Every year at Monterey Car Week’s swankiest event, The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, Porsche restomod firm Gunther Werks unveils an eye-popping new model. Way back in 2022, Gunther showed up with an orange stunner on the stage, then known as “Project Tornado.” Tornado, as in spinning air, as in serious turbocharged power in a highly customized 993-generation 911.
In the interim years, Gunther Werks refined Project Tornado through extensive testing and changed the name to simply “Turbo.” That bright orange paint job then started showing up on media drives around Los Angeles. And I, for my part, waited with serious anticipation and more than a little skepticism, hoping I might get a turn to review this $1.8 million restomod.
I wanted to know how a small company can hope to justify such a stratospheric price tag. But also, whether the performance goes so far above and beyond that the Turbo loses any semblance of Porsche-ness.
And now, after a day with the Turbo, I can confirm that Gunther Werks churned out quite possibly the most hardcore restomod on the planet. I mean, just look at these specs.
Gunther Werks Turbo Specs
- Engine: Twin-turbo air-cooled 4.0L flat-6
- Transmission: 6-speed manual
- Horsepower/torque: 513 hp / 458 lb.-ft. (Comfort), 650 hp / 518 lb.-ft. (Sport), 840 hp / 594 lb.-ft. (Track)
- Max boost: 1.3 bar (18.9 psi)
- Track width: 60.75”
- Wheelbase: 90”
- Weight: 2,790 lbs.
- Price: $1.45 million
First, A Visit to Gunther Werks HQ
Spoiler alert: 840 horsepower from just 4.0 L of displacement and two 48mm turbos absolutely rocked my world.
Doing the math, the Turbo’s power-to-weight ratio in Track mode eclipses a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. And, the Gunther Werks Turbo has rear-wheel drive and a stick shift, the holy grail combo for driving enthusiasts.
Gunther Werks builds the Turbo in the company’s SoCal HQ, where I got a chance to take a tour before climbing behind the wheel. And a surprisingly forthcoming tour, too.
Apparently, Gunther Werks as a project began when the founder of Vorsteiner Wheels, Peter Nam, wanted to fit the biggest wheels and tires possible onto a 993. Depending on who you ask, the 993 is either the best air-cooled generation because it’s the most modern, or it’s almost too refined and has lost some of the original Porsche spirit.
Gunther fixes all that by starting with the tires. A gargantuan set measuring 295 mm wide up front and 335 mm at the rear somehow fits. For context, the base Carrera 2 that the Turbo started life as would have worn as small as 205mm fronts and 245mm rears, depending on spec. Bigger tires mean more grip, which supports more power but also more cornering and braking load.
To handle the needs of sheer physics, Gunther starts by stripping a donor car down to bare metal and media blasting (a Carrera 2 or Carrera 4 will do). Then, the crew remedies any rust or corrosion and adds braces to the front, middle, and rear of the monocoque.
Then, all the body panels get replaced with carbon fiber, which is prototyped and then sourced from a local firm. Eventually, from the outside, all that’s visible of the original monocoque is the rain gutters and the lower windshield cowl.
Building Up From a Base 993
For the Turbo, Gunther uses a double-bubble roof (out of carbon) and when I drove it, a high-downforce wing that bolts directly to the chassis (also carbon, a theme develops). Without a solid total for downforce the wing generates, rest assured that it needed chassis mounting to prevent from literally crushing the (carbon) engine cover.
The carbon body panels still retain a classic Porsche 911 profile, without a doubt. But then all the smaller details continue to update the 993 with modern touches.
Gunther builds the headlights in-house, which purposefully resemble lenses with an X of track tape in place. Bezels and knurled switchgear, plus the incredible gearshifter, all get 3D-printed for prototypes (and weighed!) before entering production. Two different depths of steering wheel dish can bring the rim even closer to taller drivers. There’s an optional carbon-fiber dash face and a “waterfall” rear seat delete.
On the Turbo, that backseat includes more bracing and a 3130 chromoly roll cage designed, welded, and installed on site.
