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Well, technically speaking, at the Porsche Zentrum Stuttgart! Right Henry!
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It is troubling that you found 'Lava Orange' had a double or triple personality in reality. Sort of tomato, salmon or persimmon. The vintage 'Blutorange / Tangerine' color was pretty singular in character...and quite attractive.
Yes Eduardo, before our factory tour at PORSCHE Zentrum Stuttgart - post corrected!
Blutorange is a very good description - I love blood oranges
RAL2002 is a very good sample of Blutorange for those who use this colour system.
Eduardo, I have our FANTINI faucets in all vintage Porsche colours in our new home:
Gelbgrun RAL6018
Slate Grey or Schiefergrau RAL 7015
and Blutorange above
I will PM you these when complete
It was tough for me commit to Lava without seeing it in person but after the endless stream of silver/gray/black/white Porsches online and at the dealers I felt like being different. Love it or hate it, my guess is that Lava won't be a color that blends in too easily with all the other machinery on the road.
My understanding is that Porsche first started out with bright "M&M" colors in the early 70s because the reasoning was that the cars would be much more visible on the autobahn as they rapidly approached you from behind and then disappeared into the distance. A claimed 'safety' feature. As many here have mentioned, it is these colors today like Viper Green, Blood Orange, and Mexico Blue that command the highest premium. I'm sure back then there was plenty of debate about buying one of these cars in a color outside the mainstream. Hell, maybe they were considered flashy even back then. For me, Lava Orange harkens back to this time period and since I'm a Porsche buff there really just wasn't any other choice for me.
My understanding is that Porsche first started out with bright "M&M" colors in the early 70s because the reasoning was that the cars would be much more visible on the autobahn as they rapidly approached you from behind and then disappeared into the distance. A claimed 'safety' feature. As many here have mentioned, it is these colors today like Viper Green, Blood Orange, and Mexico Blue that command the highest premium. I'm sure back then there was plenty of debate about buying one of these cars in a color outside the mainstream. Hell, maybe they were considered flashy even back then.
Yes, those were the so-called "visibility colors".
Back in high school there was Signal Orange Carrera, just like the one above (except for the rear spoiler, which probably makes it a 75) and its still etched into my brain every time I saw that car, especially that beautiful out of this world orange. Of course I was too young to even consider that anyone buying one would hesitate even a moment over the color, I just knew it was awesome! I never considered it flashy. The flashy cars back then were the ones my friends had repainted gaudy kandy-kolored tangerine flake streamline baby, if I can borrow Tom Wolfe's phrase.
I don't know if those visibility colors command a premium, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did. They do stand out. But they are also timelessly classy.
They didn't stand out in 1973. My dad had a 73 Impala that was not far off of Porsche's Jade Green, and a 74 that was akin to Irish Green. Every car line had oranges and yellows, reds, purples, lime and avocado greens, bright metallic blues. The late-seventies and early-eighties saw a big shift to colors like Anthracite, colors that appeared much more serious and buttoned down.
Back in high school there was Signal Orange Carrera, just like the one above (except for the rear spoiler, which probably makes it a 75) and its still etched into my brain every time I saw that car, especially that beautiful out of this world orange.
The 1974 911 Carrera above, parked for a recent Concours on the Avenue in Carmel, is probably just 'Orange', color code 156.
'Signal Orange', color code 116, was available that year too...but looks & photographs differently!
As you all know, the 1975 Carrera would have had even a bigger 'whale tail':
So the 'Orange' Carrera in the photo above is definitely a US MY1974. The regular 911 & 911S of the period would not have sported any rear spoiler at all - duck or whale tail!
And yes, for whatever reason (visibility or fashion vogue of the times), the colors offered by Porsche in the early seventies were simply awesome! Until the advent of the modern PTS era (apples to oranges, I know!), there was never a similar time in history when so many 'groovy' colors were offered by Porsche on their cars! For instance, in MY1970 Porsche offered 9 regular colors & 21 'Special Colors' as their choices to customers! How many color choices are currently offered on a MY2015 991? Fourteen if you are lucky!
Perhaps this factory photo of the IROC 911 RSRs all together at Werk 1 before being shipped to the US captures the colorful spirit of this unique historical period best!
The 1974 911 Carrera above, parked for a recent Concours on the Avenue in Carmel, is probably just 'Orange', color code 156.
'Signal Orange', color code 116, was available that year too...but looks & photographs differently!
As you all know, the 1975 Carrera would have had even a bigger 'whale tail':
So the 'Orange' Carrera in the photo above is definitely a US MY1974. The regular 911 & 911S of the period would not have sported any rear spoiler at all - duck or whale tail!
And yes, for whatever reason (visibility or fashion vogue of the times), the colors offered by Porsche in the early seventies were simply awesome! Until the advent of the modern PTS era (apples to oranges, I know!), there was never a similar time in history when so many 'groovy' colors were offered by Porsche on their cars! For instance, in MY1970 Porsche offered 9 regular colors & 21 'Special Colors' as their choices to customers! How many color choices are currently offered on a MY2015 991? Fourteen if you are lucky!
Perhaps this factory photo of the IROC 911 RSRs all together at Werk 1 before being shipped to the US captures the colorful spirit of this unique historical period best!
Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel
With the whale tail it was definitely a 75. But the orange, I always thought it was Signal Orange. A little less red than the first picture, a lot less than the second one you said is orange, but slightly more red than the last one you said really is Signal Orange. Thanks Eduardo. Between you and photography now I will have to wait until I can see one in the flesh to ever be sure!
Thanks for posting the IROC cars. Those were some golden years for Porsche, the first (only?) time Americans were treated to a whole grid of colorful Porsches racing on prime time TV, complete with stock car drivers like Richard Petty to get them to tune in. With legendary Porsche driver Mark Donohue winning the first IROC championship in 1974 it really made for some special memories.
04-23-2015, 04:09 PM
