Revealed

I struggled with the choice of colour for my 911 project for a long time. 

Of course, it would have been simple (and probably financially optimal) to return it to its original colour (silver) but firstly the car is already a long way from being standard (bodywork, interior, engine), and secondly I don't think the world needs another silver Porsche. 

The main stipulation I set myself was that the colour would have to be period correct. Thankfully, Porsche's palate from the early 1970's was nothing like as limiting as the variations on grey, silver, black and white of the current range, so I had a nice wide choice. 

I ruled out the white/creams on the basis that I wasn't trying to build a RS rep. Black was out for reasons of practicality, and the metallics I excluded on grounds of their additional cost and the problems of future matching.  Some of the brighter colours like viper green and blood orange have had quite a lot of exposure recently - I didn't want to follow a trend that might possibly date. Similarly, I ruled out pale yellow as a mate has an original RS in that colour, and the reds are just a little too mid-life crisis. I'm also quite happy to admit I bottled some of the errrrr... braver colours like aubergine (which can look brown in some lights) chartreuse (limey green) fraise (pink) and the browns.

Looking around the cars at Essen it was noticeable that cars painted in the more pastel colours appear to have less aggressive down the road graphics that the brighter shades, something that is become more and more important as we move into an anti-car age. In its current yellow/black form the reaction from other road users is somewhat polarised, I can see hackles rise amongst some - and the planned exhaust system probably wouldn't help.

What eventually swung it was a plain 911T I saw in one of the outside courtyards in Germay, it was in a lovely period colour, one with classic Porsche resonances, worked well with the 911's curves, and even when combined with some well chosen accents couldn't been seen as aggressive.

I briefed Charlie the Paint on my return. 

A few weeks later the car re-appeared on my drive-way:

Porsche Gulf blue

 SS7