I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. When it comes to Porsche, I’m a purist. I like my Porsches stock, straight from the factory. It’s not that I don’t appreciate modifications and the extra performance (or in this case utility) that comes with them, I just prefer things the way Porsche meant them to be. That’s why creations like Harry Thomas’ Porsche 928 pick-up seem to bowl me over with their audacity.
Thomas is a collector of all things fast. Unlike some, he's not a one marque collector, as the Ferrari’s, Merecedes and Lamborghinis in his garage will attest to. Even with all these, arguably, unique supercars at his disposal. Harry still yearned for something dfferent, something that would stand out on the street (Ferrari’s and Lambo’s don’t stand out?) Taking a page right out of the Porsche history books, when he couldn’t find what he was looking for, he decided to build it himself.
Modifying a Porsche 928 GTS
Take one very rare, late model Porsche 928 GTS (world-wide there were only about 2800 produced), a grinder and some cutting tools, one extra axle and a twisted imagination; combine with some extra HP and hi-quality fabrication and what do you get? Harry Thomas' one-off dual axle Porsche 928 pick-up that he claims, based on engine mods, will perform as well as the original. My favorite quote from the video:
When you put a grinder or a saw to a car like this, it hurts a little bit…
Dohh, you think so?
Here’s the video for you to judge for yourself. What do you think of this type of mod?
Surprisingly enough, his 928 pickup doesn't stand alone. There were/are at least two other 928 pickups I found while searching. Here are a couple of pictures for you.
What are some of the strangest Porsche mods that you have seen?
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I’ve seen this before and I love it! Wild. This is not modifying a Porsche. This is building a whole new car. And it goes to show, quality matters. This is so well done. The hacked up 928 with diamond plate bed is garbage. But this dual-axle meaning is great.
@Kevin,
There is no denying the quality of this build/fabrication. What I don’t get is why did he have to do it to a GTS? Why not an older 928 (even an S or S4?) I guess I just have an affinity to the GTS. They only made a few more than 2k of them and I hate to see them get chopped up, no matter how nice of a job it is.
If the diamond plate has tie-downs, that could be the ultimate camera car! Imagine something capable of shooting a 935 or a new 997 GT3 RSR at speed! Pursuit Systems, a film/video company in southern California mounted a camera boom on top of a flat-black-painted Cayenne Turbo to shoot movies and commercials. Why not the 928-tandem. And it appears to be as well turned-out. But I’ve always had a soft-spot in my heart (or is that my head?) for purpose-built vehicles.
@ Randy,
check out this post for a truly “purpose built” Porsche.
http://993c4s.com/porsche-products/porsche-design-group-porsche-products/a-porsche-designed-to-compete-with-hummer/
Many of these pick up 928′s came from Denmark where there was an astronomical TAX on sports cars. If you made your 928 into a utility truck it avoided the TAX. I want one, I think I’ll make one but swap the old 928 engine out for a Corvette LS6. Now that’s a UTE!
It’s done in Denmark to avoid a draconian 350% (!) tax on passenger cars. Pickups, even customs based on coupes or sedans, get in free of charge.
When I lived in Norway in the early 80′s, someone discovered a loophole in the law allowing the duty free import of pickup trucks. If you installed a plexiglass barrier behind the drivers seats in a 928, it met the pick-up truck definition, which required a minimum area in a separate space not accessible from the passenger compartment. No body work was necessary, and several workshops were set up on the border to install the barriers. Of course, the Norwegian parliament immediately swung into action to close this loophole, but while it lasted, many 928′s came into Norway as “pickup trucks.”