Porsche 911 Speedster Built as a Sonderwunsch Factory One-Off

Since 1954, Speedster variants have been part of the Porsche company history. They combine open driving pleasure with particularly expressive driving dynamics. The car is characterized by a two-seat layout, a unique cowl and shortened windshield. But there is a gap in the model history of the 911. Porsche offered 911 Speedster variants of the G-Series (second generation) and Type 964 (third generation), but with the exception of two one-offs and, much later, a model rebuilt as part of a factory restoration, there was no Speedster from the fourth generation of the 911, the Type 993, in the regular model program. So, Porsche enthusiast, designer and Speedster collector Luca Trazzi realized his dream of a Type 993 911 Speedster with help from the Sonderwunsch program. The result is a one-off car based entirely on the personal vision of the designer.

[source: Porsche AG]

Monterey, California. “At the start I looked around but couldn’t find the car of my dreams. So, I decided to build it myself.” Luca Trazzi has made this legendary statement from Ferry Porsche his own. And the successful designer from Milan didn’t just dream – he, too, took action. A 993-generation 911 Speedster was missing from the Porsche enthusiast’s extensive Speedster collection.

Luca Trazzi turned to the Sonderwunsch team at Porsche to realize his project. With their help, he made his dream car a reality. It took more than three years to create his one-off car based on a 1994 911 Carrera Cabriolet (Type 993). The two-seater with the characteristic rear cowl makes its world premiere this year at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering.

The creation process: A customer and designer working together

“As a young boy, I fell head over heels in love with the puristic Porsche Speedster. I had to work very hard to be able to afford my first Porsche, a Speedster 1600 Super from 1955. Ever since, I’ve managed to live my passion, or more precisely, my Speedster-mania,” says Luca Trazzi. “My dream was to complete my collection with a 911 Speedster of Type 993. Out of passion, I designed what this model might look like. I wanted the project to unify the stylistic elements of all previous Speedster models. Because although this body version has always continued to develop throughout its history, it preserved the elegance of its predecessors and stayed true to its beginnings.”

“In this form, and with this vast range of modifications, the 911 Speedster is our first Factory One-Off for a customer,” says Alexander Fabig, Vice President Individualization & Classic at Porsche. “This one-off car shows what’s possible with our Sonderwunsch program – based on a classic Porsche 911 (Type 993) from 1994.” The project team even built a true to scale design model of the Speedster.

“Having a designer as a customer was an exciting experience for me. Because Luca and I speak the same language, our collaboration was creative and focused,” says Grant Larson, Director of Special Projects Design. “He was also intensively involved in the project with very specific suggestions.”

The project began with a visit to the company archive to take a deep dive into the history of the Speedster and generate additional ideas. Luca Trazzi arrived at this first meeting with his own project book full of drafts and sketches and with a very clear and defined project idea on how he wanted to create his individual Speedster. This matched the philosophy of the Factory One-Off, namely that before the one-off car is finished, the focus is on the joint, creative car development process. The customer becomes an active part of the project team, closely following the implementation of their idea from the perspective of a project manager.

During the project, Luca Trazzi visited Porsche multiple times, making good use of the company ID issued to him for the project. Among other things, he witnessed his Speedster taking a bath in the cathodic dip-painting at the factory paint shop. This procedure is otherwise reserved for new cars undergoing the regular production process. Then began the complete manual coating cycle. The luminous yellow paint was not just developed as a color specifically for the customer – its name was also very personal, coming as it did from the customer’s own dog, Otto. During a meeting, the designer spontaneously named the paint after his four-legged companion, and ‘Otto Yellow’ was born.

“The rear lid with its concave and convex forms required a lot of work in the design, conception and production phases,” recalls Philipp Setter, Manager Sonderwunsch Customer Consulting. “But even here we managed to harmonize Luca Trazzi’s design visions with the Porsche processes and quality standards. After all, our Sonderwunsch credo is ‘You dream it. We build it.’”

Exterior and interior: Stylistic Speedster elements reinterpreted

The rear cover and the windshield follow design cues from existing Porsche Speedster models. They are bordered only by a thin black frame that intensifies their effect. Further striking exterior features include the black, conical exterior mirrors in the classic design of sports cars from the 1960s and the four-point daytime running light of modern Porsche models. Trazzi redesigned the bodywork line for the rear lid.

The 18-inch light alloy wheels in Turbo design are painted black, with the pinstripe in contrasting yellow. The black stone chip protection sheets in front of the rear wheels are functional design elements and striking features from other Speedster generations. They harmonize with the black door handles and the air intakes in the front spoiler. The Factory One-Off has a sporty look, with the Sonderwunsch experts taking the front spoiler, side skirts and rear quarter panels of the 911 Turbo (Type 993) as inspiration. The design of the indicators, taillights and light strip has been reinterpreted.

