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Weekend Car Activities - July 18 & 19th in Germany!
Originally Posted by DuckieRS
I wonder if Eduardo will be attending the Solitude Revival nearby: http://www.solitude-revival.org/
Work permitting I might make a quick trip over myself.
Had the chance to be part of an evening with Hans Mezger last year where I got to talk to a few people, including Kurt Ahrens (junior).
Originally Posted by Alan Smithee
Thanks for posting...I will be in the area this weekend...looks to be worth a detour...
Yes, there are three big events happening this weekend in Europe that Dieter Landenberger said required special loans of Porsche museum vehicles:
#1 An event in Austria hosted by Dr. Wolfgang Porsche. This is not the famous 'International Porsche Tage' which will take place in Zellamsee in early September (see below):
But it's a similar type event at Zellamsee and it's going on this weekend, requiring the participation of some Porsche museum cars to be shipped to Austria!
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#2 'Solitude Rivival'
Closer to Zuffenhausen and to take quite a bit of attention from Porsche museum cars and personalities associated with PAG. Dr. Matthias Müller, CEO of Porsche, is expected to be driving a historic Porsche vehicle at that event...or so I was told. http://www.solitude-revival.org
I had the privilege to attend a function there in early 1980's when Porsche organized the first Parade of European Porsche Clubs and that was one of our venues for a 'drive'. It has a special place in early Porsche racing history and I encourage all of you to consider attending this event in a future year!
More akin to a Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance event, Bensberg will also require several Porsche Museum cars to be present. Dieter Landenberger was assigned to represent the Museum at this event!
So as you can see, plenty of things to do in Germany and Austria in any particular weekend during the summer. In previous years, the main/premier summer car event used to be the 'Oldtimer Grand Prix' at the Nurburgring in early August:
But with the increasing popularity of the Monterey Historics that comes usually just one week later in my area of the United States, I have noticed that European events are being spread out throughout the entire summer to allow enthusiasts to be able to participate in more events during these summer months.
Unfortunately, I am not going to be at any of these three wonderful events. I have decided to be a good fellow & keep my wife (a non-car enthusiast) company at Rothenburg ob der Tauber. We are staying for two nights at this hotel:
and here are the views from our room on the fourth floor:
As an aside we have encountered unusually high temperatures in Germany since our arrival. Yesterday, when I left the 'Porsche Exclusive' office in Zuffenhausen, it was over 38 degrees Celsius...about 100 degrees fahrenheit. And so you got to be in the shade at all times if you don't want to melt!
But I leave you with a few photos from the past few days as a taste of things to come:
I will try this afternoon to write a few more posts about my visit on Thursday and Friday to Zuffenhausen.I also want to thank you all of you that have posted to thank me for this thread. We will try to continue to do as best a reporting job as possible.
Customer Center Zuffenhausen & 'Porsche Exclusive' - Part 1
I am going to skip the chronological sequence of my visit to the Zuffenhausen area and today report on my meeting at noon yesterday, Friday 17 of July, at PAG. I will report on my visit with Dieter Landenberger, the Porsche Museum and the final night at Bietigheim-Bissingen in future posts!
Attached below is the 'agenda' that was prepared for my visit. This was arranged several months ago by Ms. Barbara Boeckenhoff, Manager, Porsche Exclusive - Personal Design at PCNA. In addition to Dr. Tobias Donnevert and Boris Apenbrink, I was also going to see Sven Theis. For your information, Director Dr. Tobias Donnevert is the head of everything related to Factory Delivery (either German & Europeans picking up or North Americans via ED), Direct Sales Brochures / Accessories, Customer Consultation ('Porsche Exclusive') and the entire Customer Center operations at Zuffenhausen! Boris Apenbrink is the director of all 'Special Vehicle' projects. Think of anything related to 'Limited Editions', such as the 'Brewster Green' Club Coupes, 60th Anniversary PCA coupe, Holland & UK Limited Editions, etc. Boris often shows up at the US PCA Parades, so some of you may know him. Sven Theis is a Design Consultant at 'Porsche Exclusive'. He has a job similar to the one Melissa Witek & Matthew Henry perform at 'Porsche Exclusive' in the United States for PCNA.
As we are getting a bit closer to the end of July and the beginning of the factory vacation (which I believe will commence around 3rd of August this year), these folks were super busy on these last weeks of July. But it was both surprisingly & hospitable that they found time in their schedules to make room for my visit. Also significant was the fact that I was invited to join them at the executive dining facility at Werk II. This special place is reserved for executives with invited corporate guests. And in the past (perhaps still the case), a person picking up a Porsche at Zuffenhausen via European Delivery is allowed the privilege of having a special lunch there! Although at the same floor level as the workers 'canteen', or 'casino' (which anyone that has done a PCA Treffen will be familiar with), this Executive dining room is reserved for special guests! Access to it is via an external elevator seen from the street in the photo below. The dining room would be the room under the 'Porsche' sign, right at the entrance to Werk II.
