I'm still awestruck by the price of these

"Somethin' 'bout a truck" (somethin-bout-a-truck) 03/14/2016 at 18:34 • Filed to: 911, Porsche, Singer, 700k, old school cool, amazing, wow, yeah, insane, how bout dat price doe?

1

52

Like, I get it. These are freaking amazing. But the price is the one thing I can never figure out. Like how on earth can they possibly cost as much as they go for? What do you figure the markup on one of these is?

More pictures for your time.

Tripper > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 18:40

4

I think the markup has to be huge for a company that does such a small volume to turn a profit. Either way I know where my first burnable half mil is going.

For Sweden > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 18:43

4

Just think of it as art.

qbeezy > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 18:45

1

Anything is only as valuable as what people allow it to be.

bob and john > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 18:46

8

given the sheer amount of man hours that goes into one (I dont remember it off the top of my head, but i’m under the impression its something like 2000 man-hours, plus curing times)

Id say its priced exactly where it should be.

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 18:47

2

Let’s see: take one 993 Carrera. Fully rebuild mechanicals and strip body. Add custom built carbon fiber body made to resemble an early 70's Porsche. Then add many nice things and tada! You have a Singer.

When you consider that, it makes more sense why I costs so much.

Somethin' 'bout a truck > bob and john 03/14/2016 at 18:47

0

But don’t you wonder if like 100k of that is just markup?

Somethin' 'bout a truck > qbeezy 03/14/2016 at 18:48

2

Yep, and this just happens to be one thing that people want to pay insane money for. I’m glad though, because they are amazing.

Somethin' 'bout a truck > For Sweden 03/14/2016 at 18:48

0

If that’s the case, they will only go up in value.

Somethin' 'bout a truck > Tripper 03/14/2016 at 18:49

0

haha exactly! I think the markup has to be considerably large. It’s not like they are churning these things out!

bob and john > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 18:49

4

well, given that guys guys need to buy the parts, the materials, the space to work on it, the permits, the insurance for the shop itself, the utilities and then they ALSO have to pay their employees enoguh to keep them living (and they arent making minimum wage here) AND still have to turn some profit because at the end of the day, its a buisness, not a charity.


no, id say the price is well justified.

Laurence > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 18:50

2

I think I heard in an interview somewhere that for what they cost, the margins aren’t huge; remember that pretty much everything on it is custom made, often by hand, I imagine the manufacturing cost gets pretty high.

That said though, there has to be some sort of profit, or they wouldn't be making them

TheHondaBro > qbeezy 03/14/2016 at 19:02

0

Say it with me:

“TWOOO DOLLARS!!”

qbeezy > TheHondaBro 03/14/2016 at 19:15

1

Tree-Fity

Frank Grimes > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 19:23

0

Me too. I love them and all the details and custom work but the price is insane. Maybe they price them really high to make people think they are worth it.

Saracen > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 19:23

4

I think Singer is a labor of love and either barely turns a profit or are currently operating at a loss.

If I recall, every Singer vehicle has over four THOUSAND man hours put into it and takes eight months to build.

The entire car is assembled by hand, it has hundreds of parts that are hand made or milled in house, and all that bright work is hand polished. The interiors are hand crafted and stitched. They form their own carbon fiber body panels. Most of the car except for the bare chassis, engine and drivetrain are entirely bespoke, and even the engine has a lot of custom work.

So I’ll leave it to you to calculate how much all the labor (and they employ craftsmen and highly skilled technicians, not journeymen) alone for a single car costs, not including the costs for all those materials and the custom in-house fabrication. Then compare that cost to what the cars currently sell for.

Singer 911's are crazy expensive for the same reason a Rolls Royce is expensive. But they’re gorgeous works of art.

Instead of being awestruck by the price first, look at the build quality that goes into it. It’s unmatched in the automotive world for anything that costs less than $750k and is named Pagani.

Saracen > bob and john 03/14/2016 at 19:24

1

Agreed. TONS of man hours.

It’s actually over four thousand.

d15b > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 19:28

0

If I had one of these vehicles, I would clear bra it and drive it.

d15b > d15b 03/14/2016 at 19:28

0

Hell, I’ll even take it car camping in Big Sur.

Tapas > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 19:30

1

I agree. Why is it so hard to find a rest mod company that sells cars at a reasonable price? Magnus Walker restores Porsches in an amazing way, but his touch raises the price up by a few hundred thousand. Icon goes to an incredible next level with cult classics and Singer goes even beyond that. And unfortunately, so does the price tag.

Why are there no companies finding 20-30 grand heaps of Porsche crap and clobering them back to decent shape for another 40 grand?

Kookanoodles > Tapas 03/14/2016 at 19:40

3

Aren’t they called mechanics?

bob and john > Tapas 03/14/2016 at 19:47

2

because 1: there are no 20-30K heaps of porsche worth restoring
2: parts and operatiing costs are expensive yo
3: think about the amount of re-engineering that actually GOES into one of these
4: think about the time (and labour costs) needed. and your not hiring $10,45 an hour cashiers here.

Saracen > Frank Grimes 03/14/2016 at 19:57

2

You think four thousand man hours of labor is cheap?

Tapas > bob and john 03/14/2016 at 19:59

0

Yeah, you may be right. Not even 30 grand for a no motor late 70s Porsche with a disease ridden interior?

Re-engineering might be one of the most expensive undertakings and its why people pay top dollar for Icons and Singers.

I could do without that, if they could do a good Porsche for 70-80 grand.

Tapas > Kookanoodles 03/14/2016 at 20:01

0

Right. But how come there aren’t any special ones that take on projects and then sell them. Like low volume kit car manufacturers?

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 20:03

3

Singer’s prices sound about right for an old Porsche completely disassembled and re-fitted by artisans who earn enough to eat and rent.

