Among the plethora of new cars showcased at the 2024 New York International Auto Show, a few cars belonging to celebrities were showcased amongst automaker's latest offerings.
These cars included a 1971 Stutz Blackhawk that belonged to Elvis, as well as a Ferrari LaFerrari that is part of Tracy Morgan's extensive collection of luxury cars.
But standing out from the pack is a Porsche 911 (POAHY) from the 90's, but unlike the 90's Porsche that belonged to sitcom legend Jerry Seinfeld, it is a special custom job built for a different kind of car enthusiast.
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The Tedson Daydream R built for Michael Strahan
James Ochoa
The car in question is called the Tedson Daydream - and like the name suggests, it is a Porsche built from the wonders of pure imagination.
Visually, Strahan's special Porsche blends together some of the cool go-fast bits and technological features from high-end modern Porsche 911s and adapts them to be used in an older shell.
Tedson Motors CEO Goran Turić told TheStreet that the vision for the Daydream came from his love for older Porsches. The kind of work his company specializes in is called "restomods," a type of vehicle restoration where modern components are used to bring an older Porsche 911 up to date.
According to Turić, the Croatian Tedson stands out in a crowded field of restomod firms that specialize in Porsches — such as the California-based Stinger and Gunther Works, Oregon-based Emory Motorsports, as well as Japan's Rauh-Welt Begriff (RWB) — by doing things their own, unique way.
"We take the existing car from the nineties and make it look like what we think it should look had it come out of the factory today," Turić told TheStreet. "The idea was to blend many of our own design aspects with current Porsche philosophy. Basically, we analyzed and studied this car from today's perspective with respect to design, performance and technology."
While Tedson's competitors build cars that attempt to cosplay parts of Porsche's storied history with a false sense of nostalgia by using antique technology like air-cooling, Turić is not afraid to incorporate new, efficient propulsion technology into his creations.
"We are not just doing an air cooled [Porsche]. We are the first ones in the world that have offered a full EV vehicle and also a hybrid," Turić exclaimed.
James Ochoa
The Tedson boss says that Strahan's special car is called the Daydream R - a "race version" of the Daydream complete with all the "go-fast bits" one would find off of the $241,300 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, including its racing-style swan-neck rear spoiler.
According to Turić, its 570 combined horsepower powerplant combines an air-cooled 420 horsepower engine with an electric motor mated to its flywheel that produces 150 horsepower. Additionally, he says that the electric bits use KERS technology from Formula 1 and that the car does zero to 62 miles per hour in 2.6 seconds.
"The car is built completely out of carbon fiber. We have completely revised and redone suspension, which is much wider, and it has a wide square track," said Turić. "The interior is also completely revised, the whole car has been treated as a very special package."
TV personality Michael Strahan smiles to cameras as he takes delivery of a Tedson Daydream R at the New York International Auto Show
James Ochoa
A physicist by trade, Turić constantly thought about Porsches and how to make them better to fit his vision. It was only until adulthood and after he had a "proper day job" where he began acting on his dreams — sketching up designs and finding his a market willing to buy his car on various Porsche enthusiast forums on curious corners of the internet.
Though this channel, Tedson got the attention of one Michael Strahan, and the rest is history.
"Michael [Strahan] heard about the product, he saw the product and he got in touch with us saying 'Hey, I really like what you guys are doing. I would like to have a car built by you,'" said Turić. Obviously, we have a couple of different options, but Michael immediately said, 'I want the best one, the highest performance one,' and this is what we did for him."
"This car really is a one-off car; especially built for Michael. There are so many things that we did for Michael in, in direct discussion with him, what he likes and how he would like his car to be."
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Despite Michael Strahan being known for the big, lean and mean six-foot-five, 255 pound defensive end that helped the New York Giants win Super Bowl XLII, the huge stature of Strahan was not a challenge for Turić and Tedson.
"We took all of his measurements [...] and we worked together on getting the right seats for him," said Turić. "[The seats] are the Recaro seats that usually go into the McLaren [720S]. He has that car and he fits nicely and we also had to rework the, the bottom part to give him plenty of leg room. So we absolutely know that Michael is going to fit in the car."
Strahan took delivery of the Tedson Daydream R during a press conference at the New York International Auto Show.
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