fionn Design Bespoke 911. The car you see here started life as a 1992 Porsche 964. Then the owner of that car took it to Fionn Design and for £390,000 plus VAT turned it into this very special car you see here. Extraordinary the detail that Fionn Design go into and how this car is created. I've been up to their works, they're just up the road from here and the quality and the precision and the passion that goes into making this car is off the scale. But it's a very expensive car and you can't help but mention at this point there's a company called Singer who also do 964 recreations like this, harking back to a previous age of 911, that classic look. But this is the British version and very quietly they've been getting on. This car is GBR002, the second car for the UK, but the first car popped out in 2019 and they have a worldwide base. They build about five a year and there's about 6,000 hours goes into this car. There are some eye-watering expensive extras on this car as well, but the driving sensation where you'll see in a moment, it's pretty special. Let's go and have a closer look. Now, before we get going, I think I ought to just mention this number plate, UK viewers will probably recognise it. It's known as a trade plate. So the customer for this car is collecting it next week. So it's on a trade plate rather than the actual registration plate it will carry in the UK when he collects the car, as I say, next week or so. And just the shape and what's gone on here, well, what happens is a 964 donor car arrives and it is completely stripped back and obviously any repairs or anything, because it's a 1992 car, so we're, what are we, 30 something years old. Anything done, repairs, it is like new, but the wings, everything is taken off and these is bespoke carbon bodywork that is then put in the place of the original Porsche wing and bonnet, etc. And if you just look at the front, this is all carbon as well. And it has that splitter underneath, which a classic 911 didn't have. So he's trying to get the look back to that lovely original 911 look, but it's all bespoke. You think that might be an original indicator. No, it's not. It's by Theon Design, takes the side light and the indicator, but it's slimmed down 10 mm, hasn't got that horn grille that original ones had. Very nicely done. Modern headlights on it. And I like the way they just indented where the crest goes. We'll open the front out in a minute. Keep on coming round. Then you get the Fuchs wheel on this car, 17 inch, 18 are optional. And I really like this car on the 17. It just sits very nicely and it has a higher sidewall with the 17 inch than you get on the 18 inch wheel. Porsche script down the side. This is lovely because this is actually underneath the varnish. Obviously, the car is bespoke paint. This is a classic oak green metallic colour from the Porsche range. These bespoke mirrors as well. And what I didn't realise, I was thinking, well, they've still got the gutters in. I wonder if they're in carbon fibre. No. What happens is the window surround and this remains original 964, but that is let in. This car did have a sunroof originally, but this is a carbon roof that's bonded into the steel there. So the only bits of steel, if I took a magnet round it, windows surround this front scuttle is steel, but then it's carbon. And I'm hesitating touching door because actually the doors are original Porsche. They keep those as steel for side impact reasons. It seems a good idea to do it. And it's a very complicated body part to make. But then you get these glorious swollen rear arches, the big fat Fuchs wheel at the back with a wider rim and just very nicely radius round here. I think it's absolutely glorious how they've done that. But then you get the original screen at the back and a little delicate spoiler. But this spoiler, like on a 964, does pop up in work. And I like also how this grille is just as you see it. I always find that scene where they put that glass and the holes on. It looks slightly odd. Not so here. Looks utterly standard. But if we step back at the rear, then you get the sort of muscle, the look of this car and the quad exhaust. Lovely detail. This is the high level brake light is just implemented in there. Really nice. Don't notice this at all. And it's just lovely how they've done that. I also like Theon design. There it is. There's the emblem there. Tells you what this car is. Now, a 911 engine never looks as good as this. Just glorious what they've done with this. I ought to mention this point. This has had... If you pay £390,000 plus VAT, you get a 3.6 litre rebuilt engine, 285 horsepower. The owner of this car ticked the box for the ultimate engine option. And that is a 4 litre engine and produces 407 horsepower. There is a choice of having stacks here rather than this plenum chamber here, this grill here. There's no difference in power. It's just what you're happier with. But the individual throttle bodies on this car. And