The Kalmar 9X9 Is A Modern-Day 959 Tribute Act

The Danish Porsche specialist has unveiled its modern take on the 959’s legendary lines, with modern flat-six power underneath

Mike Bartholomew

16 Aug 2024

What, you thought the Tuthill GT One was the only modern reinterpretation of a Porsche homologation special that was going to be revealed during Monterey Car Week? Oh, you sweet, innocent, foolish thing. This is the Kalmar 9X9, and it’s the Danish firm’s modern-day interpretation of a massively significant car: the Porsche 959.

Okay, the 959 wasn’t quite a homologation special – it ended up in a sort of Toyota GR Yaris situation when the rules it was built for got cancelled. Anyway, we digress. Kalmar, which builds everything from classic Singer-style air-cooled restomods to EV-swapped 911s to overland-ready Caymans, has taken a 993 911, draped it in a modern-day interpretation of the 959’s 911-on-roids bodywork, and filled it with bits of present-day 911s.

Said body is, naturally, made of carbon fibre for much lightness, and houses a fairly mighty powertrain. It comes in three versions, the topmost of which is a 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six providing a not insubstantial 930bhp and 738lb ft to all four wheels. That goes through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox – given the presence of a modern-day 911 gear selector in the cabin, answers on a postcard as to where it’s come from.

A ‘Sport’ version brings things (slightly) more down to earth with a 3.0-litre twin-turbo mill for 650bhp, while there’s a ‘Leichtbau’ – lightweight – derivative, that switches things up with rear-wheel drive, a manual ’box and a 4.0-litre, naturally aspirated flat-six. Again, no idea where these powertrains might have been sourced.

Hard to imagine given it’s not a festival of wings, splitters and canards, but that bodywork apparently delivers *checks notes* 1450kg of downforce. Wait, really? That’s considerably more than an Aston Valkyrie, or a track-only McLaren Senna GTR. Huh.

Things are fairly minimalist inside, albeit with the 911’s interior architecture still very much intact. Four of the 911’s iconic five dials have been ditched, with only the big central analogue rev counter (RIP) retained.

Kalmar plans to build just 27 of these, making it marginally less rare than that other Porsche-but-not-really thing that’s been unveiled at Monterey today. Wonder how many people there are slapping down deposits for both as we speak?

The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.