When I went to visit Tuthill Porsche in June the 911K was a bare shell, painted gold, and a whole load of promises. Two months later it’s a fully realised restomod with all of those promises having seemingly been delivered. Chief among them is a short-stroke 3.1-litre naturally aspirated flat-six with four-valve heads that spins out to a redline at 11,000rpm. Or maybe the most remarkable fact is that the car weighs 850kg wet.
Tuthill isn’t saying exactly how much power the engine produces, but I’d guess it’s around 350bhp. In a car weighing literally half as much as a modern 911 Turbo S, it should be absolutely plenty. And presumably that power is delivered with a fairly memorable soundtrack. Richard Tuthill says it’s ‘the most exciting engine I have ever experienced’, which is quite something coming from a man who’s been surrounded by competition Porsches his entire life. He also tells me this car isn’t about raw power, but having fun at halfway sensible speeds.
His company has been building road cars for years, along with the very high quality rally and racing machines it’s best known for, but Tuthill Porsche is moving into the restomod game in a more serious way. The Porsche 911K, which will be limited to ‘a small series’, is the first fruit of that new venture. I drove a one-off 914/6 Tuthill creation, powered by a genuine 2.7 RS engine, on my last visit and can vouch for the quality of its work.
The Porsche 911K has a carbon fibre body and rear bulkhead, a titanium roll cage, carbon ceramic brakes and a magnesium six-speed gearbox. Leaning on Tuthill’s competition expertise it uses rally dampers, two-way adjustable, the company’s own wiring harness and pedal box, and a hydraulic handbrake, known in rally circles as an oversteer wand. The Fuchs-style wheels are uncommonly small at just 15 inches front and rear.
‘There are so many great people in the world building amazing 911s it’s sometimes quite daunting to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in,’ says Richard. ‘The idea was to build a simple, light car, beautifully presented but with the mechanical capability to take on anything that is currently out there; old or new. This one is for the drivers and quite honestly, I never imagined it could ever be what it has already become. I look forward to everyone having a go.’ Us too, Richard.
