Kentucky’s First RWB Porsche
Founded by Japanese tuner Akira Nakai in 1997, RWB, or “Rauh-Welt Begriff” pushes the limits of what is possible with crazy widebody customization of a various Porsche models. In July 2023, Kevin Pierce hosted Nakai and his crew to build the first RWB in the state of Kentucky.
What is RWB?
”RWB is like the ultimate way of expression. It’s a tight knit family of non-purists from all over the world who aren’t afraid to chop up their car and make it their own at the hands of the artist himself. Where else can you modify your car exactly to your liking and have the founder of the company, Akira Nakai San come directly to you and build you your dream 911 exactly to your liking?”
Every RWB has a name…
“I was discussing my favorite types of music with him which are electronic music, reggaeton, and dembow and he had never heard of dembow before and the name stuck. The name Dembow comes from a popular genre of Latin music that comes out of the Caribbean, specifically Dominican Republic but is played in clubs all over the world. Nakai talks with each owner to figure out what their likings are to get to know them on a personal level, then comes up with a unique name for each car he builds.”
What started your automotive journey?
”My journey into the car world started when I turned 16 and bought a ’94 jeep grand Cherokee with a 5.2L V8 and instantly began modding it. I got into the Porsche brand and fell in love when I had the opportunity to see a beautiful Oak Green 964 at a race shop getting an alignment. I couldn’t get over the classic shape of that car and wanted an aircooled 911 ever since that day!”
What goes into a build like this?
”I placed my order for the RWB kit in April of 2019. I spec’d it as minimal as possible as I am a very minimalistic type of person. I feel that many of these kits can be easily overdone and for me ruins the beautiful lines on the car. I went with the super wide kit with no wing, since you almost never see a wingless RWB and the factory pop-up wing is all I need. The car is lowered on KW V3 coil overs with front and rear Eibach adjustable sway bars, BBS E88 wheels Front: 10.5J -5 265/35R18, Rear: 13J -31 335/30R18 wrapped in Nitto R888 tires. The seats and harness’ are Braum. It has an RWB Los Angeles roll bar, and all the other interior bits are from Rennline. The steering wheel and hub are from Nardi. As far as exhaust goes, I run Fabspeed headers mated to an OEM titanium 997 GT3RS muffler. Other mods that really up the driving experience are the short shifter and transmission mount from FD Motorsports with tunable engine mounts from Rennline. Other than that, the motor is very stock and healthy. I also went ahead and did clear corners, and has been fully done with paint protective film… I always want more performance but with the price and value of these cars today, if and when it comes time to do an engine rebuild, I’ll cross that bridge when i get there and go for a high compression RS style build on the motor. But for now, I’m happy with its out of the box performance.”
Are there any challenges in the building process of something like this?
”The only challenge when building an RWB is the almost 5 year wait list. Other than that, you have plenty of time to get the car modded to your liking in the meantime.”
How would you describe this build?
“Simple, clean, and timeless….as cliche those words may be, it describes what my vision for this build always was… The car draws crazy amounts of attention wherever it goes…car fans and non-car fans alike. I think they can just appreciate the car for what it is as this is a car from yesteryear and from a completely different era. In the Porsche world, it’s a mixed bag of opinions…. you have the outlaw guys who mod the hell out of their Porsches, then you have the purists who think they’re God’s gift to the Porsche world. I’ve always done what I wanted for me, never followed the crowd and enjoy the car for myself. I never really take it to shows or cars and coffee, just when I really want to get out and enjoy the drive.”
What do you want others to take away from the build?
”What I want people to take away from it is enjoy the beauty of individualism. Whether you like RWB or not, it’s a really explosive way of stepping outside of the box and brings diversity to the car world. It’s a great way to express yourself as no two RWBs are ever built the same. The opportunity to have one built and own one has always been a long-time goal of mine for over 15 years now and it’s a statement to never stop chasing your dreams.”
