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Want to take your Porsche off road? This rally-inspired safari 911 from 1981 is kitted out and ready to get dirty.
Two Kinds of Porsche Fans
1981 “Safari” Porsche 911 – carsforsale.com | Shop 1981 “Safari” Porsche 911 on Carsforsale.com
Porsche fandom is well justified. Twin devotions to engineering excellence and a fashionably consistent sense of style make cars like the 911 worthy of no small amount of worship. And as with all fanatics, regardless of what they happen to be a fan of, there are 911 purists and OGs certain that their specific favorite 911 is the 911, for whom water-cooling was a bridge too far and nannies like traction control and ABS only serve to distance one from the true 911 experience.
There is, however, another breed of 911 enthusiast. These folks love the 911 too, but rather than preserve one in stock form, they want to use the legendary sports car as a canvas to express their automotive identities. Aftermarket tuning shops like RWB and Singer take older 911s and re-envision them, drastically yet tastefully altering the bodies, adding all manner of performance parts, and of course swapping in new engines.
What is a “Safari” 911?
These two impulses, the traditionalist and the iconoclast, come together in the “safari” 911. Though best known for canyon carving and setting track times, the 911 also has a dusty, mud-covered alter ego as a rally car. Rally driving goes back almost to the model’s inception when a 911 took fifth place at the 1965 Rallye Monte Carlo. The 911 was a frequent sight on the then new WRC (World Rally Championship) throughout the 1970s, including the East Africa Safari Rally. Most indelibly of all is undoubtedly the 4×4 911 Carrera 3.2 cars that competed in the Paris-Dakar rally in the 1980s.
Harkening back to these lifted, all-wheel drive 911s, collectors today nod to past racing glories by modifying their 911s for off-road shenanigans. With a bank of rally lights, a roof rack, and some knobby tires, safari 911s have become wildly popular of late, for obvious reasons. Power and lightness have always been in style and when done on dirt, even the stodgiest of 911 purists cannot help but crack a smile as the backend kicks out, sending gravel flying as the off-road tires scrabble for grip. Porsche itself has even decided to make a factory version of these off-road 911s, the 911 Dakar.
Today’s Cool Car Find a doozy, a fully kitted out safari style 930-generation 911 from 1981.
Our Cool Car Find
This 911 does what all great 911 builds achieve, a blend of style and substance that has always been the central hallmark of the Porsche brand and most especially the 911. First is the choice of generation. The 930 is the most notorious of 911 generations, known for its demanding, tail-happy handling and a mule kick turbocharger (in fact, the first 911 to go turbo). For 911 enthusiasts, that makes the 930 a rewarding, thrilling drive. Taking those characteristics off-road only adds to the intrigue.
Though information is scant on this listing we can glean a few significant details from the photos and the seller’s description. Most obvious is the set of Bosch rally lights across the front of the car. A Rennsport roof rack sits atop the car. A lift of a few inches and some all-terrain tires help add clearance and grip. A skid plate and beefy fender bar up front look to keep the undercarriage safe and the front of the car safe from damage.
1981 “Safari” Porsche 911 – carsforsale.com | Shop 1981 “Safari” Porsche 911 on Carsforsale.com
Then there is the styling. The classic 930 silhouette is heightened (literally and figuratively) by the lift and tires as well as the roof rack, lights, and mud flaps. The car looks gnarly. And then we get the very 1980s paint job, brown with white, yellow, and orange decal stripes running along the sides of the car. This 911 is properly head turning, just as it ought to be.
This 1981 safari-style Porsche 911 can be yours for the cool price of $151,995.
