• Ravi Dolwani, the owner of CSF, has pulled out all the stops to reimagine a 1982 Porsche 911 SC into a $500,000 Singer-esque halo car with some of the industry’s best players.
• More than just a backdate project, this nut-and-bolt restoration combines old-school builder techniques, intricate upholstery work, modern engineering, and timeless style into one platform.
• Initially created to compete in SEMA’s Battle of Builders in 2021, it is still making waves worldwide and helped cement CSF’s legacy in the aftermarket game.

Wherever you put your attention is likely where you will find yourself. Ravi Dolwani, the owner of CSF Cooling, has admittedly put his attention in many places — even behind the decks as a DJ if his Instagram handle didn’t give that away. But where he put his mind nearly two years ago was likely one of his most ambitious destinations: an air-cooled Porsche 911.

As much as this article will end up talking about the project — this 1982 Porsche 911 SC that you see in front of you — Dolwani’s personal evolution, and the loftier expectations that come from that growth, helped shape what this car ended up becoming.

Truthfully, about a billion cumulative mods end up making the CSF 911 special, but at the end of the day, Dolwani really had nothing to prove to us. By this point, he has already created four-figure horsepower 991 Turbos, an S55-swapped E30 M3, several successful track cars, and a business boasting over $10 million in annual revenue. This project meant something more: an opportunity to create a legacy.

WHAT’S BEEN SAID

The Internet can tell you everything you need to know about the car itself. It’s been featured, ogled, and admired by nearly every facet of the globe since its launch nearly two years ago, but it’s worth a synopsis. At this point, it’s just an SC by VIN; everything has been changed, massaged, upgraded, or engineered to be better than it was, and in many cases better than it ever needed to be. A Porsche 993 3.6-liter lump provided the basis for what would eventually become a 3.9-liter, nearly 400whp peach. The body was dipped and lovingly prepared for a plethora of nips and tucks. A special blend of backdated aesthetics mixed with modern flair (courtesy of the one and only Jon Sibal) created a buxom, yet perfectly proportioned exterior.

Inside, nods of Porsche fandom, like the early 911 style green instruments and Porsche Classic radio, wafted a choice effervescence atop the aptly trimmed, monochromatically restrained interior. Yet, staccato blips of energy, thanks to the generous splashes of Goyard fabric and motorsport-derived upgrades reminded you that this was no ordinary 911 — even though it could easily soothe you on an effortless Sunday drive, it could just as quickly bite and therefore commanded respect.

IN A CROWDED ROOM

Regardless of where we’ve started as automotive enthusiasts, it really does seem that, in 2023 at least, all roads lead to Porsche. The brand’s meteoric rise in value has caused people who’ve never looked at the brand before to take notice and all of us who’ve aspired to sample the marque have a real sense of FOMO. Our collective “one-day” aspirations had to quickly become “now or never”. Custom houses like Singer and Guntherwerks, who create six and seven-figure interpretations of the 911, have moved that bar forward even more. Still, even amidst the constant chatter around the marque, the CSF 911 managed to break through the noise and in a lot of ways, do it with more style than the rest of them. Les jeux sont faits.

Part of Dolwani’s success here is a testament to his genius. At this price point, there simply isn’t room for “no”; high-end ownership is accustomed to getting exactly what they want. Dolwani understood this from the jump and every idea — even the craziest ones — became a goal that he and his team were tasked to transform into tangible upgrades.

He recognized what he and his team could do themselves and where he could (and should) lean on his expansive network to achieve his goals.

AN IDENTITY CRISIS

I think it’s healthy to wrestle with how you define yourself every couple of years. What do we inherently like? What do we value? And, crucially, what do our actions, priorities, and choices ultimately say about us as people? Are we even still talking about cars? As I’ve aged, however, that evolution has become less about sharp absolutes and more about softer, more pliable facets. As transcendental as these questions can be, they certainly apply to the automotive world, too. While 20-year-old me was fixated on owning every iteration of M3, my more vintage form has embraced a more diverse range of marques and models.

Similarly, Dolwani’s company may have been synonymous with BMW aftermarket cooling solutions, but CSF has steadily moved well beyond Bavaria over the last handful of years. Today, CSF boasts a portfolio of heat exchangers, intercoolers, manifolds, and oil and trans coolers for JDM, European, domestic, exotic, off-road, and even EV platforms. This pivot allowed Dolwani to apply his exacting formula to a variety of CSF project cars, the ultimate iteration of which became this 911.

A REPUTATION, FORGED

I was admittedly never brave enough to play hooky in high school. It’s not the $8,000,000 Ferrari 250GT California in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but I would (patterned vest and all), cross my fingers that Dolwani’s garage would be mistakenly left unlocked on the day that I was brave enough to try.

Dolwani’s work here has cemented his reputation as a discerning, top-tier car builder — a distinction that projects a similarly favorable and sophisticated light onto CSF. Unlike a lot of the more extreme cars that “break” the Internet with trend-following aesthetics (and not much else, frankly), this car is completely and obsessively nut-and-bolt perfect. Like fine timepieces, Dolwani’s 911 is a complex creation that can be wholeheartedly treasured by those in the know.

It’d be foolhardy to expect that every subsequent build or project will top this, right? After all, every new product seldom makes the previous iteration obsolete or irrelevant. But it’s a scary thought to know that Dolwani was able to put together a car of this caliber together in a short nine-month span. It makes you believe that he and his team have much more on tap. Anyway, his execution echoes the way that we started this article altogether: wherever you put your attention is likely where you will find yourself.

Wherever that destination may be, rest assured, Dolwani and the CSF team have our attention.

Gallery