How to design restomods and stamp your creativity on existing cars

Restomod culture abounds, each month delivering a rejuvenated classic wearing newly lush materials. But the energetic companies piecing these things together are about more than a zeitgeisty remake of an old icon; at their core, there’s often a throbbing heart of design and engineering ambition. 

Theon Design is one such example. Deep in Britain’s motorsport valley in Oxfordshire, it attracts strong talent for its reinvigoration of old 964-generation Porsche 911s. Leading the company is a man with a wealth of OEM design experience, the L494 Range Rover Sport and pioneering BMW i3 among the stars on his CV. Adam Hawley co-founded Theon with his wife Lucinda Argy to pursue something rooted in his own passion.

“I’d built a car for myself using all the bits that I liked from Porsche's back catalogue,” he tells CDN. “I loved the original S/T, but I never liked the fact its arches were really rounded. I wanted to crisp those off – it was about making something specifically for me.”

His bespoke twist on a classic 911 attracted so much attention that he and Lucinda identified a business case in producing for other people. Theon Design was born in 2016. “If you're going to do something, you do it the best you possibly can,” Adam continues. “You make sure that it's as light as it can be without being a stripped-out race car, and make it as well-built as it can possibly be.” His philosophy is to evolve and perfect what already exists. Rebalancing weight distribution by moving ancillaries to the front of the car and finding symmetry or closing gaps in a way that late eighties car industry resources perhaps didn’t allow.

Every element of the powertrain, chassis, paint and trim is highly configurable to ensure your £420,000+ investment is totally unique. But the talents held within the Theon Design barn ensure there’s no ceiling to the demands made of them. Customers with a fresh, off-menu request – one example being a retractable reversing camera screen, kept hidden until its vital moment – spark Adam and his effervescent team into life.

“If there's a challenge, we normally do it together because if it’s just engineered, it’s not going to look right and if it's just designed, it's not going to work very well,” says Adam. “It needs to amalgamate both skillsets and the team knows better than I do how things go together.”

Every Theon resembles its own concept car. So how does a seasoned designer get their kicks working on a car that has, in its purest sense, already been done? “It doesn't matter what you design in the world, there will always be iterations and evolvements. I love that we get to develop the design in subtle ways. That's my thing.”

Every part is finished in premium materials but to original dimensions, allowing simple servicing and replacement should customers encounter an issue on a far-flung road trip in their car. “Any Porsche dealership or specialist can work on our cars,” says Adam. “We even do our wiring loom in as many of the original colours as possible.”

To Amsterdam, and The Land Rovers 

Exquisite finish rooted in practicality: a sentiment echoed 250 miles away in the cultural hub of Amsterdam. The work of The Landrovers (TLR) tells a similar story of true ingenuity and ambition underscoring its sympathetic restoration, beautification and – for 25% of orders – complete electrification of forlorn Defenders. 

It too crafts components which can be swapped conveniently for parts-shelf items while its pricing operates in the same realm as Theon Design, starting at a mite under €400,000 but quickly spiralling when customers get busy with bespoke ideas.

TLR was born 15 years ago when its co-founders pieced together an old Landie for an adventure through South Africa on a doomed pursuit of romance. They stayed in the Netherlands, sold the car, and attracted an investor in the process. Production has now passed 250 cars and its bustling factory on the outskirts of the city houses 70 employees.

Young, bright talent pervades its workforce; for folks like head of design Bastiaan Wolters, it’s a chance to fulfil their ambitions without leaving the Netherlands – and put a genuine stamp on the projects passing across their desks.

“I started here as an intern over six years ago,” he says. “As a kid I was always reading car magazines, looking at the design of cars, always intrigued by classics. Back then I couldn’t dream of what I do now as there weren't really car factories in the Netherlands. I studied industrial product design in Den Haag. When I was looking for an internship, I saw The Landrovers popping up. The task was to create a new dashboard for an electric Defender.”

The rest is (recent) history as Bastiaan helps carve out TLR’s future. “Our electric Panterra has in-wheel motors at each corner, which makes the tracks wider, so we had to flare the arches another five centimetres.” Bastiaan is also vital in bringing customer ideas vividly to life. 

“Some clients want to go really far with their design,” he tells us, handing over an example of the honeycomb grille used on a commission titled ‘Honey Badger’. 

Every TLR car is uniquely christened and has its name emblazoned throughout the design and build process, further inspiring the ideas of the team around it. Bastiaan’s team also pens a bespoke interior clock face for each car as a striking emblem of its core theme.

“We think everything is possible,” he grins. “We really want to be pushed further by our clients to create even better, more beautiful Defenders.”