High-End Hot Rod: Meet ‘The Joker’ Kaege Retro Porsche 911

By Brett Foote - April 10, 2020

Hong Kong resident goes searching for perfect retro Porsche and finds it in a very unique place.

High-dollar Porsche restomods are all the rage these days. Shops like Singer to Workshop 5001 are cranking out polished automotive jewels, cars that combine vintage style with modern performance and comfort. And it’s easy to see why. These incredible Porsches are quite literally the definition of perfection, consisting of a formula guaranteed to please even the most hardcore automotive enthusiast. And this Kaege Retro 993 911 owned by William Lai is just another fantastic example of this rarefied breed.

The folks at Petrolicious caught up with Lai and his amazing Porsche, which features a design inspired by the Joker of Batman fame. When Lai was searching for a builder to make his ideas come to life, he first considered the big names. “When I was looking around for a retro Porsche, Singer was the name that came up first,” he explained. “But Singer uses a 964 chassis, and they also use other parts from other developers.”

After some more digging, Lai discovered Kaege. “Kaege is quite new in the market,” he said. “They use the 993 chassis, which is more developed. And they use only Porsche parts, which are much easier to maintain.” That includes the original 993 air-cooled flat-six, which has been completely rebuilt with a slight power bump.

“Everything, from the last piece of wire, is brand new,” Lai says. “I would say it’s a new classic car.” The only real problem Lai had during this process was finding a suitable donor in Hong Kong. He eventually came across a very beat up 993 that needed a lot of work. The Porsche’s original purple hue and a comic book gave Lai the idea of making a completely Joker-themed car. And Kaege was happy to run with it.

Needless to say, Lai is quite pleased with the way his retro Porsche turned out. And he drives it a lot, understandably. Even though the roads in Hong Kong are heavily speed-limited, Lai doesn’t feel like his creation is wasted, either. And who can blame him? If we had something this beautiful to look at and slip behind the wheel of each and every day, silly things like speed limits (and tickets) are merely a mild inconvenience, anyway.