Yes, you must buy this rally-spec Fiat Panda 4x4

Ever come across the Panda Raid Rally? Well, apologies if you hadn’t before, because after this you’ll be desperate to get involved.

Panda Raid embodies the spirit of the original Dakar and invites over 300 amateur teams each year to travel 3,000km across Spain and Morocco without any internet access or GPS. Oh, and of course that all has to be done in either two- or four-wheel drive first-generation Fiat Pandas. Fantastic. 

And if that very brief description hasn’t already sold you on the idea, just check out the pictures above. Yep, this is a pre-prepped Panda Raid competitor that actually completed the 2018 and 2019 iterations of the gruelling event and is now for sale via the online auction site The Market. What a little fighter.

The Panda looks fantastic in rally spec, doesn’t it? This is a 1991 4x4 example complete with a 1.1-litre F.I.R.E. engine and that Steyr-Puch drivetrain, as well as rally mods like underbody protection, a towbar, mudflaps, chunky tyres and a bonnet that’s raised at the rear for extra cooling – handy when negotiating the Sahara.

We’ve actually fallen in love with this baby Panda and are already trying to fill that standard front passenger seat with a willing co-driver. All we’ve got to do now is stump up the estimate (between £3,000 and £7,000) and we’ll be off to Morocco in no time…