“Investing” in a suspension lift, new wheels, big tires, and a slew of other modifications is typically a fun way to tell your spouse you’re throwing money into a huge furnace to fuel your car addiction. But in this case, it’s no exaggeration. In 2018, a Bring a Trailer user bought a rather tame 2007 Porsche Carrera 911 for $37,200 and spent a portion of the next three years modifying it into a “Safari”-spec off-road racer. After all of the modifications were complete and another 4,000 miles were put on the car, it was reposted to BaT, fetching nearly four times the original sale price.
Selling for $121,000 last week, it looks like those mods were actually—shockingly—a good investment. It seems like you don’t need to be Singer to make an expensive off-road 911, then.
There’s a lot going on here, but besides the addition of a roll cage, the car is only really only changed mechanically on the suspension front. New double-adjustable coilovers from JRZ Motorsport are installed at each corner along with taller springs to boost the ride height. The exact lift amount isn’t specified, but the new springs are 12-inches tall in the front and 15 in tall in the rear. The listing notes that there are also new fabricated control arms front and rear to ensure correct suspension geometry.
Most of this new height likely isn’t to add suspension travel but to fit the new wheels and tires. The 28.5-inch BF Goodrich All-Terrains are fitted to very expensive 17-inch HRE wheels, costing $1,900 a pop. No, that’s not including the tires and yes, I’ll say it again, that’s per wheel. Steelies perhaps would’ve been a better move here but hey, whoever bought this car can definitely afford to replace a forged aluminum wheel if it eventually meets an uncompromising rock.
Other modifications include a new shifter, head unit, and of course that roof rack with the pointy shovel and spare tire. There’s also an ax up there in case you want to spend five hours chopping down a tree. Let’s keep our off-road cosplaying reasonable here.
A skidplate now adorns the underside of the engine, and there’s some tube metal cladding on the front and rear of the car to protect the bumpers. Speaking of the bumpers, the front is a new one in the style of a 911 GT3 from Rennline and the front fenders are flared in the GT3 cup style. The car also gets those eye-catching rally lights on the hood, a new ducktail spoiler, and decals that say “RHINO.” For reference, below is what the car looked like before all of these mods.
All of these modifications to the car definitely cost tens of thousands of dollars, but it’s unlikely they cost more than this car eventually re-sold for, even if each wheel cost the seller $1,900. This means that, in a nutshell, the seller bought this Porsche, modified it into a safari off-roader, put 4,000 miles on it, and then sold it for a profit. Not a bad deal.
That being said, I’m not sure If I would sprint outside and start putting a lift on your car to flip it for a profit. I would like to say this sort of trend really only applies to cars that were already desirable in the first place, but I could be wrong. If making a car into a quasi off-roader is what’s boosting values these days, it makes sense that automakers are all making CUVs now. It also makes sense that Porsche might just be working on a “Safari” style 911 internally, but those are just rumors so far. We’ll have to wait and see if Porsche actually pulls the trigger.
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