All the Colours of the RAINBOW
Porsche has offered the 911 in a variety of shades over the years – some more successful than others, as explored by Total 911…
You can have any colour you like as long as it’s black: in fact, Henry Ford’s famous dictum was never completely implemented. When the Ford model T was launched blue and grey were also available, but Ford was trying to speed production by finishing all cars in black, which also dried more quickly. The market won though, and competitive pressures forced Ford to advertise other colours before the end of the model T. Through the 1930s and early post-war years, black dominated mass-produced cars in Europe, but as the post-war boom made itself felt, consumers expected to be able to buy cars in reds, yellows, greys, greens and browns as well. A small scale, engineering-oriented manufacturer, Porsche followed the trend by painting its cars in commercially viable colours. So when the 911 entered production in September 1964, it was offered in the solid shades of the day – reds, blues, greys, Champagne yellow and Irish green. Black and brown could be ordered as optional extras.
The 1960s were a time of rapid social change which affected everything from the way people dressed to attitudes and behaviour. Above all, there was a move from post-war conformism to a more self-conscious individualism. It is instructive to compare crowd photographs from the Porsche Archive: at the beginning of the decade with hats, coats, collars and ties, essentially dull colours predominate; by 1969 it was the reverse. T-shirts, longer hair and anoraks had become the norm, and Swiss Rico Steinemann, Porsche racing manager, seemed to be the last man in the pit lane wearing a jacket with collar and tie. Porsche’s 1969 range of colours reflected this: Tangerine and Banana yellow were two classic ‘flower power’ shades. Generally much lighter standard colours featured, and among no fewer than 22 optionals were three more yellows, Champagne, Signal and Canary, as well as Metallic blue, silver and red. Solid black, red and Pure white had gone. In a 1970 press release suggesting an awareness of fashion that no one would have
associated with the company even five years earlier, Porsche announced that certain shades, specifically Slate grey and Sand beige, were being discontinued as they were “not a good choice for a fast car.”
With variations, this eclectic pallette remained the order of the day through the 1970s and into the following decade: the 1979 SC catalogue reveals you could order a 911 in one of 22 shades, including no fewer than nine metallics. Black had made a return, seemingly thanks to the Turbo: the press Turbo models in 1975 were black, and of course this sensational new 911 made any number of magazine front covers. This no doubt had some influence on the renewed popularity of black. As fashion dictated, Bitter chocolate, very much a period colour, appeared, and there were three other browns to choose from as well as Casablanca metallic beige (code 463). On the other hand, few examples of Lilac (code 601) are likely to exist today as it was rarely ordered, but it serves as an example of how far Porsche, confident after a string of Le Mans wins and purveyor of the high profile Turbo, would go with its new found sense of adventurousness. After flourishing until the early part of the decade, browns went rapidly out of fashion: Nougat brown metallic, a special order on MY1987 Carreras, was evidently well past its sell-by date with few takers, making this another extremely unusual shade.
Reflecting an industry move towards metallic paints, metallics were the order of the day for the 964, introduced in 1988: standard colours had been reduced to seven, including the 964’s most famous hue, Guards red (G1). Optional tints, of which there were 17, comprised of entirely metallic finishes, with no fewer than four green metallics to choose from – Amazon, Emerald, Granite and Lagoon. Porsche had probably overdone the range of greens, especially given the standard 964 pallet also comprised two greens, Mint and Signal. Although green generally was a significant 1980s colour, uptake of the mid and lighter tints proved limited, so it is hardly surprising that Porsche’s Amazon metallic for one is rarely seen today. The 1992 964 Turbo Leichtbau, the fastest 911 yet, marked the return of a vibrant hue, Speed yellow, the first yellow on a 911 since the demise of Talbot yellow in 1981. The 993 RS would reprise Speed yellow on its launch in 1995. Interestingly, although 964s are known to exist in other yellows, notably Ferrari Fly and Summer yellow, these possibilities never existed on Porsche colour charts. They would most likely have been Sonderwunsch special-order jobs. The same occurs with the 993: three metallic shades fail to appear on the Zuffenhausen colour chart, yet there are a tiny number of cars wearing Wimbledon green,
Forest green or Orange pearl metallic. Orange pearl was also the colour of the launch model of the 993 Targa exhibited at Frankfurt in 1994. Restructuring of manufacture for the new water-cooled range would not put an end to special-order deviations of this sort, but customers would have to pay handsomely – over £2,500 in some instances – and endure a three month waiting time for bespoke paint.
