Let’s start with the facts. A custom-built Porsche 911 Targa—glossed in period-correct Metallic Nachtblau and finished with brushed aluminium details—has just been unveiled at Hotel Byblos in Saint-Tropez. It costs precisely €370,067. The number is not arbitrary. “67” nods to the year Hotel Byblos opened its famously pastel-hued doors to the jet set, which then included Brigitte Bardot, Mick Jagger, and anyone who could credibly wear white flares with a tan. It is called the Byblos B00 (pronounced “boo,” in case you’re wondering), and like most things in Saint-Tropez, it’s as much about a feeling as it is a thing.
Created in collaboration with Hedonic Machines, a boutique French atelier best known for its bespoke restorations of classic vehicles, the B00 isn’t just a car. It’s an homage to a very specific kind of 1970s excess—the good kind. The kind with disco. And chiffon. And that curious ability to appear both totally undone and utterly composed, even while peeling down a coastal road with a Gitanes between your fingers.
Hotel Byblos, for the unfamiliar (read: anyone who has never flipped through a Slim Aarons coffee table book), is something of a Mediterranean icon. Tucked into the heart of Saint-Tropez, it has long been a playground for rock stars, fashion royalty, and actual royalty looking to disappear under the Provençal sun. The hotel itself has long dabbled in the art of icon-making. Its nightclub, Les Caves du Roy, is still the kind of place where you might overhear a billionaire ask a model if she’d like to see his boat, and where the DJ probably has better jewellery than you do.
So, it makes a certain kind of sense that Byblos would collaborate with Hedonic Machines on a custom Porsche. And not just any Porsche—a Targa, one of the more photogenic models of the early ’70s, known for its distinctive roll bar, removable roof, and the kind of rakish profile that begs to be valet parked next to a martini.
But let’s talk details.
The B00 stays true to its roots. From the elongated bonnet to the upright windscreen and brushed steel roll cage, the car retains the essential DNA of the original 911 Targa. Its bodywork has been painstakingly reimagined by Hedonic’s artisans, with special touches like a backlit Targa roll bar and hand-engraved aluminium panels. Inside, it’s all beige full-grain leather and polished restraint—if your idea of restraint involves digitally re-skinned dials in Byblos blue and subtle nods to Saint-Tropez’s most glamorous decade.
The analogue instrument panel has been replaced with a bespoke digital system that merges retro flair with millennial legibility. You can feel the Hedonic ethos at work here: a reverence for mechanical heritage with a clear refusal to be stuck in the past. The engine has been rebuilt and converted to fuel injection, so you get all the purr and torque of the original with none of the temperamental mood swings.
Even the sound system—a nod to Les Caves du Roy—is discreetly built in. Because if you’re going to drive through Ramatuelle at dusk with Sade on the speakers and your scarf in the wind, you might as well do it properly.
According to Antoine Chevanne, the third-generation owner of Floirat Signatures (which operates Byblos), the car is “a marvellous addition to its new Owner’s collection this summer.” Capital O included. One assumes said Owner will also be summering in Saint-Tropez, where the B00 will be on display starting June 21.
And while €370,067 may seem excessive for a vintage-meets-futurist weekend cruiser, let’s be honest: for the Byblos guest who travels with their own staff and only wears vintage Cartier when diving into the pool, it’s practically reasonable.
The B00 is more than just a car. It’s a statement. One that says, “I remember when luxury was playful. When glamour had grit. And when the only algorithm that mattered was the one that got you into the VIP room at Les Caves.”
In other words, it’s Saint-Tropez distilled.
