Raw and Refined Porsche 911 Restomod: Theon Design USA001 Review

Theon Design purposefully calls itself the “Singer of the UK” in the hopes of stirring up some controversy. Doing so also capitalizes on search engine optimization, too. But the team working out of a small shop in Banbury, northwest of London, truly needs no such tomfoolery to drum up business for its upstart Porsche restomod firm.

In many ways, Theon follows the same recipe as Singer, but at a lower volume and price, not to mention a quicker timeframe. I previously visited Banbury and drove a build for an Italian customer, dubbed ITA001. The undeniable power and understated panache of that car blew my mind, even as I struggled to negotiate right-hand-drive roads in a manual left-hand-drive 911.

But now, Theon has completed the first order for an American, a similarly styled USA001. And the customer then allowed Theon founder Adam Hawley to bring the car out to sunny California for journalists and content creators to furiously test drive on the infamous Angeles Crest Highway.

A ripsaw of a flat-six engine cranks out 405 horsepower in a carbon-bodied 911 that weighs just 2,540 pounds. USA001 also has adjustable drive modes and suspension, plus mildly assisted power steering. And the gorgeous blue paint job only looks better, to my eye, with dirt and bug guts splattered all over the front.

The car loves being driven, and I reached a level of Porsche ecstasy that truly bordered on a peak life experience. But then I had to give the keys back.

In short: Every restomod firm wants to be “The Singer of XYZ” — be it Broncos, Scouts, Countachs, you name it. But in the finicky 911 world, each company needs to establish an identity to stand out from the increasingly large crowd. Theon Design’s ultra-refined, high-tech, and personalized process continues to develop. But 18 months after I drove ITA001, I’m happy to report that they haven’t lost the snarling spirit that makes air-cooled 911s so engaging in the first place.

Theon Designs Porsche 911 USA001 Review

With founder Adam Hawley in the passenger seat, grinning, I eased my way into driving USA001. I needed to acquaint myself to a new car, and not just because this 911 is worth well over a half-million bucks. It always takes a minute to readjust to the quintessential Porsche floor-hinging clutch and steering wheel position.

But then, about 10 minutes up the Crest, Hawley remarked, “You’re not even pushing very hard.” OK, Adam, sorry for trying to be respectful of this glorious masterpiece.

More Control Than Ever

Hawley configured this restomod, based on a 964-generation 911, for a Texas gentleman racer and audiophile. He wanted a car with many personalities: for daily driving, canyon carving, and occasional track use.

To that end, Hawley used a drive-by-wire throttle rather than a mechanical cable to allow for electrically adjustable drive modes. A new knob on the steering column selects the different throttle maps, which include a throttle-blip setting for downshifts. I flipped between the various setups a few times, but mostly wanted the engine as raw as it gets all the time.

A similar knob directly ahead of the shifter then controls the TracTive ACE  dampers.

Hawley then opened up the exhaust via a retro-design knob on the dash, since we’d left neighborhoods well below on this sundrenched morning. Doing so opened up a new level of auditory feedback, so forget the Pioneer P99RS head unit or the Hertz and Audison speakers. Time to open up that air-cooled flat-six.

That Engine & Those Shifts

Much like Singer, Theon hangs a 4.0L engine off the 911’s tail. It’s still air-cooled, but entirely overhauled. Not just with carbon-fiber trim, either, but to the point that a single plug connects the entire wiring harness to the car. The engine now puts out 405 horsepower at 7,500 rpm — despite the redline on the tach starting at 7,000 rpm. 

I never found the fuel cutoff despite winding up near peak power. The car had survived a hard week of journalistic testing, and I wanted to demonstrate at least some mechanical sympathy — despite Hawley’s enthusiasm. But the manual six-speed gearbox, a transaxle sourced from a 993-generation Carrera RS, made shifting and rev-matching such a joy that redlining became less of a priority.

By coincidence, ITA001 also featured a 993 RS ‘box, and the shift action, throw, and weight all simply take the cake. The clutch pedal itself entered the friction zone a little high off the floor for my taste, though. This puts it more in line with the gas and brake pedals, but I prefer a more OEM position just an inch or two off the firewall.

Eventually, I kept revving higher and higher, finding more and more power as the road opened up. That snarling air-cooled rasp echoed off trees and bounced through the canyons.

Classic Style, Modern Speed

But even with the TracTive dampers set to the stiffest setting, Hawley and I never bounced around too much ourselves. The setup reduces body roll but still allows for enough compliance that I could play with grip on the 17-inch Fuchs.

Hawley shod the retro wheels in Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires measuring 235mm wide up front and 275mm at the rear. That’s beefy for such a featherweight 911, and also transmits some noise into the cockpit. But especially while braking, as I set the nose, I just never ran out of mechanical grip.

Even with the power gains versus a 964, which left the factory rated at 241 horsepower, USA001 never felt likely to step out or snap around on me. We never hit supercar pace, in fairness, but this vintage Porsche can now legitimately keep up with most modern sports cars.

Of course, nothing ever feels fast to me anymore, after driving a Rimac Nevera and a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport — not to mention top-spec Ducati and Aprilia superbikes. But there’s joy in power-to-weight ratios that extend more exponentially than linear math suggests.

Hauling through corners and back out onto straightaways, and then hammering the 993 RS brakes, I finally started to nail my heel-toe downshifts. The single-mass flywheel lets the engine absolutely sizzle up the tach with just the lightest nudge of my foot between gears, so much so that I often needed to wait for the revs to drop again. But once I found the right timing, simple nirvana arrived, that echoic, roaring, brake- and tire-toasting level of bliss.

Big-Money, Bespoke Beauty

As befitting a restomod that starts at $590,000, of course — but how much do you want to spend, sir? 

Each Theon build will always stay one-of-one. They’re truly bespoke, a term so overused these days. And Hawley told me this customer was the most involved of any prior. That’s how I’d act while speccing my own Theon.

The details are all so thoughtful, each touchpoint either billet or 3D printed so that metals replace aging Porsche plastics. The bullet-tip mirrors, the passenger floor plate, the carbon rear diffuser details. Even 30mm of front-axle lift, to keep me from scraping the nose when we pulled off the road for pics.

The large battery and AC components mounted below the frunk floor, improve weight distribution.

I dig the Midnight Blue Metallic paint, which looks black until sunlight glints off at the right angle. But I’d skip the decals and go with a black interior paired to tinted matte aluminum trim rather than yacht-spec contrasting leathers.

I also don’t need the drive-by-wire or modes or auto blip — just give me all that rapscallion energy all the time. Would I skip the RS gearbox to save a few shillings? Well, it’s somewhat hilarious that of the 1,103 Carrera RS cars that Porsche built for the 993 generation, I’ve driven two of the transaxles surviving through to today. And speaking of modern times, can we do ventilated seats? Of course we can …

Theon Designs USA001 Review: Conclusions

Theon hyperbolically calls itself “The Singer of the UK,” which is a little tongue-in-cheek given that Singer has facilities in the country, too. But as one of the few lucky people on this planet to have driven 911s modified by both Singer and Theon, I can report that Singer truly exists on a different plane. Whether that level of restomodding actually detracts from the driving experience does form a sort of quandary in my mind, though.

A shorter waitlist, currently at about a year with another 18 months required to finish each build, plus a more “affordable” price tag — for a six-figure Porsche restomod — contributes to Theon’s appeal. And where the Singer vision of a 911 goes so far overboard that the car essentially becomes brand-new, Theon Design retains more of the raw, relentless character of an air-cooled 911. Only ratcheted up to a punchy new level of power and panache, whether Porschephiles agree with the process or not.