A dark green coupe with crocodile skin stitched through its cabin is rolling into Port Melbourne this Sunday, and it already has a nickname. Meet The Crocodile Car.
It’s the third customer build of the Zeigler/Bailey Z/B 4.4, Melbourne’s $1.6 million reimagining of the G-series Porsche 911, and it makes its public debut at ArtNeun 4 on Sunday 8 November. The first two completed cars will be parked alongside it.
The croc isn’t there for shock value. Zeigler/Bailey says the owner hails from far north Queensland, and the reptile detail trimming inside is a nod to home. The company also reckons this is the most individualised Z/B 4.4 it has built so far, which is saying something for a brand whose whole pitch is that no two cars leave the workshop alike.
If the Z/B 4.4 slipped past you when it broke cover late last year, here’s the short version. Zeigler/Bailey is the work of classic Porsche collector John Zeigler Jr and engineer Greg Bailey, and the pair would really rather you didn’t call their car a restomod.
Fair enough, because very little of the donor survives. Each car starts life as a 1975 to 1989 G-series 911, then gets an all-new platform, new suspension, new electronics and a 4.4-litre air-cooled flat six built around an aluminium billet engine. More than 3500 unique parts go into every build.
The way it’s made is just as unusual. Zeigler/Bailey uses 3D printing in stainless steel and alloy, CNC billet machining and carbon-fibre body panels, the sort of tool-less manufacturing you’d normally associate with a hypercar program rather than a workshop in Cremorne.
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Now, about that price. A Z/B 4.4 commission costs AUD $1.6 million for Australian buyers, and that figure includes the donor car and GST. International customers pay US$990,000.
That’s firmly Singer territory. When Singer and Williams teamed up on their own reimagined 911, the bill landed at $1.8 million, and nobody blinked. The difference here is that the cheque gets cashed in Melbourne rather than Los Angeles.
Demand appears to be there. Five more customer cars are currently in build at the Cremorne headquarters, and three of those are due to be delivered before the end of 2026.
As for the venue, ArtNeun is a curated automotive art event built around some of the rarest and most historically significant Porsches in the country, and this year’s edition takes over The Vegemite Factory in Port Melbourne. Putting three Australian-built cars in among that company is a confident move, but if any local outfit has earned a spot, it’s this one.
If you’re in Melbourne on Sunday, it’s worth the trip, if only to see what a Queenslander’s idea of luxury looks like inside an air-cooled 911. Our guess is a lot more reptile than Stuttgart ever intended. And if you’d rather start with something closer to factory spec, our Porsche 911 buying guide is a much cheaper place to begin, as is this electrified 1975 911 if you want something equally divisive.
