Hot rod/resto mod direction -- where is the market going?

[Eminence Gris]

I started this thread to help decide where I was going with my next build. What I've ended up with is a stock-bodied '72 non sunroof coupe with bumper trim removed, but otherwise 'as delivered.' It will have either 15 X 7" Fuchs or 15 X 6.5" Minilites and be painted Beige Gray with a bittersweet chocolate leather interior. As it lost its engine in the past, it will be 3.2 powered.

IOW, very conservative resto-mod.

[70tangerine]

gray w/ choco leather.......wow.

[Eminence Gris]

gray w/ choco leather.......wow.

Wow is what I'm looking for.

[Louie]

IMO, that will be stunning.

And to answer your original question (in my mildly informed opinion) the 'hot rod' market is moving towards the type of cars that Singer is building. Brilliant road cars
that can be tracked vs track cars that can be put on the road. More comfortable, civilized cars with A/C, ipod players, softer suspensions that don't make your
back hurt etc. Singers 911s will be the high water mark for what can be done with 911s. If you have never seen one of his creations do yourself a favor and do so. Beyond stunning.

or

concours quality, built to the exact OE specs cars.

Which is more fun? I like Magnus's mindset. Hotrod. No one to tell you what is right or wrong with your car based on their memory of the OE specs.

[NorthernThrux]

I like the hotrod car for a number of reasons.
One: The freedom it gives in design is liberating. No tool police or wheel police to pass judgement and it really allows for creativity.
Two: I did one, when I built my 1087cc Triumph Thruxton and I want to do an early 911 some day.
Three: Its gonna make exact OE cars like my current 911S even more rare. It is hard and expensive to do a car to OE spec. Proper horsehair insulation on the interior, proper foil labels in the engine compartment. You can't buy these, you have to make them.

With a hotrod, you do what you like, you mix and match and you can go period correct or wildly modern, as long as it looks good. As the craftsman and sources that sell "correct" parts and restorations fade away, hot rods will be more and more "common". Not that you will ever see yourself coming or going on the road.

[John Z Goriup]

I started this thread to help decide where I was going with my next build. What I've ended up with is a stock-bodied '72 non sunroof coupe with bumper trim removed, but otherwise 'as delivered.' It will have either 15 X 7" Fuchs or 15 X 6.5" Minilites and be painted Beige Gray with a bittersweet chocolate leather interior.

This is not an attempt to hijack this thread, nor to influence the primary discussion in any way, but please permit me to add a few photos of a most striking 356 which was displayed at the Wilhoit Open House in conjunction with the L.A. Lit show in March '12, and which was the attention-getter at Wilhoits this year. Again, not to provide free promotion, nor to swing or skew opinions in any particular direction, but only to furnish a graphic illustration of the very rare combination of grey and Chocolate, and to facilitate visualization of this ( in my opinion devastatingly effective and elegant ) combination of colors.

The color of this 356 is "Fashion Grey", an original period Porsche color. No flash was used in the attached photos, and the white balance is pretty much spot-on, in other words, that's what the car looks like. Fashion Grey is probably less "warm" than the Beige Grey suggested for the '72, but please bear in mind that printed color-charts, as shown above in post #33, are notoriously inaccurate & invariably much darker and color-shifted in printed form than they really are, but I believe the 356 shots offer an example of the grey / chocolate interior combination concept.

In my view, the warmth of the deep amber mahogany of the Bruce Crawford steering wheel is the perfect supporting touch to unify the two basic colors, and opinions about the cream piping are sure to be all over the map........and it may look a hell of a lot more period correct in a '60s 356 as opposed to a '70s 911, but I submit that details such as the wheel , the green gauges. and the creme piping are all personal preferences, but overall will a have huge aesthetic impact on the end result.

To remain on-topic, I further submit that occasionally, tastefully & judiciously done "hot rods", thoughtfully and carefully executed, are able to almost completely blur the line between slavish adherence to OEM authenticity and taking some artistic license by including personal preferences, even though that result does not perfectly accurately mimick how the car emerged from Zuffenhausen. Proof of that is frequently evidenced in the astonishing prices the top hot-rods fetch.

Pespectfully,

JZG

[Eminence Gris]

Wow. Just wow.

Thank you for the pix!

[Louie]

that car is stunning...and your comments well considered. Thanks for posting.

I have a 67S and a 73T. The 67s is on its way to being as close to OE as possible. Slate/ red.
The 73T is going to be a mild hot rod. The theme is 'James Bonds weekend car'.

[Richardnew]

Has Singer ever sold a car? How do we know this?

Richard Newton

[Louie]

Yes he has. 7-8. They are only making a total of 10 I believe.