The safari 911 has fully completed its journey from sacrilege to sub-genre. Porsche legitimized the formula with the Dakar, Lamborghini piled on with the Sterrato, and seemingly every restomod shop on the planet now offers some flavor of lifted air-cooled Porsche.
So what makes this one worth your attention? The builder. Signature Autosports is a North Carolina outfit best known for LS3-swapped Land Rover Defenders, monster MegaRexx Ford trucks, and Hellcat-powered Dodge Power Wagons. These folks came up through the dirt, and now they’re pointing all that off-road expertise at Stuttgart’s most sacred silhouette.
Rendered Now, Real This Summer
Let’s address the elephant in the room right away; the images you’re looking at are AI-generated. Normally that would have us reaching for the back button, but we confirmed with Signature that the first production car is in final assembly and will debut in the next week.
We’ll reserve final judgement until we see it in the metal. But the shop’s track record of actually building (and selling) hundreds of custom rigs earns it some benefit of the doubt.
An Air-Cooled Heart, Thoroughly Massaged
Based on the 964-generation 911, the Meridian packs a naturally aspirated 3.8-liter flat-six that’s been comprehensively worked over. We’re talking Pauter rods, custom billet heads with CNC-ported big valves, 102mm pistons and cylinders from Molly Motorsports, and custom-profile WebCam cams paired with racing valve springs and titanium retainers.
Induction duties fall to Clewett individual throttle bodies breathing through a carbon fiber intake and a Stuttgart Classica plenum, with Haltech engine management and crank-fired, coil-on-plug ignition keeping everything in line. The result? A claimed 365 horsepower at 11.4:1 compression, sent through a lightweight single-mass flywheel and a Kennedy clutch.
Built For the Detour
The hardware underneath is where the rally inspiration goes next level. Signature has outfitted this Porsche with long-travel dampers, adjustable ride height, revised all-terrain suspension geometry, and integrated skid plates to give the Meridian some real rough-road chops. And a set chunky all-terrain rubber keeps the sidewalls happy on sharp rock.
Up top, there’s a roof rack with four spotlights, an LED light bar, hood-mounted lamps, and adaptive headlights.
No Screens, No Subcontractors
Inside, Signature kept things refreshingly analog including a hand-stitched leather, machined components, and classic instrumentation instead of a wall of displays. And every bit of it, from powertrain engineering to fabrication, paint, wiring, and upholstery, happens in-house at the shop’s North Carolina facility. Each build is tailored to the buyer’s spec, so no two Meridians should look quite alike.
Spec Sheet
Builder: Signature Autosports
Model: Meridian 911
Base Vehicle: 964-Generation Porsche 911
Engine: Naturally Aspirated 3.8-Liter Flat-Six
Power: 365 HP (Claimed)
Compression: 11.4:1
Induction: Clewett Individual Throttle Bodies
Engine Management: Haltech
Clutch: Kennedy with Single-Mass Lightweight Flywheel
Suspension: Long-Travel Dampers, Adjustable Ride Height
Tires: All-Terrain
Production: Built In-House, Wilmington, NC
Pricing & Availability
Signature Autosports tells us the Meridian 911 will run between $450,000 and $500,000, and that figure includes the donor car. The first example is slated to be finished within the week. Head over to Signature Autosports’ website to learn more.
Recap
Signature Autosports Meridian 911 Porsche Restomod
The off-road specialists behind Hellcat Power Wagons and custom Defenders are building a 365HP, rally-ready 964 restomod that trades pavement manners for long-travel suspension, a roof full of lights, and a $450,000 starting price.
