A Porsche GT1 Body Kit for Your 986 Boxster Is Coming Soon
It’s a modern interpretation of the iconic Porsche 911 GT1.
The Porsche 911 GT1 is one of the lesser-known supercars. While popular among Porsche diehards, it never quite reached the level of fame some of its Italian rivals did in the late '90s. The GT1 was actually a wild-looking Le Mans prototype race car adorned with the face of a 996-generation 911. A street-legal version was also made, dubbed the Straßenversion, which is now basically unobtanium, due to its incredible rarity and price. As a result, Shimie Moore, the owner of Vale Automotive in Ireland, decided to create a GT1 body kit conversion for the first-gen (986) Porsche Boxster.
Moore had been toying with the idea of making a GT1 conversion for a Boxster for several years, but his limo manufacturing business was his main priority. When the pandemic-related lockdown hit Ireland—freezing the limousine industry—Moore had some time to think about his future and his dream GT1 project. Thanks to his limo-building career he already had the skills, and now the pandemic had given him the time he needed. Vale Automotive was born, and so was the GT1 project.
Moore got to work custom fabricating a new body that resembled the GT1, though it's not an exact replica. Instead, it’s actually his interpretation of what a modern GT1 would look like. Its headlights are similar to the 918 Spyder’s, it has a roof-mounted air intake and a long aerodynamic tail. You could say that it's mostly GT1 but a bit modernized.
This isn’t just a one-off passion project, either. After exchanging a few messages with Moore, he claimed to be producing 33 of these GT1 Boxster conversion kits, all of which he can ship to customers worldwide. Should buyers not want to deal with the process of applying the kits to their own cars, they can bring their Boxsters to Vale Automotive and Moore will do it for them—at an extra cost, of course.
He’s also currently developing partnerships with other workshops across the U.K. to help build these conversions. The kit consists of body panels that are either bolted or bonded to the existing Boxster’s bodywork without altering any of the original car’s structure, and all of the necessary hardware.
At the moment, the GT1 project is powered by the stock Boxster engine: a 3.2-liter flat-six Boxster S mill. With that said, Moore wants to eventually add engine swaps to the conversions, preferably LS1 swaps (one customer actually wants an EV swap), but he’s waiting until the conversion is perfected before crossing that bridge.
The GT1 conversion starts at £10,999, or right around $13,000. The first deliveries start shipping out in August, according to Moore.
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