A Sunset (Boulevard) Safari
Not all city cars are born equal. Well, not according to YouTube star and world-renowned automotive journalist, Matt Farah. Shortly after moving out to the west coast of America from New York, Farah realised that the crumbling infrastructure in LA made his daily drive more like an expedition down a back-country trail than a traditional city commute. From the monstrous expansion joints on Interstate 405 to the cracked roads in downtown Venice Beach, only his Baja inspired pick-up truck was capable of smoothing out the various lumps and bumps.
Which is why his Raptor pick-up with its off-road suspension set-up and huge sidewalls was, as he puts it, a ‘gamechanger’. But of course, while Baja-inspired trucks ride well, they’re ultimately too unwieldly for tight city streets – even in car-friendly LA. So what was the solution? For Farah, the answer was easy, a rally car.
A two time Grand Am Rolex GT Champion and lifelong Porsche fanatic, Leh Keen has spent the last five years designing and building Safari-inspired 911s for people who want the ultimate go-anywhere vehicle. Farah, got the opportunity to drive Keen’s first Safari build for his show on the /DRIVE network and was sold.
As part of what is known as ‘The Keen Project’, Keen is happy to either source a donor car for the customer, or they find their own. Farah went with the latter option as he wanted to choose the colour, the year and the interior.
He settled on an ’87 3.2 Carrera, and after finding his unusually pristine donor car, it was shipped straight out to Keen in Atlanta for a new interior and the fitment of the Baja-inspired hardware. The parts list reads like a Tamiya brochure: bash bars, skid plates, rally light pods, shaved side door mirrors, tucked bumpers, Braid motorsport Fuchs wheels, Elephant Racing Safari suspension, a Quaife limited-slip differential and BF Goodrich tyres – the same tyres, coincidentally, that are used on his pick-up truck. It really is the best parts of a Baja truck and an air-cooled 911.
Photos © Larry Chen / Porsche