If you can’t take another Porsche 911 restomod, can I present you this instead? It’s a Porsche 912 restomod.

I grant you that’s not 911 unadjacent. To recap, Porsche introduced the 912 in 1965 as a cheaper, four-cylinder alternative to its recently launched 911, which was terrific but priced quite a long way above what Porsche buyers, coming out of 356s, considered to be Porsche territory.

The 912, which had a four-pot engine from the last of the 356s, bridged the gap until the 911 had comfortably established itself. These days, the 911 is widely recognised as the greatest sports car lineage of all time, of course, but it wasn’t always so. In being not just cheaper than early 911s but also lighter and with better economy, the 912 actually outsold its more-cylindered sibling at times.

But I think it’s fair to say that the 912, if not quite a forgotten Porsche, is certainly considered to be, by most people, outshone by the 911. Most people, that is, although not those at the Budapest headquarters of Kamm Manufaktur, where they retain a 912 fetish.

You might remember that we drove a prototype Kamm 912C (it was brief, so you might not) back in 2022, and then again a year later after it received some tweaks.

It was adorned with carbonfibre and was a hardcore piece of kit: in its initial incarnation, the steering had 1.7 turns between locks. I liked it a great deal. Things have been progressing afoot since then, and now Kamm offers a full-carbonfibre 912C that can weigh less than 700kg.

It has also done a huge amount of engine work and now has a 2.0-litre unit making 180bhp at 6800rpm. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself: you can read a review of one (whose eventual owner has specced a few things that leave it slightly over 700kg) in two weeks’ time.

But the cars rendered here aren’t these full-carbon, £340,000 snorters. They are Kamm’s new 912T – T for touring – that come in quite a few quid cheaper, at ‘just’ £212,000.

The ‘just’ is Kamm’s word, and I realise it’s doing a lot of heavy lifting, particularly as it excludes the donor car and that adds £50,000. But Kamm brings the body back to better than new condition, and it gets stiffened, while carbonfibre is used for the wings, bonnet, boot, mirrors and bumpers. At 860kg, it’s a significant 100kg lighter than the original.

The T gets a lower-tune version of the C’s 2.0-litre engine, making 161bhp, which Kamm is also going to make available as a crate engine. Kamm is finding that a lot of classic Porsche lovers, particularly younger ones, like owning a classic car but are short of the time and nous to keep one working.

As someone whose Volkswagen Beetle carburettor diaphragms corroded due to today’s hygroscopic ethanol-laced fuel being left in them, I know the feeling. Gosh, if only to have a rather more modern throttle-bodied engine that will start on demand.

I haven’t yet seen a T in the flesh, but I can tell you (and will again soon) that Kamm’s crafting and finish are both exceptional. Also, Kamm’s idea of a restomod is rather different from most, especially when it comes to Porsches.

Most of those – Singer, Gunther Werks, Theon – take a more recent 911 and back-date the looks; Kamm takes a classic and leaves it looking entirely in-period. It’s more like Alfaholics’ take on Alfa Romeos: keep it looking sweet and upgrade the mechanicals.

Just like my take on my Hillman Imp, except for the bit where their cars work. Kamm will start building Ts next year – and more on them soon.

Peak Experience

At first I didn’t believe Aston Martin when it said peak torque from the Valhalla’s V8 engine was at 6700rpm, the same revs at which its peak power appears – especially given that the base engine in the Mercedes-AMG GT makes its peak torque from 2000rpm. But they assure me it’s so.

Power and torque are related: horsepower will always be equal to pounds-feet at 5252rpm, below which torque will exceed power and above which power will be bigger. That doesn’t mean torque can’t peak beyond that, but for it to peak at the same engine revs as power is vanishingly rare.

I’ve never heard of it in a car. I only know of one motorcycle (Japanese, and I now can’t remember which one) in which that’s the case. The Valhalla’s 7000rpm rev limit is quite modest for a hypercar, and with electric motors kicking in too, that may explain Aston being able to do funky things with the engine’s torque curve.

We’ll find out later – and if you know what the motorbike was, please do refresh my memory.