The 20 Most Iconic Restomods Ever Built

There is a particular kind of car that no manufacturer will ever build for you. It has the shape of something iconic, something that already exists in your memory, but underneath it runs modern suspension, modern brakes, a drivetrain that doesn't need coaxing on a cold morning. You get the feeling of the original without the anxiety of owning one.

That is what a restomod is. And the best builders in the world have turned it into an art form.
We have been covering restomods on BlessThisStuff since the category barely had a name. We have featured well over a hundred builds in that time. Most are good. Some are exceptional. A few changed what the category means entirely. These twenty are the ones we keep coming back to, the ones that set the standard everything else gets measured against.

The rules were simple. The build had to show genuine design intent, not just better parts bolted to an old shell. It had to respect the original without being paralysed by it. And it had to be real, either in production or built as a functioning prototype. No renders, no vapourware.

THE PORSCHE SPECIALISTS

Porsche dominates the restomod world for good reason. The aircooled platform was always designed to be modified. The best Porsche builders don't restore these cars, they complete them.

Singer Porsche 911 DLS Turbo

Singer built their reputation on restraint. The DLS Turbo is different. Twin turbo flat six, carbon bodywork referencing the original whale tail without copying it. The most extreme thing Singer has ever delivered and it still looks like a 911. Singer effectively created the modern restomod market. Every builder on this list exists in a landscape they defined.
Learn more →

Nardone Porsche 928

The 928 spent decades being underestimated. Nardone saw something worth rescuing. Carbon fibre body, 400bhp, active electronic suspension, interior by Foglizzo leather. Design direction from BorromeodeSilva. Choosing a 928 as your platform when the entire restomod world is obsessed with 911s says more about Nardone's confidence than any spec sheet.
Learn more →

Emory 1960 Porsche 356 RSR

Emory Motorsports have been doing this longer than almost anyone. Taking the oldest and most delicate Porsche shape and building it around a purpose built RSR inspired platform takes genuine confidence. When this example came up at RM Sotheby's it confirmed what collectors already knew: Emory cars are investments as much as driving machines. The family has been building Porsches since the 1960s. That depth shows in every decision.
Learn more →

Aerfal Porsche 904 Restomod AE94

The 904 ran for two years in the mid 1960s and left a mark out of proportion to its production numbers. Aerfal built the AE94 on a 914 chassis with a bespoke 4.0L aircooled flat eight producing 400hp. While most builders choose well known icons, Aerfal chose something most people outside Porsche circles have never heard of. That choice tells you what kind of builder they are.
Learn more →

THE ITALIAN SCHOOL

These builders treat restomods as a continuation of Italian design culture. The cars they choose already had extraordinary shapes. The work is about pushing them somewhere the original manufacturer never could.

Kimera EVO37

Most tribute cars get the proportions wrong. The Kimera EVO37 does not. It is a full rebuild of the Lancia 037 spirit, 505hp from a supercharged and turbocharged engine, carbon fibre body faithful to the Pininfarina original, sixty units only. The 037 was the last rear wheel drive car to win the World Rally Championship. Of every car on this list, this is the one where the emotional connection to the original is strongest.
Learn more →

Eccentrica Lamborghini Diablo Restomod

The Diablo was excessive in every direction and that was entirely the point. Eccentrica went wider, louder, and more extreme, 550hp V12, carbon fibre body designed by BorromeodeSilva, Alcantara everywhere. It makes the original look like it wasn't trying hard enough. The BorromeodeSilva name appears three times on this list. They are quietly becoming the most important design studio in the restomod world.
Learn more →

Lancia Delta Futurista

Automobili Amos built the Futurista for people who grew up watching the Delta Integrale win rallies and never quite got over it. Carbon fibre panels, reworked turbo engine, racing derived interior. Twenty one units, all sold before most people had heard of the company. We have seen other builders attempt the Delta since. None have come close.
Learn more →

Ferrari Testarossa Alte Prestazioni Hyperclassic

Officine Fioravanti already made a strong case with their first Testarossa restomod. Then they came back with the Hyperclassic and made it look like a warm up. The straked silhouette is preserved, the flat 12 is rebuilt and pushed further, positioned as a genuine high performance machine rather than a polished collector piece. We featured the first version and thought it was the definitive take. We were wrong.
Learn more →

Totem Alfa Romeo Giulia GT Electric

The Giulia GT is one of those shapes that needs no improvement. Totem left the body largely alone and replaced everything mechanical with a dual motor electric drivetrain producing 530hp. Zero to 100 in 3.4 seconds. The most beautiful Italian coupe of the 1960s arriving in complete silence. Our pick for the most convincing electric restomod on the market, because silence suits the Giulia GT's elegance better than combustion ever did.
Learn more →

THE BRITISH REBUILDERS

The Defender restomod market is saturated. These three survived because each one approaches the brief from a fundamentally different direction.

