Can’t Wait For A New Porsche 911 Safari? This Spicy 944 Is Perfect

It is well known that car designers are often influenced by custom car builders. Want proof? Quad headlights, oversized wheels, and clear hoods all appeared at local car shows before car designers took them to the next level. Case in point, Porsche is in the market to sell performance cars, but it sure sells a load of SUVs and crossovers. The geniuses in Stuttgart also are well aware that they need to stay on-trend and have been spotted playing around with a 992-based Porsche 911 Carrera chassis off-roader.

But surely, the factory 911 Safari is going to run deep into six-figure territory so the fan-built Rothmans tribute car you see here might tick all the boxes. This 1986 Porsche 944 might not have all the stares at the country club but it commands attention wherever it goes and we’d much rather thrash in this Porsche versus a pricey 911 Safari.

At the core of this project is a 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo with the five-speed box. Porsche decided to focus on front-engine rear-wheel-drive cars in the 1980s to boost profits while its skunkworks team was off developing legends like the 959. The 1980s were of course, a big deal for Porsche’s racing and rally efforts, especially the Rothmans-branded cars like the 1986 Paris-Dakar 959. We all dreamed of that car.

The Porsche 944 Safari here says true to the Rothmans appearance with tribute graphics. The base car was a 159,000-mile donor with the hot-for-the-80s burgundy interior and the builder ran with it. The seats are burgundy Corbeau racing buckets and red Sabelt harnesses go along with a similar shade. In the back is a non-rally certified roll bar to keep you out of trouble if the shiny side is down.

The running gear is a nice blend of old and new with white Porsche factory wheels and more modern off-road tires in the form of BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A. The BFG Baja tires are sized in 215/75R15 all around to navigate off-road and help get over obstacles. The suspension has a lift for 11 inches of ground clearance and the Bilstein shocks and springs have been added to accommodate long-throw travel and softness to absorb the abuse.

The exterior is pretty simple, monster roof rack, full size spare and massive Hella fogs to take you back to the rally glory days. While these lights turn night into day, the sounds and smells this car produces must be glorious. This gem is going up for auction in the near future through Collecting Cars, so if you are about that safari life, this could be for you. The sale price should be reasonable meaning you can try out owning a safari Porsche without the cost of the factory 911 Safari, or 911 Dakar as it might be called.