I just love how if you just come back, you just see there's no ancillaries. They've made this engine as simple as they can. So they're obviously air cooled and the alternators in there. But there's no air conditioning pump that actually sits in its nose. There's no power steering pump or anything like that. And here, there's this wire which is going to be tricky to see in this light. Well, that is the one plug. If you were to take this engine out, all you have to do is unplug that and the whole wiring for the engine is done via that one plug. It is such a neat installation. The final detail is here. This is a little lever cover if I just pull this off. And underneath is the oil filter. It is a horrid red color and upsets Adam, whose company it is, Theon Design. So he's actually created a lever cover for it. But what an engine that is. You can also see the sort of suspension at the back there and the little wire going to it. Because this car has the optional adjustable dampers on it and the quilted sort of firewall as well. Just glorious. One thing of note, though, look at them. None of them run a true air filter. They have this gauze, but not an actual air filter. The positive side of that is the inductions noise is off the scale. Now, let's have a quick look at the interior. We'll look at this in more detail when we get outside. But although the dials, they look as though they're standard, but they're not. They're Theon Design again and all the interior with the quilted lever. It's optional, all that. Six speed gearbox on this car and it has these Recaro sport seats, high back seats and also the rear seats. But as I say, we'll look in more detail when we take it outside. Carbon bonnet, as you can see, and no strut with it. So you have to have a little stay like that. And there you go. So, yeah, carbon size here, all tied up with sort of brace going between the suspension towers. I'm just going to lift this because this will show you where all the gubbings are. So down there is is the electric air conditioning unit. And there's also a power steering unit here, air pump and the ABS. So all very different to a standard 911, but brings the weight forward. And just that is why that engine bay is so tidy. So nice. So you can see the carbon weave on it there as well. And then if you look at the badge here, build number GBR002. So as I say, second car for the UK. But what this car most definitely is all about is the driving. Let's take it outside now. One of the things you first notice, it's everything is so light, you know, you lift the front bonnet and things and then the door have a sort of that heavy, that lovely clunk that you get with Porsche. It's here because it's the steel door rather than a lightweight door that you have to have several goes trying to close. But what am I met with? Well, it's really familiar, but then not. It's Porsche 964, the Porsche instruments as we know them. And then it's sort of everything looks standard and normal, but then they're different. Like these switches, you twist them or pull them. They're just, they're not, they're metal. They're not the plastic you normally get in Porsche. It's a very odd mix of things. It's got these seats, these Recaro seats. These are an option. I think it's one of those things doesn't look quite right, you know, for that period look. But they are exceptional seats to actually sit in. So it's, you know, it's a choice. You can have a more standard looking or period looking Recaro seat. But yeah, what else have we got here? Carbon finish here, two cupholders. Electric windows there. And then this obviously six-speed manual gearbox and this stainless steel knob on it that actually in use is very nice. And there is a strange knob here, which I ought to just mention my phone goes there. It gets mag mount and charges, which is quite a nice touch. And then underneath is this five-way adjustable suspension you get as an option on this car. Yeah, I ought to mention just some of the options because some of them in this car, they are a lot. I'm not going to tell them all at once. But yeah, the adjustable suspension, for instance, is a £12,000 option with six-speed gearbox rather than a five-speed gearbox. They put a 993 RS gearbox as a sort of standard gearbox. But this six-speed is an additional £26,000. The woven leather look in here is beautifully done. I can see why people would tick that box, £7,900 additional. What else can we see? Well, yeah, beautiful Nardi wheel bespoke to Theon, this black look. And it's all right. Unfortunately, you might just hear a little bit of noise when we're going along. It's just a slight noise there, just rubbing on the boss. But the detailing, these lovely handles here, solid, easy to get in and out of. It's very odd how familiar it is, but it's not right. These ventilation ones, if I just turn the ignition on, they all light up. But that's not normal Porsche. But it looks sort of Porsche. Very clever. Green instruments in here. Red line at 7,000. It goes just past, actually. But everything else familiar. 