There is really likely no faster way to catch the perfect wave than with this beach buggy of a Porsche 928.
Ever since the first example rolled out of Mr. Meyer’s Californian garage back in the early 60s, the Volkswagen Beetle has faithfully served as the base for the definitive beach buggy. But while even with its heavy metallic bug shell is shed for a lightweight fibreglass tub, the admittedly weedy air-cooled flat-four does nevertheless sadly see for these vee-dubs to not exactly be the most speedy means of getting from the shore to the sea.
Handily however, a similarly Germanic beach buggy but with that little bit more punch is exactly what has recently emerged from (of all places) Poland. Surfers in a hurry to get to your next wave, say hello the V8-powered Porsche 928 Surfari!
The brainchild of Tadeusz Elwart — manager of Chałupy 6 campsite and originator of the Hel Riders festival — the goal of the Surfari build here was to develop a 928 with ‘surfing in its soul’. Or in more concrete terms here, to create a Porsche capable of tackling off-road terrain, but that would also be the perfect beach-crawler and surf-taxi to despatch its occupants to the beach as soon as the big waves are spotted on the horizon.
Now specific details of this Surfari build are unfortunately still somewhat shrouded in some mystery thus far, but it is nevertheless known that aspects of its transmission and differential were tweaked to help it better bomb down the beach. A pair of enlarged twin pipes sticking out from its rounded rump indicates that this 928 should at least better scream its way through the sand than its standard form too, if it did not unlock a few extra horses from the monstrous V8 under the hood as well.
It is also clear to see too that the Surfari is to sit that a bit higher that normal, with it also featuring a set of beefy BFGoodrich all-terrain tires beneath its flared (and squared) fenders. Veteran rally driver and engineer Tomasz Staniszewski had apparently stepped in to offer his expertise on these off-roading enhancements, with him having recently come back from the Classic Dakar Rally driving a rally-fied Porsche 924.
Some discrete underbody armour can further be spotted just poking through from under the snout of the 928 Surfari, with a winch and a set of spotlights appearing up front as well. Additional auxiliary illumination meanwhile is to be provided by an extra set of lights mounted on its custom roof rack, which holds too a set of specially-liveried surfboards that matches the car.
Warsaw-based twin brother vehicle stylists Lange & Lange were called upon to give the Surfari its retro-tastic look seen here, where a very 1970s-era set of orange gradient stripes was applied against the 928’s strikingly sand-coloured bronze base. The finishing touches on this Surfari were in turn the addition of a set of yellow window nets and seatbelts, in order to just add that little bit more vibrant pop to the existing standard chequerboard-style Porsche pasha interior.
After its debut at the Hel Riders festival earlier this year, the Surfari had gathered a convoy and made its way Sylt, in Germany for the Petro-Surf air-cooled Porsche festival, before making its way to Rømø in Denmark to presumably catch a few waves on the idyllic island. It currently remains unknown as to what exactly this Porsche beach buggy does now, but there is no small chance that it may be seen at Elwart’s beachside campsite charging towards the sea when a decent wave is incoming.
