► Porsche 911 Earls Court 51 Edition revealed
► Design inspired by a 356 displayed at London show
► Just 51 will be made, at £251,951 each
In the far corner of Porsche’s burgeoning Sondenwunch (‘special wishes’) department, past the rows of brand new 911s receiving unique features away from the main production line – some of them drop-dead gorgeous; some in highly questionable taste – sits a GT3 with a rather more restrained ethos. A ‘British ethos’, in fact, interpreted through the lens of a German car maker.
If the combination of dark green paintwork, wood trim and pale leather interior makes it sound like a Rover 75, one glance at the photos should reassure you about the Earls Court 51 Edition. This isn’t a GT3 Geriatric Edition, but more of a restrained, retro-themed take on Porsche’s revered road racer. Based on the latest 992.2 GT3 with Touring package – meaning it loses the ‘swan neck’ rear wing – it’s conceived as a homage to 75 years of Porsches being sold in the UK, the name referencing the debut of the marque at the 1951 motor show at the Earls Court exhibition halls in London.
It’s the latest Market Limited Vehicle, which is Porsche-speak for a low-volume special aimed at a specific global market, and just 51 examples will be made at £251,951.
Apart from providing UK buyers with the opportunity to purchase a special GT3, this car is a tangible example of Porsche’s increasing focus on customisation and one-off projects. Like many high-end car brands, Porsche knows there is significant margin lurking in the desires of wealthy customers looking for something that no one else has; a car that doesn’t follow a straight path from the production line to the buyer. Given new CEO Michael Leiters has to find a way of increasing Porsche profitability, it’s no surprise that he’s suggested that more ‘special models’ will be on the way.
Porsche has a rich history of such modification, dating back to wild and wonderful 911 Turbos in the 1980s. Its recently restructured way of making and selling non-standard cars is best seen as a pyramid of individualisation, with escalating price tags.
At the bottom are the official accessories, the kind of thing that’s fitted by your dealer. Next, Exclusive Manufaktur covers all kinds of interior and exterior parts, and the now very much en vogue paint-to-sample (PTS) programme, most of which can be accommodated on the standard production line. Sondenwunch sits above that, including individual customisation and unique colours (PTS+), and unique cars. If you’re at the very pointy end of the pyramid, you can design your own car, with the assistance of a dedicated design team from the Porsche styling department and a Weissach-based engineer. Those projects can take years to come to fruition, and are priced accordingly.
The Market Limited Edition sits somewhere in the middle. The Earls Court 51 Edition is resplendent in a new colour – Earls Court Green Metallic – which for now will be exclusive to the model, but which will make its way onto the PTS palette if interest is high enough. It’s dark and lustrous, and reminds me a lot of Porsche’s classic Brewster Green shade. On the 51 it’s combined with Brilliant Silver for the door mirrors, the door handles and a bonnet stripe that begins at the badge. The prototype has come down the line with black mirrors, which as we watch are tossed into the skip in favour of the correct silver items, all part of refining the build process ahead of series production.
You’ll also find green on the inner faces of the alloy wheels and down in the frontal air intakes, while inside the cabin there’s Night Green leather combined with Chalk Beige and Paldao wood trim. The stand-out feature is the corduroy seat centres for the usual 18-way adjustable Sports Seats Plus, which also have green piping and Paldao back panels, and there are rear seats, too. In fact, the more you look, the more details you uncover, such as the small ‘1951’ logo on the centre console, or the embossed outline of a 356 on the side of the dashboard when you open the door.
Mechanically, it’s the same as the series production car, including the choice of either the six-speed manual transmission or the seven-speed twin clutch PDK unit. The appeal of this car lies in whether you appreciate the look, find appeal in having a low-volume special and whether you think it has longer term investment potential.
When we visit, parked alongside the 51 is an early, split-screen 356, once the property of Porsche Club GB pioneer Betty Haig, and now owned by Porsche Cars Great Britain. It has been restored to mimic the 51 both inside and out. It too is now Earls Court Green, with chalk corduroy and green on the inside; not period options, but pleasantly retro all the same. The intent is to showcase Porsche Classic’s abilities, a department closely linked to Porsche’s customisation pyramid. The message is clear: if you can dream it, and you have the funds, Porsche will build it for you.
