When Roger Kaege first saw a Singer-modified Porsche in a magazine back in 2009 he instantly knew, that he had to own a car with the similar appearance and ethos. With his own brand Kaege Retro, he has transformed an old Porsche 911 into a functional piece of art with lots of beautiful details and kept the classic retro Porsche spirit.
In love with the early Porsche 911 models
The market for classic cars has grown exponentially since 2010. One of the most popular models has undoubtedly been the early Porsche 911. This is, especially the first models from 1965 and until 1973, after which Porsche introduced the more clumsy G model with large bumpers.
The great demand and attention have created a brand new market and a whole new type of car builders. One of the best-known examples is Singer Vehicle Design from California.
Singer is however, not the only one who has succeeded in creating a business out of restoring old Porsches. They are also not the only company to restore cars with such a high quality and finish that the end product looks like something that just left the factory.
Who is Kaege Retro?
German Kaege Retro was first inspired by Singer and the two have a number of similarities. However, Kaege’s approach to the re-build process is a little bit different. The biggest difference is that Kaege uses Porsche series production parts to keep the costs down with the benefit of proven reliability and serviceability. This can be a huge advantage later on if you need to replace any parts: you can simply buy directly from Porsche as opposed to ordering expensive custom parts from competitors in the business. This also means many future tasks would be more plug & play and could be done by yourself with a basic tool-set.
Where Singer starts with a 964 model of 911 from 1989 to 1994, Kaege Retro uses a 993 from 1994-1998. Many of the body parts are replaced with carbon fiber parts. In addition, the battery has been replaced with a small, lightweight lithium-ion battery.
It has been necessary to consider weight saving to keep the car’s characteristic driving skills. The undercarriage has been upgraded with a complete set of coilovers from KW.
Safety first
Kaege wanted to increase both safety and the luxurious feel of the Porsche 911. LED headlamp, navigation incl. hands-free-phone retro style, Recaro seating, rims in Fuchs Design, suspension and much more are among the upgrades. The final result is a total weight of just 1,195 kg which is 120 kg lighter compared to the original 993 model. This, combined with 300 HP from the famous air-cooled 3.6 liters engine, gives the Kaege Retro a serious character.
What really differentiates Singer and Kaege is, as mentioned, the maintenance costs! In addition to the easy access to standard Porsche parts available worldwide, you don’t have to drive your car to Kaege if any problems occur. That also means the RETRO comes with the original OBD-equipment – just as the 993 did back in the days.
The price!
The manpower used for the build of the very first example amounted to 2,500 hours. The process takes about a year from start to finish and the costs for all necessary parts adds up to 80,000 EUR plus tax. The final price depends on the desired level of customization but then you also have a very fine and unique piece of Porsche history in your own garage!
The price of the car is 290,000 EUR (plus German 19% VAT).
