This Porsche arrived on a flatbed truck on New Year's Eve at the shop located not far from Dusseldorf in Germany. All that the team knew about it was that it was a brand-new 718 Cayman GT4 RS, which had spent three whole days buried in mud somewhere in Slovenia, and that it didn't run and didn't drive.
The car was delivered to the shop on December 31. It didn't even look that bad when they unloaded it from the flatbed truck and put it back on the ground. The body painted in black seemed as if it was just rained on, and the windows on the driver's side were replaced by plastic foil that kept rain out of the cabin. But rain couldn't do more damage than it was already done. The team knows that flooded cars are a big headache. The poor thing had spent three days submerged in mud and water.
When they opened the doors, they saw the automotive version of the apocalypse. Parts of the car had already turned green from the mud and water. The dashboard sported a thick layer of mud, the seats were so dirty you wouldn't sit dead in them, and it smelled like a broken fridge in mid-summer time.
There was no way the insurance company was going to tag this Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS as anything else but a write-off. One that would go straight to the crusher, with the driver of the flatbed truck and everyone at the scrapyard holding their breath to avoid the smell of swamp.
The engine is stuck, the car doesn't run, doesn't drive, and the dashboard doesn't light up. It's not actually a car anymore. Even the Volvo V70 made of Lego bricks, which we wrote about earlier, is more functional than this trash bin on wheels that the owner probably paid around 190,000 euros ($1204,298) last year to take it home. This car is specced with the Weissach package, which adds 16,460 euros ($17,698).
Photo: RS Dynamics | Instagram
The package brings a titanium roll cage, plus the hood, roof, upper shells of the side mirrors, and rear wing made of carbon fiber. Titanium taillpipes in 935 race-car look show up at the rear. There are six-point harnesses in yellow on board, while the upper part of the dashboard is covered in Race-Tex.
As seen in the photos and videos uploaded to Instagram, the Porsche used to ride on the optional 20-inch forged magnesium wheels, optionally available with the Weissach package. The shop is going to strike a nice deal for those if the fix turns out to be a complete failure.
The RS Dynamics, a tuning shop based in Solingen, Germany, some 497 miles (800 kilometers) away from the scene of the disaster, took on the challenge. They took it upon themselves to put the Cayman GT4 RS back on the road. But first, they have to tear it apart. The team calls it "Project Seacret," and they are determined to breathe life into the Porsche that was the victim of a flood, somewhere in Slovenia.
The owner had stored the precious sports car in an underground garage to protect it from the elements and pampered it as if it was the apple of their eye from the very moment of the delivery. Then, a few months and 471 miles (758 kilometers) later, natural calamity struck.
On August 3 and 4, heavy rainfall affected most of the Slovenian territory, causing severe flooding and landslides. And the Porsche 718 Cayman ended up buried in mud and water.
Photo: RS Dynamics | Instagram
They eventually managed to dig out the Porsche and pluck it out of the mud. The defunct sports car was purchased by a dealer in Frankfurt, which sold it to RS Dynamics. They are the ones who think this car can get back on the road. It would be indeed a shame for this car to bite the ground with less than 1,000 miles on the odometer.
Before it fell victim to flood and mud, it enjoyed the presence of 493 horsepower (500 metric horsepower) and 331 pound-feet (449 Newton meters) of torque. The 4.0-liter flat-six is mated to a seven-speed, dual-clutch PDK automatic transmission.
When mud was not an issue in the engine compartment, it could flash from zero to hero (0 to 62 mph or 0 to 100 kph) in 3.4 seconds and could hit a top speed of 196 mph (315 kph). But that seems so long ago right now.
"Put it in rice to dry it out," someone suggests in the comments section, thinking of the recommendation for the smartphones that are victims of water. "It will come out a Hyundai," someone else jokes.
"It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it," another user points out. Dirty it is, indeed, and it starts with disassembling every component. Dashboard, seats, floor mats, everything goes out for a power wash. As for the 4.0-liter flat-six… that is going to take more than a power wash to spin again.
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