Porsche 911 Safari Project
by Mads – November 10, 2021
There was a project before my silver backdate and before most of the restorations I did later. It was one of those builds that didn’t start with a plan, more with a situation.
A 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2.
At the time it was already tired, high mileage, around 300,000 miles, sitting for a while and listed in the wrong category. One of those cars that somehow survives a lot longer than it probably should, but still shows up ready for something new.
I bought it when cars were still somewhat affordable. Took it back to my garage, looked at it for a while and honestly had that moment where you just think: what am I actually going to do with this.
From broken car to running base
At first it was just repair work.
Rust issues, mechanical problems, getting the engine to run again. The gearbox turned out to be the real problem, so the engine came back out quite quickly.
At some point the car was standing there without engine and gearbox, slightly higher at the rear, and that was the moment where something changed. It didn’t look like a normal 911 anymore. It looked more like it wanted to sit differently.
That was the first time the idea came up.
A Safari 911.
Not a restoration, not a backdate, something else entirely. More ground clearance, more roughness, more rally-inspired than road-focused.
No real plan, just starting
There was no blueprint for this.
I started stripping the car completely. Interior out, windows out, dash, seats, panels, everything. Same approach as always, just faster and with less hesitation than the first projects I ever did.
By the end of the first day it was already down to a shell again.
Then I called a friend who had experience with similar builds. That turned out to be important, because he had actually worked on Safari-style 911s before and immediately knew what direction this needed to go.
Suspension and the height problem
The biggest change was suspension.
At that point I had never seen a proper Safari 911 in real life. I didn’t know exactly how Porsche did it back in the rally days, only rough ideas from photos and later museum visits.
The decision was to stay close to factory architecture, so instead of going full coilover conversion, I kept torsion bars and modified the front struts.
It was more complicated than necessary, but it kept the character of the car intact.
Once the suspension was sorted, the next problem appeared immediately: tyres.
This part turned into a long trial-and-error process. Different sizes, test fitting, adjusting again. In the end I ended up with very tall tyres on standard Fuchs wheels, something like 205/90/16 in the front and 215/90/16 in the rear.
It looked extreme. Almost too much.
But at the time, that was exactly the point.
Cutting, welding, repeating
Once the height was sorted, everything else had to follow.
The front was easier because the fenders were off already. The rear took much longer. Cutting, welding, adjusting, stepping back, doing it again.
At the same time the mechanical side came back together. Engine and gearbox went back in, hoses were replaced, valves adjusted, gaskets renewed. Nothing exotic, just making sure it ran properly again.
Then the ride height was adjusted again, and again, until everything finally worked as one package.
The rear arches were custom built around the tyres. That part took the longest. It wasn’t a clean or fast process, but it eventually reached a point where it made sense visually and mechanically.
Exterior changes and small experiments
After that, it slowly turned into a mix of function and experimentation.
A skid plate was added. The bumpers were modified and drilled to reduce weight. A winch went in, more for curiosity than necessity. Additional lights were installed, giving it a more utilitarian look.
The exhaust was one of the more frustrating parts. On a raised 911 it suddenly sits completely wrong. Getting it to sit properly and exit inside the rear bumper took a lot more adjustment than expected.
In the end it disappeared visually into the rear, which is exactly where it should be on a car like this.
Interior built by feel
The interior wasn’t really a standard build.
A friend who was moving into upholstery work took over most of it. Everything went into brown leather, seats, dash, headliner, even the trunk cover.
It wasn’t about originality or correctness, more about creating a consistent atmosphere inside the car.
Later it got a roll cage, Recaro seats and harnesses. At that point it stopped being a modified 911 and became something closer to a purpose-built idea.
Final version and paint
The final stage was a Safari-style paint job done in my own garage.
No real experience, no proper setup, just done to finish the concept. And it shows, especially when you look closely. It’s very much a “from a distance it works” kind of paint job.
But in a way, that fits the whole project.
Because it was never meant to be perfect. It was meant to explore what happens when you stop following the original shape and start pushing it in another direction.
Eventually the car was sold to a friend who wanted it more than I wanted to keep it.
And that was it.
