The Pea Project – Part 3: Improvised, Not Perfect

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                     The paint wasn’t even properly dry and we carried straight on. Interior build. For now we skipped insulation completely. Same with a roof vent and side windows — mainly because of time, not because we suddenly decided we don’t need them. Quite the opposite. But for the first trip they weren’t life-or-death items. At that moment, two things were non-negotiable: a bed and a kitchen. Let’s start with the bed. Somewhere, there was a slatted bed base lying around. Naturally not one that fit the van. But it was far too big for its new job — which made it the perfect starting point. Four hours of sawing, drilling and swearing later, everything fit that previously… didn’t. What was still missing was the mattress. And that turned out to be less trivial than expected. Because the bed isn’t a standard size, we had to improvise. A custom mattress will come later — once we’ve given the whole “bed concept” the green li...
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Project Marrakesh – Part 1: The Porsche 944 Africa Story

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Project Marrakesh
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 944 Reasons for a Porsche

I wasn’t looking for anything — and still found something.
Chance? Fate?
I’m going with: it was meant to happen.

Because what other explanation is there for me suddenly becoming the owner of another Porsche 944?
This time I didn’t even have to travel the world for it. The car was practically around the corner — less than 20 kilometres away.

I only wanted to have a look at what was for sale.
No pressure to buy, no expectations, no plan.
Just curiosity.

And there he was.

Not since yesterday.
Not since last year.
For nearly 25 years.

A frozen frame from the past.

Under a simple tarpaulin.
No shine.
No sound.
No movement.
Just silence.

And the season made that silence even heavier —
melancholic, cold, damp, grey.
It was mid-January; even the air seemed tired.

Flat tyres, rust, cobwebs, old leaves —
and moss in every crack,
in every seal,
like green grout.
As if nature was slowly joining the body panels together, bit by bit.

The car looked like it had been paused in time — as if someone pressed the pause button and then forgot to hit play again.

A sad sight.
One that had already put off several interested buyers before me.

But I saw more than a rotten old box.
More than work, time, and effort.
More than costs and market value.

I saw something you can’t measure.
History. Character. Dignity.
Maybe projection.
Maybe all of it at once.

I saw pride.
I saw soul.
And I knew immediately:
he has good genes.
Zuffenhausen genes.

 

A Flaw in the Plan — or the Missing Piece of It?

I didn’t want to buy anything.
Didn’t want to touch anything.
Just look.

But it didn’t go that way.

Suddenly, there it was in front of me:
the final piece of a puzzle,
a picture I’d known for ages —
I just never found the missing part.

A piece for a plan that had been running in my head for a long time:
Morocco.
Western Sahara.
Maybe even Mauritania.

And that missing piece was a car.
This car.
Not just any one — the right one.

I didn’t want “it’ll do.”
I didn’t want “it sort of fits.”
I didn’t want what everyone else would pick.

I wasn’t looking for a showroom hero.
I was looking for a warrior.

Not the James Bond of cars —
the Indiana Jones.

One that doesn’t complain
when sand crunches
and petrol smells like adventure.

One you’re allowed to rebuild
without breaking sacred Porsche prayers.
One that comes with history,
but is ready for a second life.

And there he was.

Project Marrakesh is born.

The tarp comes off.
And with it, the plan.

Everything clicks into place.
Everything makes sense.

Project Marrakesh.
Safari style,
but on my terms.

The journey begins.
Not someday.

Now. 

 

 

 

Project Marrakesh – Part 1 of 8
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