Colours for the 993 range were rationalised with six, and later only five tints – these were all solid colours, including Guards red, Grand Prix
“Choosing colours can be a fouryear process ascertaining that the tint does not change when the pigment is mixed”
“Any auto maker will first need to understand the effect of different lighting on it, and whether a given colour puts the car at a disadvantage”
white, black and Riviera blue. Six metallics included Midnight blue, a favourite 993 shade, and the colour chart left open the possibilities of “other metallic or solid hues”, which probably explains the origin of a handful of metallic turquoise 993s. Initially, the colours offered for the 996 were close to the
993’s selection. Again it was a restrained range: five standard solid tints and five optionals, all metallics, such modesty not unconnected with Porsche’s limited budget at this point. The colours available for the 996 became rather more varied in later model years, and by MY2003 20 shades were offered.
Tastes were changing: Speed yellow, Guards red and Zanzibar red (really an orange which recalled the tangerine of 30 years earlier) remained, but buyers went far more for the Slate grey, Arctic silver and Midnight blue metallics, making the solid tints rarities on these cars.
This trend was reflected in the colour chart for the 997: you could still have solid colours in theory, Guards red, Gulf orange and Ferrari yellow, but the vast majority of sales went to variations of the grey, silver and dark metallics. In 1999, the head of Porsche’s Colour and Trim division, Dorothea Müller, had claimed that black or silver were original Porsche colours from the 1970s and that Porsche had started a trend, but in reality grey, black and silver offerings from the likes of BMW, Mercedes and Audi were the main influence on Porsche’s colour choices in the 2000s. After all, ease of driving and relative refinement compared with its predecessors was the major selling point of the 996, so it was logical to offer it in the similarly elegant but sober shades of its German rivals. This fitted the thinking of Michael Mauer, who took over as head of styling in late 2004: he remarked that Silver grey particularly suited the lines of a Porsche, and indeed this seemed to be the corporate colour for some years. This gave rise once again to rare colours such as Ipanema blue, offered only in MY2010 as a few discerning customers rejected the prevailing silver/grey fashion.
Of course, before picking a particular paint shade any auto maker will first need to understand the effect of different lighting on it, and whether a given colour puts the car at a disadvantage. At Porsche, Dorothea Müller’s successors do not divulge their paint-selection criteria, but it is known that choosing colours can be a four-year process, from deciding suitability, then ascertaining that the tint does not change when the pigment is mixed and through the rigorous testing procedures before going into production. Arctic silver metallics remain popular because they are good at retaining visual image under dim or harsh artificial light. Size affects which colours work best: the consensus is that small needs solid, bright colours, whereas larger can get away with darker. With its longer wheelbase and bigger wheels, the 991 falls into the latter category, and in the 2010s as the premium car market slowly moves away from the ‘corporate grey metallic’ look, Porsche’s Anthracite brown metallic (MS8/GO) and Sapphire blue metallic(n1) proving popular in a way that would not have been the case even ten years ago. The 991 colour chart does have the hardy perennials, black, Guards red and Carrara white, but only one green, Emerald. Greens still do not have the acceptance they once had, so Porsche is being bold here: Emerald green might yet prove another of those rare Porsche colours in future.
It is no secret that Porsche’s colour and trim specialists look at fashion trends, as well as competitors’ ideas. With such a rich tradition, they can also draw shades from past catalogues. For example, in May 2017 the millionth Porsche, a 991, was finished in Irish green, intentionally recalling one of the colours of the very first production 911s in 1964. Porsche can be subtle too: rather than axe the plain white of the 911R, the anniversary 991 R wore a discernibly richer, creamier lustre which brilliantly paid homage to the original car, but cleverly hinted at far greater sophistication. Likewise with the ‘50 Jahre’ Anniversary 991 in Geyser grey in 2013. The subliminal message is that Porsche is always best, and progress means the best simply gets better.