Kamm 912 driven – the 699kg, £340,000 Hungarian Porsche

Porsche 912 restomodder Kamm Manufaktur introduces full-carbon car

We’ve previously driven Kamm Manufaktur’s Porsche 912 restomod in prototype form but this is a production model. One I don’t think it expected to be making just yet, but such is the way with niche restomodders that if you have a request, they’ll try to oblige.

This, then, is a 912C, a full-carbon panelled version of the 912 that can weigh as little as 699kg, depending on specification, because a customer wanted one with as much carbon fibre as possible. Yours for £340,000 (you can have less carbon for less £).

To recap, Kamm is a Hungarian company whose founder loves 912s, four-cylinder coupes that sat alongside early 911s in the Porsche range in the 1960s. Something of an underdog today. But lighter than its six-cylinder contemporary, so that’s what it restores and updates, in short-wheelbase form. Founder Miki Kazmer is something of a purist – his first protype was quite stiff and only 1.7 turns lock-to-lock. When we drove that prototype Kamm had three employees in Budapest; now it has 14 and does its own electrics, paint and carbon fibre, and has specced its own engine.

This new customer car is a good showcase as it features pretty much the works. The steel shell is restored but all outer panels, including roof and wings, are carbon fibre, and the engine is Kamm’s latest iteration of its air-cooled 2.0-litre four-pot, making 182bhp at 6800rpm and 180lb ft at 4300rpm. Kamm’s preference is to start with a shell that’s straight if rusty rather than accident bent. But these are all 1965-1968 cars so to an extent they take what they’re given.

The customer here has gone to town a bit on the exterior finish, but also the interior plushness, with leather seats and a heater and a stereo, so Kamm says it tips the scales at 770kg. Shorn of that, I and I think that would be ideal Kazmer-spec, it’d start with a six.

Fit and finish is a lot better than it was a couple of years ago (and it wasn’t bad then). There’s bare carbon on the outside and it looks as good as anyone’s. To reduce wind noise Kamm fits 993-generation 911 door frames and closures – remarkably they’re the same size – and reprofiles the A-pillars. But the doors still make a satisfying clack. Rather than a roll cage there’s some discreet chassis strengthening under the skin, so the interior feels as classy and light and airy as an original might; the stressed body panels enhance the rigidity too.

I find it easy to get comfortable. There’s a new floor-hinged AP Racing pedal box and the seat is supportive. The steering wheel doesn’t adjust but fits me fine – and I’m sure you could spec a deeper dish if you wanted. The five-speed dogleg gearbox’s lever sprouts from the floor between the seats.

It’s a simple cabin; the audio system is discreet; you’d barely know the vents are there if they’re closed. And there are controls for those, plus the five-stage TracTive dampers and one angrier engine (and exhaust) mode, and that’s about your lot. Which is fine by me.

Today’s Kamm is meant to be easier to drive daily than the prototype but this is still a relatively demanding car. There’s a decent amount of mechanical noise, even at idle, which is the only point where this new engine (you’ll be able to order a crate variant to suit early cars or 356s) sounds at all Beetleish. Under way, it sounds like a more recent Subaru or even Porsche’s four-cylinder Cayman, albeit louder. I’m sure reprofiling the front has reduced wind noise, but it’s hasn’t sanitised the experience.

The engine pulls strongly, positively; in really lovely linear fashion. I prefer the throttle response in its sportier mode. The pedal is heavy so it feels like there’s less stiction. The brake and clutch are heavy too, but both pleasingly so. The gearbox is the weak point. Kamm can and does weld in and machine out some components to bring them back to better than production tolerances, but the lever is still a wand whose vagueness is at odds with the enhanced precision elsewhere. They’re working on their own five-speed transaxle.

You can spec three different final drive ratios and this has the longest. It’s quite long, but because there’s such a paucity of weight to lug around, and because there’s 125lb ft from 2000rpm, it feels responsive all the time. You’re always aware of that fleetness – this has the same kind of power, and a not dissimilar butchness, to those 182hp Renaultsport Clios, but is around a quarter of a tonne lighter. With a short wheelbase too, and very solid body control with the dampers turned up, it’s very happy to change direction. There’s quite a modern feel to its ride and responses, yet the steering takes a moment to build up weight, retaining a bit of classic feel. And I really like that.

When we first drove a Kamm, it felt like a Sunday morning blast sort of car. A Caterham Seven with a roof. The past three years haven’t dimmed that, but have upped the usability and finish. It’s pricey – what restomod isn’t? – but if you like lightweight bespoke cars, and I do, this is a hoot.