The Gorgeous Thornley Kelham European RS Is A Restomod Porsche 911 That Revs To 10k RPM

Singer. Theon. Kalmar. RPM Technik. Tuthill. Gunther Works. Want us to go on? Basically, if you have an old air-cooled Porsche 911 and want to make it drive like a modern sports car while keeping the analogue feel and classic looks, there’s an absolute glut of companies that can sort you out.

There’s now another to add to that ever-expanding list, as British outfit Thornley Kelham just unveiled this: the European RS. Thornley Kelham is no stranger to the world of restomods, having previously created modernised versions of the Lancia Aurelia and Jaguar XK120. This is the first time it’s thrown its considerable levels of craftsmanship at the 911, though.

The European RS starts, like so many of these projects do, as a 964-generation 911 (at this point, we’re not sure there are any 964s left that haven’t been restomodded). Thornley Kelham cites two of the 911’s greatest hits – the original air-cooled 2.7 Carrera RS and 2011’s GT3 RS 4.0 – as its inspirations.

It reclothes the 964 with new bumpers and a rear decklid with a newly-designed ducktail spoiler, all made from carbon fibre. The whole car sits on a bespoke suspension setup, with four-way adjustable coilovers and bespoke front wishbones, which Thornley Kelham says are based on the ones from the current 911 GT3.

There are also beefed up brakes with optional carbon ceramics, a mechanical limited slip diff at the rear, and a significantly quicker steering rack – 2.5 turns lock-to-lock, compared to the original’s 3.1.

It’s beneath that gorgeous ducktail spoiler where the properly special stuff is happening, though. There’s a choice of three naturally aspirated flat-six engines: standard fit is a 3.8-litre, 12-valve unit making around 300bhp, while an optional 4.0-litre, 24-valve engine takes things north of 400bhp. The one we’re most interested in, though, is the 24-valve 3.6-litre. No power figure is given, but we do know its rev limit: 10,000rpm. Ten thousand.

Topping everything off is an interior trimmed in luxuriant-sounding things such as Connelly leather and Alcantara, with greater sound deadening to make it a more pliant daily companion. One piece carbon fibre Recaro seats, a Momo Prototipo wheel and that gorgeous gearknob for the six-speed manual ’box complete the look.

As is almost always the case with these things, no price is given, but expect it to feature many zeroes at the end. If you do fancy this particular interpretation of the 911, then be quick: Thornley Kelham only plans to build 25, with three either already completed or in build.