The Secret Porsche

There are plenty of good reasons why travel is seen as such an esteemed and worthy pursuit. With travel lies the potential to acquire an immeasurable amount of perspective and understanding just by experiencing a new city with open eyes and an open mind. The distinctions in culture between Europe and America in particular span far greater than the evident dissimilarities in culture. In Germany, for instance, jealousy and envy are both unwelcome- hence anything lavish or grandiose will provoke scorn from the community rather than admiration. On the other hand- Americans seem to possess minimal proclivity towards humble behavior and often favor ostentatious appearances.

Hence the German culture is keen on hidden gems.  Willi Thom, an exceptional car builder living in a rural German village, is one of those diamonds in the rocks. Willi has long been in the business of building Porsches as rough, fast, and light as possible. Needless to say, he does so undercover. And although Willi normally redesigns his cars in his own raw image, he was given an offer by a convincing sports car enthusiast that he couldn’t refuse. It helps that Achim Anscheidt isn’t simply another enthusiast. Achim is the driving force behind designing the most elaborate and extravagant cars in production right now- Bugattis. Ironically enough, rather than wanting something on par with his daily grind, Achim went to Willi with a quest to have a Porsche 911 cut to his personal standards of minimalism and perfection.

Over a span of two years; these two men collaborated on achieving Achims ideal 911. The progress of development could best be seen in the text messages between them, often times consisting of a photo of a custom built Porsche sent from Achim to Willi with a caption along the lines of “headlamps like this” or “a bumper like so”. These demands occasionally seemed infeasible, but any rebuttal by Willi would simply be met with “You’ll make it work”. Enigmatic demands of the like resulted in long periods of going back and forth, and forced Willi to spend inordinate amounts of time on minor quests like producing a perfectly straight bumper and an idyllically positioned shifter.

The end result is an unassuming looking pearl that weighs half of what your standard Porsche does and zips away with twice the ferocity. The interior has been stripped to the bones and appears simultaneously old fashioned and sport oriented- creating a unique sense of nostalgia and power. One might say that Bugattis head of design owning the most minimalistic and quirky Porsche is pleasantly poetic; others may see it as a fascinating oxymoron of sorts. Whether it really makes sense or not, the beauty of the novel little Porsche is undeniable, and one can only imagine the amount of pride and satisfaction that comes with it.

The One and Only Porsche 910e

Have you seen Steve McQueens 1971 film Le Mans? You may have spotted the original Porsche 910- a racecar that the company had only produced 35 specimens of. The 910 was a purpose-built race car that debuted and raced in 1966. Cars of the type placed sixth at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967, and won the Nürburgring 1000 that year. The German company EVEX started building replicas of these rare racers in the 70s, but created only four.

The Austrian firm Kreisel Electric, a company founded by three brothers that develops electric motors for automobiles, has paired up with EVEX to employ an electric motor into one of the four 910 replicas. In the past, the company had taken on high profile projects like an electric-powered Mercedes-Benz G-Class for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Aside from 

The officially dubbed 910e has been given an electric motor paired with a 53kWh lithium ion battery pack that produces an insane 490 horsepower and 568 lb-ft of instantaneous electric torque. Kreisel claims the car possesses serious speed; boasting of 0 to 62 mph in just 2.5 seconds, and has a top speed of over 186 mph.

This Porsche 910e will have a range of 217 miles, and will be capable of bidirectional charging- giving it the ability to discharge electricity as an emergency power source for a house or compatible building.

Kreisel Electric has put a lid on how many copies will be made, but the 910e is confirmed to be the first Kreisel design to be available for purchase. What sort of price could suit such an eccentric creation? A sum over $1 million.