Spend 
Porsche Cayenne GTS
Not every project car needs to be the fastest. Or the lowest. Sometimes, it just needs a purpose. For years we've spent more time driving across Europe than most people spend commuting to work. Austria. Germany. Belgium. Holland. France. Thousands of motorway miles every season chasing the next event, the next road and the next story. The funny thing is, our show cars are brilliant once we arrive. Getting them there... That's another story. Our BMW E36 sits so low it barely survives British roads, let alone a week crossing Europe. Camera gear ends up balanced on passengers' laps, bags get crammed into every spare corner and by the time you've loaded everything, you spend the whole journey wondering if you've forgotten something. We needed something different. Not another van. Not another boring SUV. Something we'd actually want to drive. That's where this Cayenne came in.
After months of searching, we found exactly what we were looking for. A 2009 Cayenne GTS with less than 50,000 miles on the clock, a naturally aspirated V8, beautiful interior and a solid mechanical history. It wasn't showroom perfect, but that's exactly what made it the right car. It was honest. The paint was covered in tree sap. The wheels had seen better days. It looked like nobody had properly cared for it in over a year. Perfect.
Before we picked up a single spanner, we gave it the attention it deserved. A full decontamination. Clay bar. Machine polish. Hours spent removing years of contamination that most people would've ignored. Not because we were chasing perfection, but because every project deserves a proper starting point. Then we started pulling it apart. The brief wasn't to build an overland truck. It wasn't to copy the latest trend from America. It was much simpler than that. Build something capable of surviving the roads our other cars hate.
A three-inch lift transformed the way the Cayenne sat. Chunky all-terrain tyres replaced the road-biased originals, giving it a stance that looked ready for whatever we pointed it towards. A roof rack added somewhere for extra gear, recovery boards and camera equipment, while additional lighting meant those late-night arrivals after twelve hours on the motorway suddenly became a little easier. Every modification had a reason. Nothing was fitted just because it looked cool. Although, let's be honest... it definitely started looking cool. The best part? It actually drove better. Normally modifying a car means accepting compromises. Harsher suspension. More road noise. Less comfort. The Cayenne somehow did the opposite. It felt happier. More capable. Like this was how it should've left the factory. Then came the hardest decision of the whole build. The colour.
Black looked good, but every modification disappeared into it. The roof rack blended in. The bumpers blended in. The wheels disappeared. It needed contrast. We spent weeks changing our minds before landing on NATO Olive, inspired by one of our favourite Porsche colours. It wasn't about making the loudest build in the car park. It was about building something that looked like it belonged. Seeing it wrapped for the first time stopped us in our tracks. The satin finish wasn't even part of the original plan. Turns out it was exactly what the car needed. Suddenly every black detail stood out. The lift kit made sense. The wheels looked bigger. The roof rack looked like it belonged there. It transformed the whole personality of the car without losing what made it a Porsche in the first place.
Of course, no project ever goes together without a few moments of chaos. Trying to wrestle a fully loaded roof rack into place with half the workshop involved. Realising we'd probably bought lights that were slightly bigger than necessary. Standing back every five minutes, convinced something wasn't straight. The usual. That's project cars. They're never perfect. They're never finished. That's why we love them. The biggest difference with this build is that it isn't going to spend its life under a cover waiting for the next show.
It's already earning its keep. It'll tow our project cars across Europe. Carry camera gear for the media team. Spend weeks chasing sunsets through mountain passes. Get covered in road grime before being cleaned again ready for the next trip. Exactly as it should. Some cars are built to win trophies. This one was built to make memories. By the time you read this it'll probably be somewhere between Dover and Austria, loaded with cameras, detailing kit and enough coffee to keep the team awake for another thousand miles. And honestly... We wouldn't have it any other way.
