The Personal Touch

The 964 has long attracted those who wish to manipulate its factory form. Rich Covill’s latest project, this 1990 Carrera, reflects his lifelong affinity with the Porsche brand.

- Simon Jackson

Navigate your way to the Porsche Exclusive pages on the brand’s official website, and once there you’ll discover something I consider to be entirely refreshing. Yes, there’s some marketing blurb, emotive jargon, and slightly sickening images of beautiful people looking at material swatches for seat trim but there’s also an overarching notion not promoted by many modern car makers these days. Indeed, unlike most automotive manufacturers, Porsche actively encourages prospective owners of its cars to explore their creative side when specifying the form their new car should take. ‘Why shouldn’t you make the special even more special?’ is the first question these pages pose to the viewer, and Porsche goes further. Ferry Porsche, it explains, strongly believed in quality over quantity, and this philosophy, it suggests, goes hand-in-hand with a Porsche tradition to create bespoke, one off cars. There’s a motto that it cites, too: ‘Individuality straight from the factory’. In short, it actively promotes the building of ‘a truly unique vehicle’.