Tecniq Q40 Defender

Most Defender restomods follow the same playbook. TECNIQ came at it differently. The Q40 was conceived as a tribute to the Chinook aircraft and that aerospace thinking runs through the whole build, redesigned from the ground up rather than upgraded from the outside in. We have featured dozens of Defender restomods. This is the only one that made us reconsider what the category could be.
Learn more →

Encor Series 1 Lotus Esprit

Most builders rely on memory and reference photos. Encor scanned an actual Series 1 Esprit and built from that data, which is why the proportions are correct in a way that most recreations aren't. Carbon fibre body, twin turbo V8, six speed manual. The Giugiaro wedge treated with the seriousness it deserved.
Learn more →

Callum Wood & Pickett Mini

Ian Callum designed the DB7, the DB9 and the F Type. The Wood & Pickett Mini by CALLUM applies that design intelligence to Britain's most loved small car. Every proportion considered, every material chosen deliberately. Callum's career portfolio gives this project a weight of authority that no other Mini build can claim.
Learn more →

Twisted Range Rover Classic

Twisted have been refining classic Land Rovers long enough that everything superfluous has been stripped away. The two door Range Rover Classic is what remains when a company knows exactly what it is doing. A shape that was already perfect in 1970, with modern performance and modern reliability. There is a waiting list for a reason.
Learn more →

Hedonic Land Rover Defender 90

The most usable Defender restomod on this list and probably the most honest. Hedonic stripped the 90 and rebuilt it with one question: what does a Defender actually need to be now? Turbo diesel, upgraded suspension, power steering, cinnamon leather, wood flooring, Apple CarPlay. Nothing unnecessary, nothing missing. Where the Tecniq reimagines the Defender, Hedonic perfects it.
Learn more →

THE AMERICAN ICONS

American restomods start with vehicles that already have enormous cultural presence. The challenge is different. It is about making something beloved actually work as a modern vehicle without losing what made people love it.

Kindred Ford Bronco Trail Edition

The first generation Bronco is one of those vehicles people romanticise without wanting to deal with owning one. Kindred Motorworks solved that. The Trail Edition keeps everything desirable and replaces everything difficult. We have featured several Bronco restomods. Kindred consistently delivers the most complete package for the money, which is why they made this list and others didn't.
Learn more →

Mustang STL1 by BorromeodeSilva

BorromeodeSilva are the Milan studio behind the Nardone 928 and the Eccentrica Diablo. Applying that Italian design intelligence to a Ford Mustang shouldn't work, and yet here we are. New steel body, fold top construction, 5.0 litre Coyote V8. One unit built. The most European Mustang that has ever existed. This is the third BorromeodeSilva project on this list. No other design studio appears more than once.
Learn more →

New Legend Scout LII SIX

Sean Barber founded New Legend with a specific obsession: the International Scout. The LII SIX is what happens when that obsession is applied without compromise. The Scout restomod market is smaller and less competitive than the Bronco or Defender spaces, which works in New Legend's favour. Less noise, more focus.
Learn more →

THE ELECTRIC CONVERSIONS

Electric restomods split opinion more than any other category. These three made the list because they each answered the obvious question, why remove the engine, in a way that actually made sense.

Charge Electric Mustang

Charge Cars used officially licensed first generation Mustang shells and built a 536hp electric powertrain around them. Zero to 60 in under four seconds. The licensing deal with Ford is the detail that elevates this above most electric conversions. Anyone can put a motor into a shell. Officially sanctioned bodies change the legitimacy entirely.
Learn more →

Zero Labs Classic Electric Ford Bronco

This 1974 Bronco was rebuilt from the ground up around an electric drivetrain and the combination is stranger and more compelling than it has any right to be. Paired with the Kindred entry above, these two prove the first generation Bronco may be the most versatile restomod platform in existence, working equally well with combustion and electric.
Learn more →

Renault R17 Electric Restomod

Ora Ito designed this with Renault for the 2024 Paris Motor Show. 270hp, 249 miles of range, and a visual argument that electric restomods have a serious future. It won't reach production. It didn't need to. We included one concept on this list deliberately. Not because it broke the rules, but because it is the only concept we have featured that genuinely shifted how we think about the category.
Learn more →

Want more? Browse all the restomods we have featured on BlessThisStuff →