Then the mechanicals are replaced by thoroughly modern parts engineered, custom-fabricated and hand-assembled by people who earn enough to eat and rent.

Nothing is automated, save for a few sewing machines and some electric/hydraulic tools, and there is no economy of scale.

And I forgot the body, which is custom CF coachwork made to look like an old 911.

Sounds like a bargain to me, and I am nowhere close to being able to buy one. The only way to lower their price is to scale up the production, which is probably not on their agenda.

Frank Grimes > Saracen 03/14/2016 at 20:07

0

Where do you get your figures from Mr. douche?

Saracen > Frank Grimes 03/14/2016 at 20:11

0

This new amazing tool called the internet.

Frank Grimes > Saracen 03/14/2016 at 20:14

0

I don’t like your attitude.

Saracen > Frank Grimes 03/14/2016 at 20:19

1

I don’t really care.

Tom McParland > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 20:30

1

And the buyer still has to source the chassis! Granted Singer will help, but you are buying an inflated car and then adding an insanely expensive car on top.

Even still...if I had the cash I would get one of these over any modern hypercar.

NJAnon > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 21:28

0

The retail for the restored Porsches in the photos is $500,000?

Does the unlimited miles warranty come standard? It had better. :P

bob and john > Tapas 03/14/2016 at 21:29

1

at that point, why not just buy a new porsche?

and icons and singers, looks at the oparts the use too. just for icons:
brand new LS6. a tremec T56. dana 60/70/80s. a transfer case that can take the power. thats 30,40K worth of drive train right there, and we havent even begun to put it in the truck yet.

Somethin' 'bout a truck > NJAnon 03/14/2016 at 21:31

0

Yeah, I would hope so! It should be covered for everything until your grandkids get it.

Tapas > bob and john 03/14/2016 at 21:37

0

Older Porsches and newer ones are very different cars. I’m sure there’s a market for both.

There must be guys who like the older one more, but don’t want to go through the risk of finding a car whose restoration may take another 40 grand or 70 grand.

If you have a small company doing these restorations where this dude can go up and say - Hey this is my budget. Do you have anything for me? If not, here’s a down payment. Find me something like this for me and fix it up for up to this amount money.

bob and john > Tapas 03/14/2016 at 21:43

1

yea, those are just called specialty mechanics.

but seriously, have you been paiding attention to the older porsche market? the cars alone are worth 60-80K before anything is done to them. granted, thats for a decent runner, but still.

Spasoje > NJAnon 03/14/2016 at 21:43

1

Weren’t these $350k-ish? That’s the figure I remember reading about...

Elumerere > bob and john 03/14/2016 at 21:46

0

Yup.

NJAnon > Spasoje 03/14/2016 at 21:47

0

I didn’t see any link to the pricing or information (I don’t know firsthand of the Porsche specific restoration sites) but $350,000 is less eye-melting since at least thats Rolls-Royce level prices?

Tapas > bob and john 03/14/2016 at 21:47

0

I didn’t know there were such enterprising mechanic shops that did full restorations on cars they bought so they can sell em later.

I just thought the specialist mechanics fixed customer cars of a particular vintage or manufacturer and thats it.

Yea, I have a vague idea of the market. Thats why I was wondering if non running crap Porsches can be brought back to life for a reasonable amount.

Elumerere > Tripper 03/14/2016 at 21:48

0

It’s actually not. I saw a documentary recently about Singer, they’re too much enthusiasts to make big bucks. They really just work everything to perfection. And we all know those last 5-10% of perfection take the longest/are most cost intensive.

Elumerere > Saracen 03/14/2016 at 21:49

0

This.

bob and john > Tapas 03/14/2016 at 21:54

0

any specialty shop cant get buy on JSUT customers cars. they have to do something else on the side. hence, that.

i’ve yet to meet a specialty shop that was of any respectable size (4 lifts or bigger) that didnt do something like that)

Tapas > bob and john 03/14/2016 at 22:29

0

Damn, thats cool! I had no idea :)

bob and john > Tapas 03/14/2016 at 22:31

1

yea. even if they dont have anything, you can literally just walk in, and be like: yea, i want _______ and gone over. here is ____ $
them: yea, we might be able to do that. give me a week or so.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Tapas 03/14/2016 at 22:36

0

because the singer guys worked for over 2 years developing the bodywork mold for their cars. That’s hundreds of thousands if not millions in R&D to earn back.

Tapas > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 03/14/2016 at 22:41

0

Hey, no question about it.

I’m just lamenting the lack of companies making Porsche resto mod s for a reasonable price of around 70 grand. (not resto modded to Singer quality, of course)

Like a fixed up to run great, with bits and bobs swapped from other generations to build a close to perfect 911. Kinda like Magnus, but without the price tag .

Chasaboo > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 23:02

0

You get what you pay for. You get a lot with these.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/14/2016 at 23:25

0

I love the retro colors. that mustard.

http://jalopnik.com/the-best-porsc…

The Dummy Gummy > Somethin' 'bout a truck 03/15/2016 at 08:43

0

They probably will, if maintained properly.

Spasoje > NJAnon 03/15/2016 at 12:16

0

It’s certainly more justifiable at least, when one considers the cost of even restoring a car of that type to that level.

I know for sure that I saw that figure (as a ‘base price’) in an article, with the author either interviewing someone at Singer or visiting the facility. Can’t remember if it was published on here (Jalopnik) or in one of the major auto mags instead, though...

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Saracen 03/15/2016 at 14:39

0

I wonder if Singer themselves quoted 4000 man-hours. Would make sense.

Dru > Somethin' 'bout a truck 04/05/2016 at 09:56

0

I would definitely say part of it is they do so few of them. They need to make a significant amount of money on each one.