Five Generations of Porsche Speedster, the Return of the Safari 911, and more Safari 911’s

In last week’s Petrolhead Corner we had a talk with Rob Dickinson, the man behind the coolest Porsche 911 restomods on the planet, and this week we’re continuing a bit on the same track. We all know that electric vehicles are here and before you know it, we all will be driving these ‘things’. Like quartz watches, we know they are more precise, they require less service and are just better timekeepers for the money. But… they don’t stir up the same emotions. At MONOCHROME we’re a bit nostalgic. We love the howling sound of a flat six that’s being pushed to maximum RPMs and the smell of gasoline and oil. So, here we go for our next Petrolhead Corner instalment. 

Five generations of Porsche Speedster

One of our favourite websites, outside the world of watches, is Classic Driver. On the occasion of the new limited edition Porsche Speedster, Classic Driver gathered all five generations of Porsche Speedster at the summit on the Gotthard Pass. And that event produced some magnificent pictures.

Besides the tons of photos, author Jan Baedeker penned down the story of how the Speedster ‘happened’. At least, that’s how I would describe it. No major business plan from the company’s marketeers or design department, but an initiative of Max Hoffman, Porsche’s representative in the US, who wanted to compete with the hegemony of open British sports cars in his market. One thing led to another, and as of 1954 the 356 Speedster was a fact. More on Classic Driver…

Porsche 911 Safari

The 911 restomods that Singer creates are just awesome and searching for more photos, I stumbled on a photo of a 911 with really big tyres, a roof rack with spare tyre,  and a chassis protector with additional steel bumpers. As these things go, I just had to search for more and in my binge-search (is that an actual word?) I came across some of the coolest 911’s that I’ve ever seen. All with big tyres, ready to hit a dirt road instead of a race track.

Of course, I’m talking about the 911 Safari, as it is often called. But what I didn’t know, is that the 911 Safari began its life as an option. Option 9552 to be precise, the rally kit, and this comprised of a pair of Recaro seats, a roll bar, a 100-litre fuel tank with front hood filler, adjustable Koni shock absorbers plus some subtle engine modifications.

There are tons of stories (and photos) online. For instance, the guys over at Luftgekühlt. They organise events with air-cooled 911’s and they have now built a second car, dubbed LuftAuto002 (see photo of that yellow beauty above). The first one they built was auctioned live at the Luftgekühlt 3 Event with all proceeds going to the Autumn Leaves Project, a charity dedicated to funding pancreatic cancer research. Here’s a video of that first car…

Return of the 911 Safari

Now one of the things that surprised me was an article on Autocar India, where Detlev von Platen, member of Porsche’s Executive Board, states that a 911-sort-of-SUV could be an idea. “…taking the 911 and making an SUV out of it? Taking it higher? That could be a good idea, and of course, it won’t be a model range but it will be a limited, a very niche product.”

Now that I’ve sort of rediscovered the Safari 911, I’m certainly looking forward to hearing more about this. If this is going to happen is not mentioned, but how cool would it be? The Dutch Top Gear website published an artist’s impression of what a Safari version of the latest Porsche 911 would look like.

Let us know what you think of a ‘Safari’ or ‘SUV’ version of the 992!