I’ve spent many hours of my life contemplating the ins and outs of a risen undead apocalyptic nightmare scenario. The Z word gets thrown around a lot these days, and I think I have a fairly healthy grasp of the genre. In those hours, whether amongst friends or in late night solo contemplation, I’ve debated and pondered all of the facets surrounding a fantastic zombie story: Where did it begin? How is it spread? Can zombies swim? My answers tend to change, but there seems to be a consensus that the zombie apocalypse could foreseeably begin in New Jersey. It seems only appropriate that this apocalypse-prepared Cayenne was built there, then.
Rogue Engineering isn’t exactly known for their custom Porsche projects, preferring instead, to work nearly exclusively with BMW products. When their next door neighbors, Jack Daniels Porsche, asked them to tackle this unique 2012 Cayenne project, however, they jumped at the chance. The Porsche dealership had seen them producing quality custom application BMW projects for years, and decided to give Rogue the chance to work on a real car for a change. This Cayenne, still with only 18 miles on the odometer, was delivered for a full body makeover, prepping for doomsday.
The front end of the Cayenne has received a smattering of equipment in the form of a Warn winch, shackles, LED strobe lights, FLIR thermal camera, night vision cameras on a custom fabricated tubular brush bumper. The mostly stock exterior has received a compliment of gloss black Line-X coating along the factory bodyline for a more rugged look. New 18″ wheels were powder coated black with slightly more aggressive tires. The car retains its factory air suspension, and the settings have been left intact.
A custom fabricated ATL fuel tank has taken the place of the factory space-saver spare tire, feeding an additional 18 gallons of fuel into the stock 24 gallon tank. The combined volume of 42 gallons provides a conceivable range of nearly 1000 miles. Being that fuel will undoubtedly be at a premium after the apocalypse arrives, it’ll be nice to have that range cushion.
The hatch and rear seat section of the vehicle has been completely stripped and replaced with a diamond plate cargo area. A tool box has been placed in back to house a fair set of spare tools, and the control for the winch. The car now has a full sized aluminum floor jack and a full sized spare tire, just in case of car emergencies, and a first aid kit, just in case of human emergencies. Rounding out the set of accessories, the car is now equipped with a shovel, a Genuine Porsche fire extinguisher, and a rechargeable LED flashlight.
Replacing the plush factory leather captains chairs is a pair of purposeful but comfortable Cobra Misano bucket seats on custom seat rails. Keeping the driver and passenger safe, a set of Safecraft harnesses have been mounted to keep you snug in your seat. Meanwhile, the custom welded 1.75″ DOM rear roll structure has been crafted to keep the Cayenne intact in the event of a roll over, or falling debris.
With this project, Rogue has proven that they are more than just a place for BMW. This Porsche is certainly unlike any other Porsche project I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of them. Were I to be stuck in a post-apocalyptic America, this Cayenne wouldn’t be a the worst of steeds. Sure, I would probably prefer that my conversion begin life as a Cayenne diesel, but being that gasoline is more plentiful in the United States, the V6 car is probably a safer bet. In all, I’d say that Rogue has made this Cayenne a very capable soft road apocalypse travel machine. Now let’s send it off to the team at Red Jacket to put some offensive weapons on it, like this armored and weaponized Cayenne.
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