We love Leh Keen’s Safari 911s. In keeping with our belief that the 911 is a perfect all-rounder, lifting one and fitting knobby tires seems to take nothing from the experience. Mr. Keen’s cars are brilliant, and Matt Farah’s personal car is one of the most interesting of the lot. Farah’s Safari is finished in Cassis Red, a rather polarizing and slightly urbane color choice for a brawny Safari car. The paintwork, evidently, is largely original, and Matt has wisely opted to protect it. In order to protect the finish Matt has opted for an XPEL film over his entire car.
While most of us would be well-served by XPEL film over just the chip-prone forward surfaces of our cars, Matt’s adventure-friendly ride needed a bit more protection. As such, Chris West from XPEL spent a whopping five days applying a self-healing extruded Urethane film to the entire vehicle. This proprietary film uses a topcoat based on current self-healing automotive topcoats. This design allows minor scratches in the finish to disappear over time. Used in conjunction with ceramic coatings this finish is both durable and easy to clean.
While XPEL does have patterns for many commonly-protected parts of cars, applying a film to an entire vehicle is a different matter. Mr. West had to custom-cut post of the panels installed on Matt’s 911. The light pod, mirrors, and much of the trim required custom work, but that is relatively minor given the project’s scope. Chris was able to wrap the car from the base of the A-pillar to the rear of the quarter panel with a single sheet of film to avoid visible seams.
While Project 944 GTS and Project Mello Yello may not benefit much from this treatment, those among our readership with finer paintwork may be interested in the full-car protection option.