Much of the final spec for a Gunther Werks build eventually comes down to client preference. Some might prefer to keep the steel doors for a more solid clunk, but some want carbon replacements. Some choose Fuchs-style wheels with magnesium faces and carbon barrels.
Others might opt for forged aluminum wheels produced with a Haas lathe and mill on site — or one-piece mag wheels that weigh under 15 pounds for fronts and almost 16 pounds for the rears.
Custom Carbon Fiber Covers Everything
Three-stage paint can literally be a one-of-one custom color known only by the client’s name. Gunther’s HQ houses two paint booths for handling body and parts. Most cars leave with a leather or alcantara shift knob boot, but I prefer the Turbo’s exposed mechanical linkages.
As you might expect, making these decisions can take a day, or months. But the average spec and build process, once Gunther receives a donor car and order, takes around 24 months.
On-site, I got to watch the team meticulously apply interior trim and engine components, and check the alignment of engine accessories. I was not allowed to shoot in the electrical room, though, an entire wiring harness was in the process of being stripped and refurbished — to update connections for modern equipment, while using OEM plugs wherever possible.
Want to go all-out on your Turbo? How about 24-carat gold for the tachometer surround and drive mode dial on the steering wheel?
Clearly, we’re at a level where the all-too-popular term “bespoke” barely covers the total range of customizable options. But as I loitered around snapping pics, a tech cranked the Turbo to warm it up for our drive. And all my attention immediately turned to that engine.
A Soundtrack Unlike Any Other
The sound alone sets a Gunther Werks Turbo apart from any other road-legal car I’ve ever heard. Yes, some familiar air-cooled 911 rasp sets the air alight immediately. And the two small turbos puttering away accentuate the depth.
But I suspect the massive horizontal gear-driven fan on top of the engine, necessary to provide enough air for the air cooling to work, contributes to the overall cacophony most. Partially like straight-cut racecar transmission gears, partially deep vibrato, partially howling turbo — a combination that the custom exhaust only amplifies.
Rothsport Racing built the engine, which originally put out “only” 750 horsepower. More recent dyno tuning then turned the wick up to the absurd 840 peak rating.
After my tour, I almost felt some trepidation given how special this car is for such a small company. But then I spent a few hours behind the wheel as the Gunther rep in the passenger seat urged me to drive harder.
We covered low-speed neighborhoods, high-speed freeway pulls, stop-and-go traffic, and some open roads for more fun. The whole drive, I acclimated more and more to the Turbo, growing more comfortable with each engine and suspension setting.
Everything about the Turbo is reminiscent of a Porsche 911, just turned up to 11 in every way. The floor-hinging clutch always takes a momentary adjustment, but this one nails the feel and friction zone at the perfect height off the floor.
The shifter, as the saying goes, slots into gear like a fine bolt-action rifle. It’s slightly taller than expected, but precise, predictable, and pleasing at all times.
Liveable & Approachable, But Also Absolutely Bonkers
And the throttle response: Just Perfect. That 4.0L ripsaws through rpms in neutral, small turbos, and ITBs feeding impeccable revs. But it never got overly sensitive while actually in gear, until I pushed harder and harder. Then a new character emerged, all howling and shrieking. Effortless power, all throughout the rev range, that hits like a sledgehammer when asked.
This was all just in Comfort mode, too, with the lowest rating of 513 horsepower and 458 pound-feet of torque. Stepping up to Sport (650 horsepower) and then Track modes using that 24-carat dial on the steering wheel unleashes even more power, even quicker revs, and even better acoustics.
Plus, another dial on the dash face individually controls the JRZ Proactive suspension. Even in Track mode for the engine and dampers, the Turbo is still just barely livable for street driving. The car only weighs 2,790 pounds, thanks to carbon-fiber everything, so the suspension doesn’t need to be harsh to create grip and overcompensate for mass.
The front tires do tramline a bit, given the sheer width of rubber. But the rear-engined weight distribution helps to prevent too much untoward steering feedback.
And rather than going with the popular electric steering assist systems that mount on the column, Gunther Werks retained hydraulic steering. This lets the car load up into corners and then unwind under throttle so nicely, which helps the unbelievable power never feel out of control.