180 mile an hour speedo. I am purposely not starting the engine just yet because it's loud in here and I don't want you to get too distracted. Yeah, and then, yeah, the two plus two seats in the back. But enough. I'm going to, I think what I'll do is I'll just drop in this engine running now. Yeah, that's what it sounds like from the outside. It's pretty spectacular. On the inside, it sounds like this. I've got a choice of exhaust. This is quiet. If I just pull this out and light that up, that adds a little bit of bass, shall we say. Yeah, the switchable sports exhaust is, I think, yeah, £3,200. There is an option to have a quieter exhaust. I think I might tick that option, but we'll come on to that in a moment. Right, let's head out. And, yeah, just take it on some of my favourite roads. Yeah, short gearing. It's amazing. I mean, yeah, I'm in fourth doing 63 and a bit of 1,000 rpm. Fifth takes that down to two and a half. We'll see it go down to, yeah, 2,000. Yeah, about 55 at 2,000. So what's that? 22, 23 miles per 1,000 rpm. But there's a gruffness. There's a very distinct noise with this four litre, and it is incredibly highly tuned. You know, just running regular 964 heads, but it's got a very clever ECU control in it. And I'm really impressed, even though it's got a wild cam in it, that it's 407 horsepower at 7,200 rpm. They haven't had to go for crazy rpm to get the horsepower from it. And 100 horsepower per litre is good going. Light flywheel as well. I ought to just mention that was in its quiet mode, and I measured it on my bit of road. Yeah, 83 decibels at 60 miles an hour. That is nothing once this car is lit up, as you'll find out in a moment. It's typical 911 that, you know, you've got upright screen, you can see out, and it's not intimidating. I was impressed as soon as I got into this car. I just sort of felt comfortable and familiar. There's a little bit of heft to the steering. But yeah, other than that, yeah, it's just your regular 911. Until you hear it tick over and it's lumpy. I think, yeah, we just got this squirt up the hill. I'm going to turn, put on this valve in the exhaust. I think I'll change down to second here as well. See what happens. And the world goes crazy. It's not crazy, crazy McLaren 296 madness. I really quite like the performance. It works out that this car weighed, it goes off to centre of gravity to be set up. And the weight of this on the corner weights 1169 kilos full of fuel. Over 200 kilos lighter than the 964 it was based on, which is pretty damn impressive. And yeah, the other interesting thing, it's, I think it's 5941 front, i.e. they've actually moved the weight balance slightly forward than you normally get in a two wheel drive 911, which is clever as well. But 405 horsepower with 1169 kilos to move. Yeah, it gets a move on. An excellent ride. I love this. I just love, I've got five adjustments on the dampers. I can run around in the softer setting. I just go down a bit of road like this and I just want a little bit of control. Turning up one really nice option. It's expensive at £12,000, but I would have to tick that option if I owned one of these. And then nicely set up. It's not crazy stiff. I love it's got those taller tyres in it. You're not as worried about potholes and things that you might be if you'd gone for the 18 inch wheels or the crazy low profile we get in cars today. But very stable, really nice setup. It's interesting, the exhaust valve, when we were filming this car from the outside, it's on the overrun that you really hear it when you've got those valves open. There's a real rasp, a real race car sort of sound to it when you're off throttle. And when you're on throttle, it's just mad. But it's not that much louder when you've got the valve open or closed on throttle. It's off throttle. You really notice it. But it is noisy in here when you've got it open. I measured it. I think it was 96 decibels under throttle. Now that's noisy. We're into Porsche GT4 RS-esque sounds, but just hear the quality of the sound. And love that blip. How quickly it will blip the throttle and it's just off. The revs flare. So I turn the valve back on. I think I should. Let's try it around here. You just can't help but change gear. Heel and toe in his delight. All fully adjustable pedals. What a sound. What a car. Let's turn that valve again. Just do some likes and dislikes. Starting with the dislikes. I suppose there's a few sort of minor dislikes. One of my main gripes, I haven't got a rest for my clutch foot, which I don't understand. The pedals have moved across. They're beautiful, the pedals, but I would like a clutch rest when you're cracking on and just to brace yourself through corners and things. You get one. I checked the right-hand drive 964 RS. That had one. I would like it on here. Two, just some of the sort of instruments. I can't get any heating out of this. I'm