The only other times I have been in this facility was: 1) when my wife & I picked up a 1986 944 Turbo via European Delivery in 1985; and 2) when I accompanied a friend who worked for Vasek Polak's dealership in Hermosa Beach & was picking up a European Delivery 911. This was often done in those years to obtained an additional allocation for the dealership. The sale was done via European delivery. Someone had to show up at the factory and signed for the car. But the vehicle never was driven by the 'customer' in Europe. It was immediately shipped back to the dealership and the 'customer' then 'sold it' back to the dealership...and voila, another allocation of a difficult to get Porsche model at the time!
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Here is the menu. The food is similar to one found at a very expensive & upscale restaurant in a modern European city. It was absolutely first class!
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So the clear majority of my meeting with these three gentlemen took place at this executive dining room at Porsche. This is the second meeting I have had with these three individuals. The last time it was in April of 2013 and that was set up by Sasha Glaeser, former manager of 'Porsche Exclusive' in the US. Quite frankly there were so many topics I was ready to discuss that we didn't get to all of them. And a large portion of the time was devoted to giving them an understanding of WHY I was doing what I am doing at Rennlist re: my threads related to PTS & 'Porsche Exclusive' options in general.
But here are a few highlights of our conversations:
1) None of these gentlemen said they knew who ordered the 30 late allocation MY2015 gt3's that involved three PTS colors - 'Signal Green', 'Arena Red Metallic' and 'Fashion Grey'. They said they will try to find out if possible. But believe it was a decision taken at PCNA and had nothing to do with them. Boris was adamant that he didn't know why these three colors were chosen nor why the specs were done in that way.
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2) Names of new colors, especially what they call 'communications colors', are chosen for 'effect'. A good example is 'Lava Orange'. After the color was selected, a name is chosen designed to catch the imagination of the customer and general public. So 'Lava Orange' is designed to capture the spirit of this:
And the modern color designers at Porsche (or any German hip automotive company) are less interested in being faithful to historic/vintage color names, like 'BlutOrange' or 'Tangerine'. As an aside, the factory overflows with 'Lava Orange' vehicles. Not only a substantial number of the 991 gt3 RS's are being ordered in this new color, but a substantial number of regular 991s & Turbos are being painted in this hue.
And that is not all, I saw two .2 991 face-lift 991 cars that were also done in these colors. Both of these cars were produced on either July 16th and July 17th. One I saw being parked after it left the production line. The second one was driving on a test on the street just as I arrived for my Friday appointment at the factory! So PAG appears to be using 'Lava Orange' as a semi-official 'communications color' for the .2 facelift 991 too! In my opinion, they are over-doing it in this color & will create an over-exposure of this otherwise pleasant hue!
And having now seen 'Lava Orange' up close & personal, I can vouch for what others have said (but which I never truly believed until now). 'Lava Orange' is NOT really that faithful to the historic 'Blutorange / Tangerine'. It has a 'milkier', mellower look (some have suggested 'Salmon' to describe this wash-out effect) that is nothing like the historic early 911 color! Personally I like the color. But I would have preferred a hue closer to the old early 911 'Tangerine'...but that is just my own subjective opinion!
By the way, a 'communications color' at Porsche means the principal color from all others on the palette offered to 'introduce' model at auto shows, publicity, advertising, etc. 'Lava Orange' is the 'communications color' for the 991 gt3 RS!
I tried to get more background on the color 'Miami Blue'. All in the table deferred to Dr. Tobias Donnevert on that subject. Looks like he had a bit of a say in the process, although the color is chosen by the Porsche 'color specialists' involved with the 'design office' (I believe all are based at Weissach). I asked why they chose a name associated with an older VW Rabbit model? Again, I was told, the name was chosen for its effect, with little attention to whether it was previously used by another sister brand in a previous budget model. He also made a joke about saving the 'Miami' name for a 'white', since in Germany that would sound like 'Miami Vice' (Weiss). Seems a little odd (and cavalier) as to the explanation of the chosen name 'Miami Blue'...but that is what I was told!
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3) 'Ultraviolet' came out of a design experiment for the .2 997 gt3 RS. Apparently there were several colors that were considered for the .2 997 gt3 RS since the factory was well aware that the .1 'RS Orange' and 'RS Green' versions had been a monumental 'hit' in the imagination of both the public and the Porsche customer in particular. So many colors were considered as a follow up. Ultimately, the 'Black Grey' was chosen for the .2 997 gt3 RS as its 'communications color' to the press, etc.
