Many industry experts attribute at least a portion of the recent collector car craze to the radical ramp-up in air-cooled Porsche prices of the past decades or so. As Porsche values climbed and more air-cooled icons appeared at Cars and Coffee meetups, originality in terms of immaculate ownership and OEM parts went out the window—clearly, showing up in your pristine six-figure Porsche only to see 11 others in a row began to grow old for collectors who wanted to stand out. And so, trends like outlaw builds and well-used gentleman's rally racers began to rise, along with the safari fad. But not many custom Porsches can hope to match the all-out insanity of the famous Baja 911 from Russell Built Fabrication, a social media darling that just popped up for auction on the website Collecting Cars.
The Porsche Built For Baja Jumps
This Porsche 911 might have started its life as a 964-generation rear-engined sports car, but even calling it a Porsche today remains something of a stretch based on how much TJ Russell modified to create a vehicle capable of trophy-truck style jumps in the desert. The prototype project led to Russell announcing in 2019 that he would sell similar builds, while this particular car began popping up on Instagram and at enthusiasts gatherings more and more frequently, where Russell hoped to sell the car for around $550,000.
360 Horsepower From A 3.8-Liter Flat-Six
Part of the public profile grew a bit bigger when Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire took the Baja 911 out to the desert for one of his famous videos, proceeding to demonstrate without a doubt that Russell's craftsmanship can withstand a true thrashing. The full fender flares, roll cage, and railed bumpers stretch the overall dimensions by three inches in length and a whopping 15 inches in width, when compared to a stock 964 Carrera 4, with custom suspension components that allow for 12 inches of suspension travel up front and 13 inches in the rear. Hanging off the tail, a 3.8-liter air-cooled flat-six built up by Rothsport Road & Race pumps out a reported 360 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque—mind, those figures surely feel like much more in a vehicle that weighs just shy of 2,800 pounds.
Bespoke Tailored Interior With Lots Of Racing Goodies
The interior lives up to a new standard of luxury and race-focused off-road prep, with a roll cage, Sparco steering wheel and carbon-fiber buckets, and diamond-quilted Alcantara. Details like a Motec ECU and digital dash, Tilton Racing pedals, and custom switchgear that includes a brake-bias adjuster all fit into the mix. Befitting a famous project that combines off-road capability with surprising creature comforts, bidding already sits just over $150,000 with seven days remaining until the final gavel. All that remains to be seen is whether Russell's attempt to sell the Baja 911 at auction will net the kind of money he hoped to attract over much of the past year.
Source: collectingcars.com.