911 Carrera

Make
Porsche
Segment
Coupe

"Chill" is certainly not how we'd define TJ Russell's preference in Porsche 911s. He used to work for Singer and left to strike out on his own a few years back. The result was a Safari 911 that would put some Baja trucks to shame. That first car was almost wholly custom, starting life as a 964 before it got a custom tube chassis and 13.5-inch suspension travel.

Russell's latest build is intended to be a little more relaxed than his previous car, but it's clear that his definition of "relaxed" is slightly warped. The latest creation is built in the spirit of the original car but at a more reasonable level. Russell's company, aptly named Russell Built, calls it the Safari Sportsman. In Porsche lingo, this would be called the Russell Built Safari Touring. Still, with 10 inches of wheel travel, it'll climb almost anything you point it at.

The car is offered either as a base package or with some a-la-carte accessories, many of which are pictured here.

These include the yellow hood-mounted rally pod lights, bumper lights, carbon roof rack, roll hoop, and strut brace accessory carrier. The latter is rather clever, using the strut brace in the vehicle's frunk to hold two recovery ramps, a tow strap, and a scissor jack. You can also order an upgraded oil cooler and A/C condenser.

As for power, it still uses Porsche's famous flat-six engine, albeit fettled with slightly. There are three engines customers can choose from, all naturally aspirated.

First up, there's a 3.6-liter engine, fully rebuilt, with exhaust, intake, and a Motec ECU helping it make 310 horsepower. Then, there's a 3.8-liter motor, which adds independent throttle bodies to the mix for 350 hp. Finally, there's a 4.0-liter, 400-hp engine.

The suspension is equally impressive. The uprights are aluminum, and the hubs are upgraded to handle off-road abuse. There are also billet strut mounts with fully custom King Shocks, lengthened axels, and Exe-Tc custom struts. At the ends of this setup, Rotiform wheels are wrapped in Toyo rubber.

The brakes are also redone, and as much of the car as possible is protected with bull bars and skid plates. Of course, there's also a hydraulic handbrake so you can hoon it like Colin McRae.

Still, Russell Built says as much of the kit is designed to be "bolt-on" as possible. If a customer decides to sell and cash in on that crazy air-cooled 911 market, they can have the firm take the 911 back to stock.

The price for all this? $135,000. That includes installation, paint, and tuning. We're assuming a car must already be provided, which means this is easily a $200,000 process with a good 964 911 donor car. Still, you're basically getting the Singer of Baja 911s for a good chunk of change less than a real Singer 911 All-Terrain Competition Study. And if it crushes a rally stage the way it looks like it can, we're all for it.

Of course, if this isn't to your taste, you could always wait for Porsche's own 911 Dakar model coming soon.