Everything Great About a Porsche, Improved
Meanwhile, after hitting triple-digit speeds with ease, a set of continuous-thread Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes can slam the Turbo to a stop almost immediately. Doing so never upsets the chassis balance, though. And it’s that level of carryover from Porsche’s original engineering that I believe makes the Turbo special.
Anyone can do big power numbers. Anyone can do hardcore suspension, or tight steering, or crazy brakes. But making everything work together well to create a cohesive experience takes knowledge, effort, and a lot of refinement over time. That magical feeling of nailing a heel-toe downshift entering a corner, and then hustling past the apex and punching back hard onto the straights, comes naturally in the Turbo.
I even fit with plenty of room to spare! Porsche’s 911 interiors from the 1990s typically fit taller drivers, in fairness. But even with a roll cage, the Turbo’s thin carbon bucket seats kept me swaddled in comfort. They’re a massive improvement on Porsche’s OEM buckets, which give me a backache worse than Spirit Airlines and also make life in a crash helmet miserable.
Gunther even developed a magnetic, removable headrest pad to create more room for those owners brave enough to take a car out on track. And, of course, the visibility remains a standout even if the high-downforce wing blocks some of the rearview mirror.
Daydreaming of a Track Day
My time with the Gunther Werks Turbo covered less than an ideal route. As with so many supercars and hypercars today, their unbelievable power makes them too fast for public roads. I would have loved more time in the canyons — or better yet, on a racetrack where I might fully unleash the Turbo in a more controlled environment.
But I nonetheless got a solid amount of time to adjust to something so radical. And doing so, I got more confident in the handling and character, even while rarely pushing near the limit.
Of course, approaching the limit in this case ends up sounding sort of sketchy. And not just because of the sheer value, but also because maybe only 5% of clients will ever actually take a Gunther Werks to the racetrack. There, the cost of a mistake is still sky-high — but the specter of reliability and maintenance comes into play, too.
These are not the kinds of cars that rack up huge mileage. In fact, the very Turbo I drove might be the most well-traveled Gunther Werks build yet. The odometer showed over 4,000 miles, most of them at full gas by journalists driving like maniacs.
Despite some damage along the way that Gunther Werks needed to fix, the car still absolutely cooks. And for clients, Gunther can help keep the builds running if and when things do go wrong. We must always remember that producing any running and driving car requires a miraculous combination of skill, effort, and a bit of luck.
Contemporary tech like 3D printing and CAD helps make a company like Gunther viable. Yet the development costs for something so complex — and the demand for something so spectacular — still befuddle the brain.
Gunther Werks Turbo: Conclusions
Gunther plans to build 75 Turbos at a current rate of two cars delivered per month. That’s in addition to approximately 50 previous Coupes and Speedsters already built, each nearing the end of a planned run of 25.
Ramping up the production rate to a goal of four cars built per month means I might eventually even see a Gunther Werks in the wild. So far, even in West L.A., I have never spotted one.
Meanwhile, I can’t quite reveal what Gunther will unveil next at Monterey this year, but one-upping this Turbo is obviously no joke. So hardcore, so raging and ridiculous, yet also so refined and liveable.
This 911 restomod takes the cake, with a more engaging attitude, even while just cruising around town, than the best supercars and hypercars produce at full throttle.
Among other awesome restomods, I struggle to find a comparison. Though, many Gunther clients can probably do so better than I can, since plenty already own Singers or rarer modern masterpieces like Paganis and Koenigseggs.
Gunther Werks Daydreaming
My own dream Gunther Werks would be a Turbo, just for that soundtrack. But I’d go with a classy dark green or an understated gunmetal metallic rather than orange. And a boring interior with simple leather and carbon-fiber — and the exposed shifter, of course — because my main criticism would be that the styling goes a little overboard.
But that’s just my own personal taste. At any rate, maybe that would help to keep the sticker shock closer to the starting $1.45 million pricetag.
Then again, it’s all a fantasy anyway. But it’s one I got to live out at least once, which made for one of the more memorable days of my automotive journalism career thus far.
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