Most of the cars competing in the Morocco Desert Challenge have four wheels. Pieter Peerlings is an exception as he’ll be showing up with six.

Peerlings’ ride is a restored Jules II Proto, a 6×4 prototype car that was developed for the Dakar Rally in the 1980s. Belgian classic car shop Vintage Garage oversaw the build, which began last May.

Jules II was built by Thierry de Montcorgé for the 1984 Paris–Dakar Rally. De Montcorgé had a reputation for competing in the race with oddball vehicles that he made, making his debut in 1981 with a Rolls-Royce Corniche also dubbed Jules; both cars’ names were references to his sponsor Christian Dior’s Jules cologne.

Wanting to step it up from there, he built Jules II over the course of 18 months. Besides the six wheels (two at the front, four grouped together at the rear), it used a 5.8-liter Chevrolet V8 engine mounted at the rear along with a transmission from a Porsche 935. The monocoque body was made from Kevlar while two 156-liter fuel tanks were placed along the side.

Unfortunately for de Montcorgé, he was forced to retire after four stages with a chassis failure. The car was subsequently abandoned, stripped of its engine, and passed through the possession of various collectors before making its way to Peerlings.

An architect and owner of Sir Norman Lewis Racing Team, Peerlings had raced the Dakar Classic in 2024 with a Porsche 924. His team and Vintage Garage restored the car before unveiling it in late March at the newly owned AR’T Glorie art museum in Antwerp. Testing took place in the following days.

Before departing for Morocco, Jules II was also brought to the airfield at Overboelare for a photo op with an abandoned Douglas C-54 Skymaster, which was used by the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II before becoming an airliner, was seized various times, and dismantled for attempted civilian use before reaching its current location.

The 2025 Morocco Desert Challenge will take place on April 5–12. Jules II is one of 41 cars competing.

Featured image credit: Alan Vertommen