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The final part of our 2019 Twelve Builds of Christmas project review covers one of our most popular builds from the last twelve months: Philip Kadoorie’s brand new Safari car.
Built on a 1973 911, this build delivered everything a Safari car could wish for. As always, the first job was to strip the car down to a bare chassis, mount the body shell on a dolly and send it out for media blasting. Once the shell was returned, the fabrication shop could see everything that would need repairing in conjunction with the strengthening of the chassis.
Corrosion was found in the usual places. We replaced the floor pans, rear seat wells and repaired some rust in the sills and screen apertures. The suspension mounts were strengthened and the car was seam welded. A full roll cage was fitted and countless small detail changes were made to our full Safari specification. This part of the project took around ten weeks from start to finish.
Paintwork was the stand out feature of this build. The paint scheme was conceived in homage to a period GT1 livery and everything was painted by hand here at Wardington. The work to prepare the shell for paint and complete the livery took weeks, but all who inspect this build never fail to remark on the amazing livery. The details are amazing, down to colour-matched intercom headsets for transport stages.
With the metalwork done and paintwork complete, the car arrived in our workshop for assembly. Watching the car come together over several weeks with so many brand new parts and untold attention to detail was incredibly exciting, but eventually it was ready for road testing.
The proud new owner certainly put the miles on it post-handover! Following a maiden road trip to Scotland, the car entered the Red Kite Rally before being flown to California, where it wowed the crowds at Monterey Car Week. Upon its return to the UK, we prepared it for shipping to Kenya for the 2019 East African Safari Classic Rally.
What happened next was amazing. On his debut Safari and first proper international rally, Philip and co-driver Ryan Champion finished just off the podium in fourth position overall. A wonderful result for a true petrolhead and car enthusiast who has inspired so many Porsche fans with the creation of this magnificent 911.
The final credit must go to all of our clients for commissioning so many wonderful Porsche builds through 2019. Our Twelve Builds of Christmas series barely scratches the surface: many builds remain private and several exciting new car builds are as-yet unfinished. We look forward to sharing twelve more terrific Porsche projects at the end of next year!
