RETAILING : Santa Ana Firm Cuts Porsche 944 Into Snazzy, Open-Air Convertible

Psssst. If you’re an exotic autophile, a Santa Ana car designer says he has just the car for you.

Roy Vincente says that his Santa Ana-based company, For Me, can convert a stock Porsche 944--with its hardtop, sun-decked roof--into a snazzy, open-air convertible.

Porsche first unveiled its own convertible model, the 944 S Cabriolet, at the 1985 Frankfurt Auto Show. But the German company’s open-air version of the 944 isn’t likely to be sold in the United States until the spring of 1989.

That’s where Vincente comes in.

He said that a rock star asked For Me to put together tomorrow’s Porsche today. So Vincente and company basically cut the roof off a hardtop 944 then added a folding top and flared fenders.

Vincente calls the finished product a 944 Spider Cabrio. “It’s hot, nasty little sports car” that the Orange County designer says looks “99%” like Porsche’s model.

The metamorphosis doesn’t come cheap. For Me’s changes add about $15,000 to the cost of a stock 944, which already hovers at $28,000 yo $45,000.

Meanwhile, Porsche doesn’t seem to be shaking from the competition. “Believe me, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to just chop the top off a car and have a finely finished product,” said Ed Triolo, public relations director of Porsche Cars North America in Reno. The knock-offs “are not something we’re vitally concerned about,” he said.