A small German workshop is doing something unusual: taking a contemporary Porsche and making it feel like it belongs in 1956.
Stärke Motors, based in Paris, has unveiled the Speedster Gen 2—a reimagined 718 Cayman or Boxster wrapped in a body inspired by Porsche's original 356, the car that started it all in 1948. It's not a restoration or a replica. It's a surgical swap: keep the modern chassis and electronics, discard the modern bodywork, and build something that splits the difference between then and now.
The conversion costs around $135,000 if you bring your own 2017-or-newer 718. If you don't have a donor car, Stärke will source one for an additional $50,000. Either way, what emerges is a mid-engined, rear-wheel drive machine that looks vintage but drives like something built this decade.
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Start Your News DetoxYou get a choice of three engines: a 2.0-liter turbocharged flat-four with 300 horsepower, a 2.5-liter turbo four making 350 hp, or a naturally-aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six good for 394 hp. Pair any of them with a six-speed manual or seven-speed paddle-shift transmission. The bodywork and interior are handcrafted in-house, drawing design cues from 356 models across the car's entire production run from 1948 to 1965.
What Stärke is tapping into is something real: the appeal of older cars often has little to do with their actual performance. A 1956 Porsche is beautiful to look at and thrilling to think about, but it's also cramped, noisy, and mechanically temperamental. Modern sports cars are faster and more reliable, but they've accumulated weight and complexity. The Speedster Gen 2 tries to thread that needle—the driving experience of a contemporary mid-engine sports car wrapped in the visual language of an era when Porsche was still figuring out what it wanted to be.
It's a niche proposition, obviously. You need to already own a modern Porsche, or be willing to buy one, to make this work. But the concept suggests something broader: that nostalgia doesn't have to mean sacrifice. You can have the thing you remember and the capabilities you actually want.
Stärke has started taking orders. Whether this becomes a movement or remains a curiosity for wealthy enthusiasts will depend partly on execution, partly on how many people decide that the golden age of Porsche design deserves a second life.
