Project 924S: Why We’re Building a Safari Porsche
An Organic Evolution of Time, Machine, and Place
Not every project starts with a blueprint.
Some begin with a feeling you return to—quietly, repeatedly—until it becomes clear it isn’t a passing idea at all. It’s a direction.
The decision to turn our 1987 Porsche 924S into a Safari-style car didn’t come from chasing trends or making a statement. It emerged naturally, shaped by use, environment, and the way we’ve come to think about machines—especially those meant to live alongside you, not above you.
This build isn’t about turning the 924S into something it isn’t. It’s about letting it become what it always could be.
Use Before Display
At its core, a Safari build is a commitment to use. It prioritizes movement over polish. Terrain over pavement. Experience over approval.
Much like a tool watch, a Safari car isn’t precious—it’s purposeful. Scratches aren’t failures; they’re records. Dirt isn’t damage; it’s context.
We’ve always been drawn to objects that invite participation rather than reverence. Watches that want to be worn daily. Cars that feel better after a long drive than under perfect lighting.
A Safari 924S removes the pressure to preserve and replaces it with permission to explore. It gives the car—and the owner—room to exist honestly.
The Underdog Matters
The Porsche 924S has always lived slightly outside orthodoxy.
Front-engine. Transaxle. Balanced, capable—and historically dismissed.
Rather than trying to “correct” that reputation with a concours restoration or period-perfect purity, the Safari approach leans into the car’s outsider status. It reframes the 924S not as a compromise, but as an opportunity.
Safari culture has never been about pedigree. It favors ingenuity over reputation, reliability over recognition, creativity over convention.
That philosophy mirrors how Wrist & Wheel exists in both automotive and horological culture—drawn to the overlooked, the functional, the quietly excellent.
History Without Imitation
Porsche’s credibility wasn’t built solely on racetracks or museum floors. It was forged in endurance events, rally stages, and unforgiving terrain—places where function mattered more than form.
The Safari 924S connects to that history without imitation.
It doesn’t pretend to be a 911 SC rally car. It doesn’t wear nostalgia as a costume.
Instead, it acknowledges Porsche’s rally DNA while remaining honest about the platform it’s built on. No cosplay. No forced reverence. Just continuity.
Context Shapes Design
This build also reflects where—and how—we live.
Our family is planning a move to Northern Michigan in 2026. Northern Michigan means snow, gravel, uneven roads, long winters, and open land. A lowered, delicate sports car doesn’t make sense here. A Porsche that can move confidently through imperfect environments does.
In that sense, the Safari direction wasn’t aesthetic—it was contextual.
Much like Ferdinand Alexander Porsche believed, when function is reconsidered honestly, form tends to follow on its own.
A Platform That Can Evolve
A Safari build is never truly finished.
It evolves. It adapts. It accumulates meaning over time.
That makes the 924S less of a “project” and more of a living artifact—one that grows alongside the stories it helps create. It becomes a natural extension of Wrist & Wheel’s Time & Machine ethos, where watches, cars, and environments interact without being staged.
Mud, snow, tools, gloves, worn leather—these aren’t props. They’re the point.
The Real Reason
We didn’t want to build the best 924S. We wanted to build the most truthful one.
A car that forgives imperfection. Rewards curiosity. And values experience over consensus.
The Safari 924S wasn’t a bold decision made all at once. It was an organic evolution—one small realization after another—until the direction became unavoidable.
Not louder. Not flashier. Just more honest.
And in a world that often confuses preservation with meaning, that feels like the right place to start.
What’s Next
Project 924S officially begins in 2026, with a full vlog series documenting the build, the choices, the mistakes, and the miles. This won’t be a highlight reel—it’ll be a record.
Because the story matters as much as the machine.
