RWB Porsche 911: What's The Hype And Why Does It Cost More Than Your House?

Purists love to hate Porsches built up by RAUH-Welt BEGRIFF. They'll see a man actively smoking a cigarette as he takes an air-powered reciprocating saw to the fender of a perfectly good Porsche 911, and they'll wonder why. What could be the appeal of this riveted-together, hacked-up 911? Why waste such a nice car? Well, allow me to explain: RWB Porsches are cool as hell, and their wide, aggressive aesthetic alone is justification enough for their existence. 

Of course, there's more to it than just looks. RWB's Akira Nakai is not only a design genius, but a man with an impeccable eye for detail. RWB Porsches are beautiful, uniquely crafted, meticulously built, and they have their own heritage and community around them — just, maybe not the same community as the folks cruising down sunlit Los Angeles streets at 10 mph just for Instagram reels and throwing spec sheets at each other on Rennlist. 

The RAUH-welt BEGRIFF name translates to "Rough World Concept," and it comes from Nakai-san's old drift team Rough World. Nakai drove an AE86 back in the 1990s, but he worked at a Porsche shop that piqued his interest in rear-engine performance. He used the money from that job to buy himself a 1985 911 — the car that would go on to be known amongst RWB fans as Stella Artois. It's Nakai-san's favorite beer. 

Stella Artois was low, wide, loud, and unlike any other Porsche. It certainly wasn't the first widebody Porsche ever built, but it may well have been the most extreme at the time. It was also a driver's car — its lines weren't perfect, its rivets weren't filled and paint-matched. Stella Artois wore its modifications as a badge of honor, the way drifters proudly show off the stitched bumpers on their missiles.

Nakai-san still builds RWBs by hand. You order the kit, get it paint-matched to your car, and Nakai shows up to cut your car up with his trusty air saw. It'll cost you more than some entire cars — estimates from folks who know multiple RWB builds peg the cost at $40,000 — and at the end of it you'll have one of the most reviled Porsches that Reddit has ever seen. RWB is sort of the anti-Singer: The latter approaches Porsches with a very precise touch, tastefully updating them with a focus on preserving heritage and pedigree, while Nakai-san hits them with a hacksaw and makes something truly different. 

People love to complain about RWB craftsmanship online, saying that these buckwild 911s are slapped together without care. They're wrong — Nakai-san has an incredible amount of care for every RWB, he just doesn't care about the same things as online Porsche loyalists. The exposed rivets, the chopped-up fender liners, they're all part of the appeal. RWB cars get driven hard, they attend Nakai-san's annual Idlers 12-hour race named for the brand he spray paints on every RWB tire. Every RWB Porsche maintains the spirit of that first Stella Artois 930, and they're all better for it.