They used to make those in my area and it used to be not entirely out of the ordinary to see them driving around (maybe once a month or so, even into the 90’s). I don’t know if they were all like this, but when I picture one, the first thing that always comes to mind is the 4 horns on the front.
While I’ve seen several Porsche 959s, I’ve never seen a Porsche 953 IRL. But I’m excited to learn that Porsche is building an off-road 911 to be called the 911 Dakar. It will debut next week at the LA auto show, according to Road & Track.
These are some recent R&T pics of off-road 911s, not necessarily the 911 Dakar.
Exciting news!
Oh man. The Paris - Dakar race is one of the most, if not the most grueling off road races out there. I doubt that Porsche in the first picture would have a prayer. Not enough suspension up front IMHO.
When Porsche won the Paris-Dakar races, their cars didn’t have much front suspension either.
With the 953, Porsche entered three of them and one took the overall first place. Another one took sixth in that race.
Here is that winning 953:
Porsche then won it again with the 959. Again entering three 959s, Porsche finished 1st, 2nd, and 6th.
Here is that winning 959:
Both times, the winning driver was René Metge, and the next best Porsches in both races were driven by Jacky Ickx.
A nicely modified Ford F350, in gray kevlar. In Santa Barbara CA.
I saw a Maserati Levante GT. I don’t think I’ll see too many of them out on the trail.
An old Porsche 944, parked next to a modern VW GTI. I haven’t looked up the performance numbers for either car, but it would not surprise me if that GTI was actually faster than the 944. I’s still rather have the Porsche.
I owned a 1984 944T for about a year and a half. It was fun on track, but it was 17 years old, had lots of mechanical problems, and I spent way too much money on it. My next car was a brand new, first model-year 2003 350Z, which I happily drove on track and streets for a decade.
Huh. I don’t follow the race, I did read a first hand account of it though. That’s surprising. The closest I’ve come to actually racing such a race is not very close. I almost did the pre-run of the Mint 400. So yeah, not close at all.
A Tesla Plaid, as in “plaid* speed”. Only a subtle badge (circled in green) identifies the plaids.
For an added $31,000 you get extra super crazy speed.
$105,000 — MSRP for a regular Tesla Model S
$136,000 — MSRP for a Tesla Model S Plaid
* - “plaid” is from the 1987 movie, Spaceballs, a favorite of Elon Musk. He incorporated two terms for his Tesla cars: ludicrous speed, for extra fast, and then plaid speed for extra super crazy fast.
I think these prices are extra super crazy.
I saw a car with a sign on the back saying CAKE ON BOARD with an icon of a wedding cake.
As I walked up the beach, I saw an Austin-Healey 3000 driving down the beach.
A couple of older pickups today.
The first was a 2nd generation Chevy C/10 pickup, I’m guessing a 69 or 70.
Then a 3rd generation Chevy Silverado 10, pre-facelift so 1973-80. I love the factory bed liner thing.
Now here’s a beautiful 1988 Pontiac Firebird. The owner bought it new in 1988, and she told me that she babies it. It is clean and very sharp. She definitely babies it!
I just saw a bumper sticker that read “This is not the greatest car in the world… This is just a Tribute.” On, you probably guessed it, a Mazda Tribute.
Come to think of it, along the same lines my neighborhood has a parody of the stick figure family stickers – four headless stick figures and one stick figure wielding a sword, with the caption “There can be only one”, on his Toyota Highlander.
And for those who don’t get the Tribute reference:
SAY WHAT?? What did I see last night? A Camouflaged Camaro, with 4-color camouflage pattern in black, white, red, and gray…?
What?
More importantly, WHY???
That guy on the hood evidently cut himself shaving and really should do something about that gusher. 
Not a Camaro. Dodge Challenger.
The camo obviously worked.
Indeed it is!
Indeed it did!