Porsche purists tend to hate every new product that comes out of Stuttgart, ever since the early days of the 911 (back when it debuted as the 901). The list of reviled models includes the mid-engined 914 built in concert with Volkswagen, the front-mounted V8-powered 928 intended to replace the 911 as Porsche's flagship model, the 996 generation with its water-cooled engines and divisive headlights, and now, more recently, the 992 gen's use of turbos in non-Turbo cars (plus the use of two fonts on the rear decklid). But because Porschephiles create such an uproar, certain models can be found on the cheap, like the hated 944 that combined the 928's layout with a weaker motor that has earned a reputation for being unreliable. As if to prove the haters wrong, though, a couple of Brits drove their used 944 all the way from England to the southern tip of Africa and documented the long journey.
A Quick Jaunt
The car itself belongs to Ben Coombs, who bought it back in 2002 with around 217,000 kilometers (138,000 miles or so) on the clock. He quickly racked up the mileage to over 320,000 kilometers and decided that the best way to celebrate the car before selling it was to drive it all the way to Cape Town, South Africa.
Friends And Allies
Coombs enlisted the help of his friend, Laura Reddin, with plans to start the trip. But the car didn't quite seem up for the task, so they beefed up the suspension with a 50mm lift (just shy of two inches) and built a homemade roof tent out of plywood. The 944 still wasn't ready to cooperate, though, and the oil pump failed only seventeen days before the planned departure.
On The Road Again
After swapping in an entirely new engine from a donor 944, the duo proceeded to hit the road and Coombs only needed to fix a slight vacuum leak in the time it took to get all the way to Syria. In the Nubian Desert, the car lost its exhaust on the rough roads before struggling through some unseasonal rain in Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, and Namibia. A fuel pump failure and a broken ball joint added a few more touches of drama to the whole 62-day trip, though it's still safe to say the old 944 performed perhaps more admirably than the staunchest Porsche fans might have anticipated.
Sources: newsroom.porsche.com and automobilemag.com.