On Building Porsches & A Creative Life: Tanner Boyes

Curated Mid-Century Modern Home Listings

Jun 08, 2026

Today’s installment is an interview with my friend Tanner Boyes. Tanner is an artist, designer, and craftsman hailing from San Clemente, California. He is the founder of Specter Design, based in Utah. Specter Design focuses on metalwork and custom car design, creating bespoke sports cars with Porsche mechanicals. After years of painstaking ground-up work, Specter is gaining the recognition it deserves, from a feature at The Quail to a collaboration with Deus Ex Machina. Tanner is a kind soul and a true original, someone who inspires me to think more independently and live more authentically.

The Specter is a traditional alloy bodied “sports special” utilizing original 1950s Porsche Equipment. Photo by Harrison Mark.

You grew up by the beach, now you live in the mountains. How has the starkly different landscape, geography, or changing seasons affected your creative perspective?

Well, now my work- being mostly physical has become more seasonal, knowing I only have a narrow window of time to enjoy work outdoors and in fair weather. And also with sports cars, you want to use them in the summer, so I try to coop up and accomplish a lot in the winters. It has added an urgency to the work which is nice. Local canyons and less population provide incredible driving experiences here as well.

A lot of modernist design relies on celebrating the raw honesty of materials like exposed wood grain, raw concrete, or unadorned steel. In your metal-craft and bodywork, how much do you lean into letting the material speak for itself versus something too refined or abstracted?

Materials have become one of the most prominent and important aspects of my work in design and fabrication, as I have realized it is the primary factor on which people’s perception of it into the future relies. If the work ages well it will be respected longer. With the wrong materials, there’s no chance of graceful aging. So it’s become a focus for that reason. I try to stick to natural materials wherever possible and avoid plastics.

Photo by Twelve Thirty Studio @twelvethirty.studio

There has always been a natural romance between modernist residential architecture and sports cars. Why do you think classic automotive design and mid-century modern spaces complement each other so well?

I believe cars and architecture share so much common dialogue for several reasons. You interact with a sportscar on the interior and exterior in different ways much like a building. The structure and design of cars and buildings have a tensioned balance between function and aesthetic. Architecture and car design have both been heavily negatively affected by modern codes and regulations which have left a pinnacle and golden era for both disciplines in the past.

Like me, you’re a collector (not quite a hoarder). Vintage tennis rackets, instruments etc. What’s a recent find you’re excited about?

I recently purchased a French navy (marine nationale) scuba diving knife. I have been looking for one for years. It’s called an Espadon. It has such a wonderful shape with a symmetrical stainless blade and cast aluminum hilt, with pebbled grip texture and finished in a bright lead based yellow lacquer finish. It is just incredibly balanced, simplistic and beautiful to look at. It has modernist, sculptural lines.

What’s a rabbit hole you’re going down these days? Movies, books, music etc.?

I’ve been extremely interested in chemistry lately. In particular paint and finishes. Planning on setting up a lab in my studio for experiments in chemistry and paint making. I believe much of the lost beauty in the world we live in today is a result of plastic finishes and synthetic pigments. I love the idea of rediscovering some of that lost beauty through period literature and exploring my curiosity surrounding paint and color.

You’re getting ready to scale and offer a production version of the Specter Sports Car. There’s massive demand out there for bespoke sports cars. Talk about the transition from creative pursuit to business and what some of the pitfalls might be?

“Scaling” may be a strong word for what I’m attempting to do with my sports car brand. But expanding certainly to a sustainable, cottage level manufacturing operation as opposed to a multi-year moonlighting experiment. That’s the intention. The primary pitfalls at the moment are making the necessary concessions to the tastes of the market in order to sell cars. I believe in purity of design and staying true to the noble virtues of one’s own vision. But acquiescing to modernity on some level appears to be unavoidable. So I’m tight-roping that with a fine balance.

In Conversation With Tanner Boyes, Specter Design – (UK) Deus Ex Machina

You set out on a quest to design and build your own car from scratch. What advice to you have for anyone trying to pave a new or unproven path?

Probably the same advice I would render to myself- which is avoid the impulse to explain yourself to people who don’t comprehend what you’re doing. Make every decision with a singular effort to stay true to what’s in your minds eye. Don’t hesitate to take forward steps towards the dream, as the path is more like a maze than a line- and retracing steps is inevitable. You might as well just keep moving forward, and soon enough you’re well past the point of no return.

Follow Tanner on IG at tanner.boyes or visit Specter’s website www.specterdesign.com for more info.

Tanner and the Specter in motion. Video by Harrison Mark and Mojave Productions.