But internally at PAG, the color designers recommended two other colors as possibilities for that .2 997 gt3 RS 'signature' color. One was this Magenta-like color which Porsche (I think) calls 'Rubystone Red'. The vehicle in the photo below was the actual .2 RS painted in that color & presented to the PAG Board of Directors for their approval:
This color (above) was turned down by the Board. But the car is still at the factory and resides as a 'Porsche Museum' regular often seen by the many tourists that visit the facility! However, the Board was also shown alongside a .2 997 gt3 RS in a proposed new purple color called 'Ultraviolet'. Although the Board selected the 'Black Grey' for the 2010/2011 .2 997 model, it was sufficiently impressed with the purple color to give it the 'green light' for the next RS. So that is the unique story of how 'Ultraviolet' was 'conceived' as a color for the current .1 991 gt3 RS!
I didn't get a chance to ask why this fabulous color - 'Ultraviolet' - is being apparently phased out after November 2015 production of the current RS model!
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If there was a moment of 'shock' & 'surprise' at this meeting, it was after I asked when the reported new Porsche color 'Magic Bamboo Metallic' would appear! The table went silent...followed by nervous laughter. And everyone of them looked at each other...and said some words in German. Then they told me that: 'We know nothing about that' with a broad smile. I smiled back in turn...and kept going with my other questions.
As a background on this new color, I must tell you that I often get PM's and emails from readers of Rennlist from all over the world. They come almost on a daily basis. The information on this new color came from someone familiar to most of you - my Canadian 'deputy' color specialist at Rennlist named Daniel (<3mph). By chance, I received an email from him with the information re: 'Magic Mamboo Metallic' just minutes before I left for my appointment at the factory!
After a few minutes at our table, the conversation came back to the topic of this new 'Magic Bamboo Metallic' color. Officially this is what I was told for the record...and for what I would post at Rennlist. PAG is thinking & reviewing many colors for future models all the time. Sometime some of these colors are passed on to suppliers so that they can test on their parts. At other times, they are given to paint companies so that they can prepare color code information for repair body shops. And my hosts tried to explain that is perhaps why this 'Magic Bamboo Metallic' came to be seen in the internet by someone like Daniel. But that it doesn't mean it might show up in the end. It's just a possibility but not a certainty. So that is their story on 'Magic' color and hopefully we will not get bamboozled by it ourselves!
But if I was a betting man (which I am in matters related to Porsche), I would say there is a pretty damn good chance that we will see 'Magic Bamboo Metallic' in the near future! That nervous laughter was very telling and a dead give away. And you all heard it first right here on Rennlist thanks to Daniel!
End of Part 1. More to come.
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By the way, I think a bottle of a type of Franken wine (similar to the one on the photo with their distinctively shaped bottle which is the symbol of their regional wine) calling me by name!
I must have just missed you, my wife and I collected our Macan on the 9th. The factory was wonderful and we were able to see 2 991.2 cars. Looked great in the flesh.
More photos from inside the 'Museum Restoration' shop when I write up the post on the special tour that Dieter Landenberger gave us.
Anonymous: I asked them about your 'Fashion Grey' gt3 standing around too long for the work necessary for 'Special Wishes' over at the back of
'Customer Service'. Stand by for that report later.
Thanks, this thread has already exceeded my hopes for what we'd be hearing from you about your trip and your meeting at the factory! You two must be having so much fun!
I especially enjoyed reading the part about how new colours are developed, approved, and named. Fascinating--it would be so neat to be a fly on the wall during their discussions!
As for Rubystone red, I hope they do bring this colour along for a future car. Perhaps one day when you have more time you can do a little review of this colour comparing it to the original IROC "Carmine red" and also to Ruby star (sternrubin), Fraise, and other similar pink/magenta colours. I wonder if some of these may have been the inspiration behind the new colour's development.
I'm glad the email got to you in time and that you could surprise your hosts with that. Now I'm really curious to see what this new green looks like, if it does make it to production. Seeing as how Miami was predicted correctly, looks like their reaction was genuine and we will be seeing it eventually.
Great job as always, and thanks for this great read!
"And a large portion of the time was devoted to giving them an understanding of WHY I was doing what I am doing at Rennlist re: my threads related to PTS & 'Porsche Exclusive' options in general."
In German to each other:
This man puts all this work into writing and doesn't get paid for it?? He works harder than we do.
The color designers:
Psst.. watch out, this Eduardo knows more about Porsche colors than we do. Geez.. He busted us on the VW name.
Oh yes - loving the detail. Part 2 can’t come soon enough.
Thanks are due to you (and Mrs Z356) for taking time out of your trip to post these reports.
07-17-2015, 05:28 PM
