Modified Porsche Cayman S 987

Most Porsches are sober and understated statements of intent, but this crazy modified Porsche Cayman looks like it’s just escaped from a maximum security centre for the clinically insane!

There are any number of ways to go about tuning a car and it’s no exaggeration to say that this little tuning world of ours really does have something for everyone. Car modification can take pretty much any form you want, and it’s nothing if not a broad and varied spectrum.

At one end you have OEM+ owners making ultra subtle, carefully considered tweaks, while at the other you have balls-out Bosozoku creations with six-foot exhausts and ankle-maiming side skirts. Of course, you are somewhat limited by your choice of base car (woe betide anyone who fancies bolting some character to their Kia Rio, for example) and it’s only natural that certain cars have attracted large fan bases.

This sheer popularity helps explain why certain cars have come to be associated with certain modifications (BBS wheels and VWs anyone?), and it means that when someone does do something a little ‘out there’ it’s all the more special.

Now, the chances are you’ve already set eyes on this particular Porsche Cayman as it’s been all over the internet since it was unveiled at Worthersee, but that doesn’t make it any less dramatic looking.

The thing that strikes you hardest when you see this car is just how far it goes to counter every stereotype that’s ever been associated with Porsches. We’ve been brought up to see Porsches as ultra capable and very well engineered bits of kit (and of course that’s still very much the case), not over the top monsters that shout their performance credentials from the rooftops.

This is a Cayman that’s taken a leaf out of Lamborghini’s book then; it’s well and truly dumped any notion of understated sobriety and replaced them with a look that falls somewhere between bonkers and clinically insane. We love it. Many others despise it with a passion that borders on the worrying – this really is a Marmite Porker!

“It’s a car that divides opinion and gets people talking whenever they set eyes on it,” explains the owner, Mario Mattick. “We didn’t set out to build a purposely divisive Porsche though, it’s just the end result of our combined imaginations and a few crazy ideas.”

Crazy doesn’t even begin to describe this car and it’s genuinely hard to decide where to begin when it comes to discussing how it looks, though we should probably begin with that one-off shade of green.

We’re willing to bet that 99 percent of Porsches sold today are specified with silver or black paint, and while there’s no doubting that these sombre hues suit the cars, it’s also hard not to feel a little let down at the lack of imagination involved. Mario’s Cayman is a million miles from these sober rides and that brash, vibrant shade of Kermit green is the reason why.

“It’s a custom colour, which was important as I wanted to make it really stand out from pretty much every other car out there. It’s something me and the other guys came up with early on in the build,” laughs Mario. “I call it ‘mustard honey yellow.’”

One of the things you very quickly come to realise about Mario and his Porsche is how unfazed by the whole thing he is. Many of us would probably pause and think twice before taking a pretty much ‘box fresh’ Porsche down to bare metal and spraying it a lurid, deeply divisive colour, but not Mario. You get the impression that he sees every project as a completely clean slate, a blank canvass to stamp his ideas and personality onto and to hell with what others think – a fantastic attitude to have when it comes to messing about with cars.

That same attitude was clearly at work when Mario set about styling the exterior of his car, hence why you’ll now find lashings of custom carbon fibre both front and rear. That front splitter is a complete one-off, a custom part designed by Mario for this very car, then lovingly re-created in super lightweight carbon fibre. It’s a similar story with those aggressive as hell spoilers; there’s a subtle little ducktail (a nod to racing Porsches from back in the day) and a massive, imposing aerofoil that really wouldn’t look out of place on a fighter jet. They’re every bit as divisive as the rest of the car, very much the result of Mario’s personality and eye for detail.

That downright antagonistic colour is only half the story though, with the air suspension and those crazy wheels both combining to create a Cayman that will leave Porsche purists scurrying for the nearest bunker.

The air setup has been handled by AccuAir, a firm with a wealth of hard won experience and a name that’s graced the pages of this very publication a fair few times over the last year or so. We’ve grown accustomed to seeing all manner of air suspension setups over the years and it’s also fair to say that it’s easy to become a little blasé about them, but the way Mario and his friends have packaged the AccuAir setup in their Cayman is a breath of fresh air. Yes it’s a bit of a cliché and something of an overused phrase, but lift the lid and you really could be forgiven for assuming that Porsche put it their themselves – high praise indeed!

Those wheels are a different story, and as much as we (and of course Mario) love them we can’t imagine the boffins at Stuttgart would be big fans. There’s no denying that RAD 48 did a top-notch job when it came to penning these particular alloys and it’s equally clear that Mario made the right call when he selected them for his Cayman.

Dish is very much the order of the day and the rears are actually a staggering 12-inch in width and an arch-filling 20-inch in diameter, so yes, they certainly fill those capacious arches and look stunning when the air suspension is dropped to its lowest setting.

Making a Porsche go much faster than the factory intended is possible, though doing so requires deep pockets and hell of a lot of commitment! This helps explain why Mario’s Cayman still sports its original 3.4 ‘boxer’ in near enough standard fettle, though he has made sure to fit a Cayman Cup exhaust system for a touch more power and one hell of a sound!

So what do you do once you’ve finished building the world’s most outrageous Cayman? Sit back, relax and let the comments come flooding in, that’s what. Mario makes no bones about the fact that his car attracts as many negative comments as it does positive and that it’s a deeply divisive looking machine, but he couldn’t care less – as Kermit sang ‘It’s not easy being green…’

Haters will hate and keep on hating, but Mario’s built his dream Porsche and couldn’t care less what they think – perfect.

OWNER: MARIO MATTICK
TECH SPEC: PORSCHE CAYMAN S

TUNING:
Factory 3.4 ‘boxer’ engine with Cayman Cup exhaust.

Words Jarkle Photos Kevve.Be