All-Terrain with Kelly Moss Road and Race

Challenge Accepted

To represent their shop Kelly-Moss Road and Race, in 2019, Andy Kilcoyne and Victoria Thomas brought a custom build to the Radwood Car Show. It was an off-road Porsche 911 Safari complete with a rooftop tent and BFGoodrich^® All-Terrain T/A^® KO2^® tires. Custom Porsches are a signature offering at Kelly-Moss, and their reputation for excellence precedes them.

But, if for some reason it doesn’t, they’ll be sure to set you straight.

That’s what had to happen after Radwood, when — while scoffing at the rooftop tent situation on their build — a passerby said: “There’s no way you’re gonna put a person up there.”

It was just one doubter. No big deal. Right?

Not quite.

“*laughs* You do not mess with Andy’s design integrity. Period. We immediately started coming up with a possible response. I suggested putting a few of our burliest guys from the shop on the roof to prove that person wrong. Andy said, ‘screw it. I want to put a bus up there.’” – Victoria Thomas, Co-Owner and CFO of Kelly-Moss Road and Race

After some back and forth about safety, the shop had their answer:

“We decided to put one of our race cars on top of the Porsche to prove the tent could hold not only a person but much more. Kudos to BFGoodrich because the tires held up with all that weight! We pulled it off, and the video went viral.” – Victoria

Soft-spoken and fundamentally understated, Andy Kilcoyne’s philosophy is “actions speak louder than words.” Whenever a challenge arises, he lets his work do the talking for him. At SEMA 2017, a Kelly-Moss Porsche build won best off-road. And again, some passerby said, “well, that's a beautiful show car, but there is no way that that's going to perform.”

“This time, it was our personal car. So, we got a few journalists to come with us, and we took it out in the desert to prove them wrong. We tossed Larry Chen the keys and told him to do his worst.” – Victoria

It wasn’t your typical press event.

Defying Porsche Piety

Andy first fell in love with Porsches as a teen growing up south of Madison, Wisconsin. There weren’t many exotic vehicles on the streets of his small hometown, which made the local doctors’ flashy white Porsche stand out even more than it would have anywhere else.

“I remember the doctor’s son was in my class in school. It was a 1983 930 Grand Prix white, with a can-can red interior. It was my first introduction to Porsche and my big first dose of car envy. Fast forward many years later, and I'm working at Kelly-Moss, and a similar car comes in for work. I start inquiring with the owner, and sure enough — it's the doctor’s car from when I was growing up. After years of asking, the owner finally sold it to me. It's a beautiful piece of nostalgia.” – Andy Kilcoyne, CEO and Co-Owner of Kelly-Moss Road and Race

The nostalgia attached to these vehicles has a deep hold on the Porsche enthusiast crowd. There are many purists out there who strongly believe that these vintage machines should not be modified beyond what it takes to restore them to their former glory. It’s a belief that Andy respects but nonetheless challenges with his work. In a slight nod to this, the video that Kelly-Moss made with Larry Chen, featuring the heavily-modded off-road Safari Porsche, is titled “Porsche Blasphemy Never Felt so Good.”

“We're a shop that embraces technology. Whether that's Bluetooth, cruise control, or backup cameras, modern comforts are what get these cars out of the garage and into the world where people can actually enjoy them.” – Andy

The Ultimate Daily Driver — For Us All

In yet another eye-popping Kelly-Moss video, featuring multiple off-road Porsches tearing up a frozen lake near the shop in Wisconsin, Louis Yio says, “This is actually the ultimate daily driver. It can handle literally any condition at this point.”

The ultimate daily driver? An intriguing concept. Andy explains how and why this Porsche build in particular checks all the boxes to be a contender:

“The Porsche 964 platform, which they started making in 1989, was a huge step forward in design. It was an all-wheel-drive car, making it incredibly capable in many conditions. It had enough ground clearance to handle most obstacles, and unlike previous models, the interior’s ergonomics were pretty nice. They were also the first Porsches to have heat that worked! It was a car that you could actually drive in all four seasons — even in the Midwest.”

There’s the real kicker. “Ultimate daily driver” is an easy claim to make from sunny California. But what about the rest of us? Andy’s skillful modifications and modernizations make exotic car driving a year-round possibility in their home state. In fact, the harsh climate in Wisconsin was what inspired their first safari Porsche build.

“A local client that wanted a Porsche, that you can drive year-round in the snow, take it hunting and just do something fun with a non-traditional car. That was the impetus for build number one.” – Andy

All-Terrain. All the Way.

BFGoodrich^® All-Terrain tires are Kelly Moss’ go-to tire for all of his off-road Porsche builds. The company has been running them on his personal cars for decades and frequently recommends them for builds at the shop.

“Quite honestly, it’s just a really nice tire. It wears well, has a good load rating and sidewall strength, it rides reasonably well, and you get good support handling from it, too. From the desert to the snow, it performs. A true all-terrain.” – Andy

But in true Andy Kilcoyne form, more than just saying it. He shows it.

“Leading up to the first frozen lake video that we made with Hoonigans, we were terrified because we had ordered some studded tires that didn't come in time. But those all-terrain tires just ate up and grabbed hold. I mean, it felt like it was perfect conditions. Such an amazing experience, and all because of the tires.” – Victoria

Crossover Expertise

Alongside their limit-pushing Porsche builds, Kelly-Moss Road and Race runs a dominant GT3 Cup racing team. When they couldn’t turn a wrench in their shop or at the track during the pandemic, they brought their racing expertise to the masses by launching an Online Driver Academy.

Kelly-Moss’ two-expert-shops-in-one situation holds enormous crossover potential. They have plans to include an off-road driving course as a part of their academy soon. And they bring their racing expertise forward in each of their personal Porsche builds. Because who doesn’t want to have race-proven technology on their daily driver?

“It's an incredibly unique shop. There's nobody else that's doing quite what we're doing. Andy engineers our race vehicles and our project builds, and both divisions benefit from one another. Additionally we hire the very best in all divisions with intense focus on teamwork. Our clients appreciate this, too. They find a lot of validity in our project build capabilities because of the development that we've done with the racing.” – Victoria

An engineer through and through, the masterful mind leading both teams is constantly reflecting on closing performance gaps and seeking out possible improvements.

“In the last few years, we’ve managed to bring just about everything in-house. We've added a robust fabrication area. We have a carbon and composite area. We do our own upholstery, graphics, and engine rebuilding — all done here. We're not outsourcing anything.

We're building for excellence. Whether it's motorsports, designing a custom build, or servicing a street car, we want to do it better than the next guy. And even if we're setting track records or winning championships, there's always room for improvement. ” – Andy

That excellence speaks for itself, and then some.

Challenge Accepted

Defying Porsche Piety

The Ultimate Daily Driver — For Us All

All-Terrain. All the Way.

Frozen Lake Shredding in a Safari-Spec Porsche 911 with Kelly-Moss!

Crossover Expertise