1986 Porsche 944 Safari 'ROTHMANS'

Purchased by the seller in July of 2020 as a pandemic project, the car has since been transformed to the long-travel, high-clearance, Paris-Dakar 959 livery safari spec machine seen here.

The car reportedly benefits from extensive mechanical recommissioning, and hosts a number of custom-engineered, hand-made parts that have helped double its ground clearance to more than 10 inches. Check out a full off-road test feature here at The Drive.

This car left the factory painted OEM code L90E Alpine White, but has since received a convincing Rothmans livery in tribute to several famous off-road Porsches of the 1980s, including a 959 which won the legendarily grueling Paris-Dakar rally in 1986 - incidentally, this car’s model year.

Factory 15-inch “phone dial” wheels have been painted white and fitted with BFG K02 Baja Champion tires, though a red painted ATS “cookie cutter” spare (with matching K02 rubber) resides in the custom basket-style roof rack.

At the nose, a custom built light bar is home to four nine-inch Hella spotlights and a carefully concealed 2,500 lb winch, all of which are wired and operational. Note also the 924GTR-style hatch hold downs.

The seller believes that the car has no history of body damage, but adds that the windshield and hatch window both display a small amount of delamination. All glass is believed to be factory original. Repainted its original color some years ago, the car still presents quite well despite a handful of minor imperfections.

Most of the factory burgundy interior has been retained, though seats have been swapped out for an attractive set of Braum Racing Elite X items trimmed in color-matched upholstery. Sabelt harnesses work with a custom harness bar, and the dashboard has been fully recovered in burgundy Italian Alcantara with French stitching.

Note the Momo Prototipo steering wheel, functional custom switchgear, bar-mounted fire extinguisher, and Bluetooth-enabled Blaupunkt head unit driving high-end speakers and a hidden subwoofer. Accessories including a/c and power windows are mostly functional, however cruise control is inoperable and the left indicator sometimes fails to auto-reset following a turn.

Apart from a custom MSDS header and side-exit exhaust, the engine remains largely unaltered. Suspension, however, is far from stock, and now consists of a fully custom setup supplied by Ceika Performance and Elephant Racing. This package includes four adjustable coilovers and all new hardware, such as bushings, pillow-ball camber plates, caster blocks, and more. Specifically tuned for rally use, this setup yields a full 10” of ground clearance and a purposeful stance.

The car reportedly benefits from a good deal of recent maintenance work, including fitment of new intake manifold gaskets, oil cooler seals, timing belt, water pump, wheel bearings, fuel lines, spark plugs, a new power steering rack, tie rods, radiator, brake discs, brake pads, fresh fluids and more. Professional corner balancing has achieved a front-rear balance of 51.05% to 48.95%.

Though sold with a California salvage title due to many years of lapsed registration, the car is now fully road-legal and includes state smog certification.

Agile and adjustable but stable and planted, 944s are outstanding entry points to Porsche ownership. This safari build’s Paris-Dakar livery and suspension modifications both seem well executed, and should make the car equally welcome on logging roads or at your local Cars & Coffee. Estimated $40,000 - $70,000.