Australian firm Zeigler/Bailey will give its third customer Z/B 4.4 a public debut on Sunday 8 November at ArtNeun 4 in Port Melbourne. The dark green coupe, based on a G-series Porsche 911, has crocodile skin stitched through its cabin and has already picked up a nickname: "The Crocodile Car". The company's first two completed cars will be displayed alongside it.
The owner comes from far north Queensland, and the reptile trim is a nod to home. Zeigler/Bailey says this is the most individualised Z/B 4.4 it has built so far, a notable claim from a company that insists no two of its cars leave the workshop alike.
Not quite a restomod
The company was founded by classic Porsche collector John Zeigler Jr and engineer Greg Bailey, and the first Z/B 4.4 broke cover late last year. The founders would rather the car was not called a restomod. Little of the donor survives.
Each build starts as a 1975-1989 G-series 911 and receives an all-new platform, new suspension and new electronics. Power comes from a 4.4-litre air-cooled flat-six built around an aluminium billet engine. Every car uses more than 3,500 unique parts.
The manufacturing methods are unusual for a workshop of this size: stainless steel and alloy 3D printing, CNC billet machining and carbon-fibre body panels. That kind of tool-less production is more often found in hypercar programmes than in a small shop in the Melbourne suburb of Cremorne.
Price and order book
A Z/B 4.4 commission costs AUD 1.6 million for Australian buyers, including the donor car and GST. International customers pay US$990,000. That puts it in the same territory as Singer, whose 911 reimagined with Williams cost $1.8 million.
Five more customer cars are currently being built at the Cremorne headquarters, and three of them are due to be delivered before the end of 2026.
ArtNeun is a curated automotive art exhibition dedicated to Porsche. This year's fourth edition takes place at the Vegemite Factory in Port Melbourne, with around 200 Porsches expected.