sure it's fantastic on air conditioning, but I can set it to 13. I can't feel heat coming from it. The radio's pretty rubbish, but then you use Bluetooth and it all works well. Mirrors, wonderful, stunning design. Annoyingly, this brace gets just in the way when I'm looking out the window, and I'm a bit grumpy about that. Another one is sloppy gear change. It's a beautiful quick change. Third, fourth, fifth, but you're going from third to second. There's just a bit more movement than you would think there should be on such a bespoke car. I think that could be tightened up a little bit, and also the price. Well, I'm going to come on to that at the end, but let's go through some lights. Well, sound. That's with the valve closed, by the way. It's just intoxicating how this car behaves. It's all there. I just feel at one with it. I can dive it through here. Take a second for this challenging corner. No issues. Nobody's doing anything. It's just a delight. Oh, my goodness me. It's gloriously polished. We've had so much time to hone an R11, and then you go to Theon Design, and they just take it to another level. Lightsinger have done as well, I suppose, but the health, the engine, the aggression, and yet it's easy, manageable power and that torque, because it's four litres, always got torque, and the steering, the feel, the brakes. Yeah, the brakes are a higher option as well. I think they're 8,900. As I say, there's lots of boxes to tick to get to this spec of this car. All of it moulds into this driver's car, which you were hoping from the spec, well, it delivers on the road. Then we've got to come on to the looks, haven't we? Sensational. People do a double take on it. They hear it, and then you look at it, and they just can't work it out. Is it a classic 911? They don't sound like that. What is it? It has real presence from the outside. I'd be massively proud to have this sitting outside the house, or just you'd see it parked up, and yet it's got the usual versatility you expect with 911. It's perfectly usable, and I love the way they've hidden the carbon on the outside. There's no hint of it until you open the bonnet and see the weave underneath. More interestingly, if you actually fill it up with fuel, I had to fill this up. It's running on sustain 80, and then the fuel cap filler is obviously carbon. You see it underneath, and I like the Theon design, a little rubber mat to protect the paintwork when you're filling it up. All clever little details like that. Concluding on this car, what a machine it is. I sort of kept away from these crazy restomod turned up to 11, because the price is prohibitive. They're very special machines, and I often wonder if they're style over substance. I shouldn't have worried. Having got into this, it's just home for driving. I absolutely love that, but obviously it comes at a price. I added up all the extras on this car, put the VAT on it, 650,000. A donor car is probably at 90,000 or so. So this is a three quarters of a million pound car. Singers are now selling for about a million pounds, and there's about 450, according to Wikipedia, of those. If you want a DLS Singer, two million pounds. It's a mad world, unjustifiable, but there are people who want the best. And this, as a driving machine, as a 911, is very, very special. Is it worth three quarters of a million? I feel like saying you can make your mind up on that one. If you have pockets decent enough to do it, then what I would go for, if you love 911 and you really want to experience the ultimate, the lightweight, the analogue feel, Sion Design bespoke 911 is very special. Is it as special as that Sports Purpose little 911 I had? That was my really special 911. I loved its 2.2 litre engine, how it was even lighter than this, how it had the classic look. Well, I couldn't cope with the driving position of it. It didn't have a very good gear change, and it was a special moment sort of car. You'd take it on special runs. This, weirdly, I just want to get in and drive every single day, and it has that durability, that modernity about it, that I would think I'd have this, but then again, it's twice the price. Can't mention prices, it's madness, so I'm not going to go there, but it is a hugely enjoyable driving machine, this car. The engine, you just, there are some cars that come in and you never want them to be collected. This is one of them. I don't, it ranks with that Audi Sport Quattro in. I didn't want that one to go back. I didn't want this one to go back. There was that mad touring Ferrari with the rear fin. I never wanted that one to go back, so it's in a little cluster of very special cars I've had in to test. I hugely enjoyed it. I might have to turn that valve on the exhaust again. Oh, dear me. Yeah, well, I'm going to have a few more enjoyable miles in this mad car. I hope you enjoyed this review as much as I have making it. If you have, well, keep watching, keep subscribing. More videos coming along very soon. Bye.