- Gunther Werks commits itself to manual gearboxes forever more
- The Porsche restomod specialist prioritizes the pure driving experience
- Gunther Werks clients commission cars for long-term ownership
While attending ModaMiami, a new concourse event in Florida, CarBuzz had an exclusive opportunity to drive a Gunther Werks Speedster, a hand-built Porsche 911 993 that is completely remastered. Think of it as the roofless 911 GT3 that Porsche would have made if the 993 was still on sale. A full review is coming soon, but during the drive around Coral Gables, we learned some interesting tidbits about the Gunther Werks philosophy, which stem from founder and CEO Peter Nam.
The Speedster is powered by a 4.0-liter flat-six engine from Rothsport Racing out of Oregon. Rothsport included a twin-map Motec Engine management system, coil-over-plug ignition, individual throttle bodies, a billet crankshaft, and rods and barrels. At 7,800 rpm, it screams its way to over 430 horsepower, managed by an H-pattern manual.
“Gunther Werks will never build an automatic transmission,” said Javier Roque, head of marketing for Gunther Werks Miami. “If automatic downshift isn’t part of the package, don’t count on driver aids. Don’t count on taking away the purity of the drive.”