The interior is dominated by black leather with decorative stitching in yellow. The headrests feature an embroidered Speedster logo. The seat centers, which bear a checkered design in yellow and black, provide a visual highlight for the interior. It is a masterpiece of craftsmanship, with every check being tailored and sewn by hand. The same pattern appears in the leather-upholstered front luggage compartment, on the car cover, and on a matching touring bag. Carbon fiber elements on the dashboard, center console, handbrake, and gear lever further individualize the interior. The seatbacks are also made of carbon fiber. For the first time in a Type 993 Porsche 911, the carbon door sill trims are illuminated – in ‘Otto Yellow’, of course – and carry an individual logo.

State-of-the-art infotainment with navigation and Apple CarPlay is on board in the form of the Porsche Classic Communication Management (PCCM). These retrofitted devices extend the digital world to vintage and contemporary cars of the brand. The start screen is also personalized.

The switches for the power windows also underline the attention to detail, with the symbols redesigned to show the typical Speedster silhouette. A gilded ‘One-off’ badge on the dashboard bears witness to the car’s uniqueness.

The drivetrain: More power

The engine, chassis, steering and brake system are from the 911 Carrera RS (Type 993). At that time, the air-cooled six-cylinder boxer was the most powerful engine from Porsche, with a displacement of 3.8 liters generating around 300 hp.

To date, there are precisely two units of the 911 Carrera Speedster based on the 993 generation. The first was developed in 1995 by the Exclusive department especially for Ferdinand Alexander Porsche. The car is green with 17-inch light alloy wheels and a Tiptronic gearbox and is based on the Carrera body. This unit found its way back to the factory museum, on loan from the family. A second 911 Speedster (Type 993) – a silver Turbo-width 4S model with 18-inch wheels – was built in 2001 for a private customer based on one of the last 993 Cabriolets from 1998.

The Speedster presented here not only has a different origin story but is also differentiated from its predecessors by its unique design and its technical components. Following its premiere during Monterey Car Week, the car will return to Europe for final customer delivery.

The Factory One-Off: The most exclusive format of the Sonderwunsch program

Porsche is reinterpreting its legendary Sonderwunsch program from the late 1970s to enable individualized, one-off cars co-designed by the customer and realized professionally by Porsche. This individualization option is possible for street legal Porsche cars from any model year. Depending on the car, the work itself is carried out by either Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur or Porsche Classic experts.

There are three decisive milestones in the process of building a Sonderwunsch Factory One-Off as the ultimate format. The process begins with the customer’s idea, which they communicate to a Sonderwunsch customer consultant via their Porsche Center. If Porsche considers the idea to be feasible after an initial assessment, the customer attends a project meeting. In the concept phase, specifications are drawn up in collaboration with designers and experts from various departments within the company. In the end, the customer decides whether they will or won’t proceed with the project.

In the third phase, the components are developed, and the car is built. The design, engineering and development departments work closely with the mechanics, body builders and paint specialists at the relevant Porsche production facilities. If required, specialists from the Development Center in Weissach or other areas of the company can also be called upon, and test facilities such as engine dynos can be used. The dream car takes shape through manual craftsmanship with the constant involvement of the customer.

About Luca Trazzi

Luca Trazzi, an architect and industrial designer, was born in Verona in 1962. Awarded the Carlo Scarpa prize at a young age, he worked for 15 years alongside Aldo Rossi, of whom he was a close collaborator and assistant. Today he works in Milan and China. He is also one of the founders of designboom.com and designs for the most prestigious international brands. Luca Trazzi loves to draw objects that do not follow fashion. “Objects that are easy to use, to understand, beautiful to look at. Objects with simple, captivating shapes, lines that never go out of fashion”, explains Luca Trazzi. “Attention to detail is the characteristic that can be seen in my work. In parallel with design, I interpret places in an artistic way, through installations that represent the ‘staging’, almost in an open-air theatre, or my visions and thoughts.”

About Porsche Cars North America, Inc. | One Porsche Drive, Atlanta, GA 30354 USA

Established in 1984, Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (PCNA) is the exclusive U.S. importer of the Porsche 911, 718 Boxster, 718 Cayman, Macan, Cayenne, Panamera and Taycan. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, since 1998, PCNA is home to the first Porsche Experience Center in North America, which features two module-based 1.6 mile driver development tracks, a business center and Restaurant 356. The campus is also home to the U.S. headquarters of Porsche Classic. The company operates a second Porsche Experience Center near Los Angeles. That complex features a driver development track with eight educational modules totaling 4.1 miles, a business center, Restaurant 917 and the headquarters of Porsche Motorsport North America. PCNA supports 201 independently owned and operated Porsche dealerships in the U.S., three Porsche studios and six satellite stores in the U.S., including supplying parts, service, marketing, and training. They, in turn, work to provide Porsche customers with a best-in-class experience that is in keeping with the Porsche brand’s 75-year history of leadership in the advancement of vehicle performance, safety, and efficiency. PCNA is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Porsche AG, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.

At the core of this success is Porsche’s proud racing heritage that boasts some 30,000-plus motorsport wins to date.

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