The sermon according to Singer..?

[C4Silver]

Luddite, Glad to see you are working your way through the many and varied reviews and footage of available, i know what you mean with regards to starting at the end or even ending at the beginning, The Analogue references i dont mind so much, i used to hate it but it's been replaced with "Visceral"



Analogue to me means, No buttons on the steering wheel, no connectivity for devices, no EPS, It has to be manual.... otherwise whats the point ?
Different people have different interpretations of the meaning but for me when i'm out in mt car and i get a call that i cant hear or see in the car that adds to the analogue description.....

Visceral "to me" despite it's dictionary term is a word used to decribe an automatic car because the manufacturer dosnr want the review to look off, so instead of using the term Analogue which has been used to coin the manual markets, Visceral seems to be applied to Auto's with EPS..... which has improved of course !

The 911 R..... To me..... harks right back to 1967 ! the stripped out racer that was bedecked in BP Livery........ reminds of a bunch of engineers at the Wolfsburg plant who invented the Golf GTI. It was their vision of what the Golf should be, as with the 911 R, it pre dated the 2.7 RS by some 5 years.
So for that to be "Re imagined" by the factory in narrow body available with the BP Colours stripped out further than the equivelant GT3 RS......In Manual.....

If i had the Money then i'd be privelidged to own such a car, as for the Singer, no doubt about it, it's an engineering masterpiece, I've seen them up close and the paintwork looks like it has been applied and baked in outer space ! for me the 964 is a true classic, but i'd feel like it was a bit robbed of it's identity and that Singer have jumped on an already well established bandwagon and pimped it for money makings sake, I'm not keen on the "reimagined by Singer" strap line,

but as i won't be buying one, it matters little to me.

 

[912Polo]

I think what Rob Dickinson has done is incredible, but I do take issue with a comment he made in one of his numerous interviews for a Porsche publication :

Do you think part of the company's success is its base in LA?

And Mr Dickinson's response :


California and LA has a huge amount to do... This car is definitely a product of California. I don't think I could have thought this was possible anywhere else in the world, certainly not in England.

I think everything that drew me here, to California, had a lot (unknowingly) to do with this project. That clichéd, but very true, 'can do' spirit is extremely important to me. I'm surrounded by positive vibes.

Most importantly though, there is access to world-class engineering and prototyping here. With all the major car manufacturers having major design studios here in Southern California, it has bred a huge network of artisans and craftsman that we have access to"

So I presume Mr Dickinson thinks England doesn't have a network of THE finest artisans and engineers, capable of designing, engineering, prototyping and building a car such as the Singer ??

That seems akin to saying you'd struggle to get an F1 car built in the UK's 'Motorsport Valley"

Mr Dickinson went down in my estimation (massively) by spouting that gem.
But it also begs the question, why did he choose Williams Advanced Engineering to develop the DLS, if LA is such a hotbed of automotive engineering talent ?

Discuss ...

I read that quote about it being a product of LA California translating to there is not as large a pool of people in England that have that amount of disposable income to spend on a weekend car whereas in California its pocket money. Talent wise in the Classic Car world I think you could easily have built the Singer product in the UK and hence the reason he has set up a base here now albeit he won't sell as many.

As for the Singer product personally I don't like them and I for one am getting a bit bored with Restomods that have over fat arches that spoil the simplicity of the design. In my opinion these mods would never have been done by Porsche so I don't get the comment about " That is how Porsche would have evolved them if they could"

What would I do if I had that sort of disposable money I would go to RUF and say build me a Yellowbird! RUF is everything Singer is not they properly develop the Porsche product and is one that is admired by Porsche. Their products are pure class IMHO and are on my wishlist Singer is not - but each to their own.

My main complaint about Singer is that they have started a trend that has rippled all over the globe and so many Porsche businesses are now building a restomod and its getting boring every time I open Classic Porsche magazine and see yet another version of a Singer being built and killing off the last remaining 964's that are out there. I am all for improving cars and my 912 is soon to receive a Dean Polopolus 4 engine, from California of all places but being built in the UK. However the car will look standard. I might do a couple of Mods on the interior but tastefully so so it doesn't look like the interior of a Gucci handbag :floor: