When it comes to dream cars and collections, a classic Porsche 911 is on almost everybody’s list. These marvels of engineering come with a motorsports pedigree that covers every sort of on-track racing experience, but the 911 also has a long history with off-road racing too. Private racing teams wasted no time in modifying the 911 for events like the European Rally Championship, blitzing through the thick forests of the Old World in pursuit of the checkered flag.

These days you’re more likely to find classic Porsches in a climate-controlled garage than on a rally course, though Leh Keen of Alex Job Racing is one of those rare few Porschephiles who doesn’t let his love of 911s keep him from enjoying some quality time with his cars off-road.

This short-but-thrilling video of Keen taking his modified Safari 911 through the backwoods of North Carolina is an awesome homage to the Porsche rally racers of yesteryear. Fitted with a lift kit (on a Porsche!) from Elephant racing, along with some European-sourced mud flaps and a light bar, Keen also upgraded the air-cooled engine with SSI heat exchangers and Danske exhaust to boost power. The interior also had a racing makeover for the comfort and Keen and any hapless passengers.

But the real draw of this video is watching a remarkable Porsche 911 plowing through shallow streams and over rough dirt roads. It’s an unfamiliar scene for those not steeped in Porsche’s rally racing history, but the 911 has a long and industrious off-road racing history, albeit mostly at the hands of enterprising privateers like Keen. It’d be an amazing sight to see a modern 911 off-roading with as much gusto as Keen does in his classic, and a couple of years ago rumors of a 911 Safari revival had been circulating.

That may have been more wishful thinking than anything serious on Porsche’s part.