To see video of this beast at play with 3 other KMR Safari builds, please visit: https://youtu.be/e3N0yt7BDjA
‘Willy’ started life as a 1984 Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera purchased by Kellymoss Director of Operations, Andy Kilcoyne in March of 2018. The story truly begins a few months prior when Hoonigans Larry Chen and Will Roegge were in Wisconsin shooting the VICCI Safari car blasting across a frozen lake not far from Kellymoss HQ. While connecting over burnouts, drifting and general shenanigans during the shoot, Larry, Will and Andy kept in touch and when Will listed his ‘84 911 Carrera at a great price, Andy jumped on it. A few group texts and one friendly dare later, Will’s old Carrera was the new candidate for the next Safari build. As Andy says, “It didn’t take much convincing for me to give this Carrera the Safari treatment. If you’ve ever driven one, you’d understand why.”
This particular 911 was a grey market car legally imported into the US, living the majority of its life in the South, making it the perfect candidate for a bespoke build. This wasn’t always the plan, however, with the initial direction being mild plus a few personal touches – a quick flip, if you will – but the visionary mind of Andy and the team at Kellymoss didn’t let that happen. What started as Rally suspension, additional lights and modest wheels and tires, turned into the car you see today when ‘what ifs’ quickly turned into realities. Mike Medearis of Kellymoss helped talk through design features with Andy and together they came up with an overall goal - Be the most understated, modest looking Safari build to come out of Kellymoss, while still making it completely ridiculously over the top. With a general direction, the team got to work.
Over the course of about 10 months every piece of the car was pulled apart, replaced, renewed, rebuilt, or reimagined with the build goal in mind every step of the way. Jason Disch did some of the best fabrication of his career on Willy. The front bumper, lower valance and deleted bumper extensions are a couple of Andy’s favorite items on the car. The wheel wells are also 2 ¾” larger, maintaining the stock radius to look unmodified to the untrained eye. Five inches was also removed from front inner wheel well opening on the chassis side to aid in steering lock, side to side clearance, with the larger tires. Tim “Dog” Homburg has countless hours in welding and fabrication on the car, including the cage and custom roof rack. He’s a true artist and perfectionist, and if you see the car in person, you’ll understand why. Jamison Blizard did the majority of the mechanical work and assembly with great attention to detail and also dealt with Andy’s constant input and suggestions, a fun task in and of itself, as some would suggest Andy is very picky. To keep the car all metal, short of the carbon / kevlar roof, and come in at 2500lbs is nothing short of remarkable, but you really can’t expect anything less from a team like this.
Many of Willy’s one-off features are muted and insignificant, but if you put this by another 911, or another 911 Safari for that matter, you’ll start to notice the subtle, unique details that set it apart. Function over aesthetics are consistent with this build as is with all cars that leave Kellymoss. While previous Safari projects had big personalities with loud, flashy design language, Willy speaks more to Andy’s personality. Large in stature and preferring to blend in, rather than stand out. Andy has no particular plans with Willy other than to enjoy it, but figures anything is for sale if the right situation presents itself and the offer is good enough. He’s always happy to build another as there is always room in the shop for one more project! Enjoy the HUGE gallery of images just below the detailed parts breakdown.
1984 Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera, Willy Safari Build Highlights
If you’re curious about any more specifics, details, want to feature this build on your site, or want to own a Safari car of your own, send us an email to info@kellymoss.com
