I have gone through the Porsche new car buying experience a couple of times in the last few years. I ordered a 1999 Boxster and a 2002 Carrera. The experience for me was a lot of fun, mulling over options from paint color to shifter *****, from wheel styles to leather types. I am curious if the buying experience was the same in the 70's and 80's. Were Porsche dealerships "stealerships" (not my term but oh so true) back then, too?

I look at late model/ current model cars (996, 986) and see so many arctic silver cars, I think mainly because Porsche marketed silver cars so heavily. Now that I think about it there are as many or more guards red 944's and 911's out there. Did Porsche market those models mainly in guards red? Just curious.

 

I thought i read somewhere the average new Porsche buyer has owned 4.5 porsches before buying his first brand new one... sorry to say I am sill on number 2 :-(

and you are right about the guards red, it was all the rage at one time. In my ideal world exotic car companies should get exclusivity on colours. Only Ferraris should be allowed to paint scarlett red and only Porsche should be allowed to paint arctic silver... these car colours seem iconic to there manufacturers.

just my .02c

 

In the 1980's, Guards Red was THE color. I think it fit the times. Flashy. Fast. Now when you look for 1980s 911's (or especially 944s!) it seemed like red/black and red/tan were the only choices available. Just as you mentioned, nearly all early Boxsters seem to be Silver with either black or Lobster red interiors. To this I blame the Boxster show car of 1993 that looked AMAZING in that color combo. I can't say it was Porsche pushing the color, or simply a fashion statement.

 

When the 996 came out, silver (and forms of silver like Seal Gray) made up 25% of ALL new car purchases, not just Porsche's models. Silver is popular in many other makes. My sister has a 2002 Chevy Monte Carlo. All Monte's were painted in silver it seems.

I speak occasionally with a very long time dealer salesman. He'll ONLY stock silver, black, limited white and seal gray cars with typically black or gray interiors. When you look at the new car lot at this dealership, you'll see one speed yellow Boxster, and the rest of the new Porsche's (including Cayennes) are Silver, Black, or Seal Gray. But, that's what sells.

Many of these people who buy these cars want the Porsche name, but really want to blend in...hence all the silver and black.

 

Like it or not color like Members Only jackets and Sasoon jeans have huge lemming factors that manufacturers of comodity items such as apparel, automobiles and computers and others study and learn from. It is all about PROFIT. I just purchased an artic silver Boxster. I love the color not because I wish to fit in and or wanted the Porsche name. It looks cool to me. Maybe they have entered my head without my knowing. That's it. A victim of Porsche's crack marketing team. I feel so dirty but look so cool. Mike

 

I have a few original factory sales brochures and promotional materials for 911's from the 911SC models to the 3.2 models to the 993 model line up. The '80's brochures showed a lot of various colors on the 911's used in the pictures (brown, blue, white, etc) and didn't really show an abundance or favoritism of Guards Red. My '90 brochure shows a lot of Guards Red cars. The 993 model line up shows almost all silver. So, maybe Porsche did market silver a bit more in the late 90's and into the Boxster and 996 age.

Mike, I edited my post above since I probably was a bit offensive with a comment about silver/gray/etc (I was tired and crabby when I made that post). These cars do look great in silver (and I truly love the red interior choices with silver), silver is very easy to maintain and looks clean all of the time. I did not intent to offend and I'm sorry if I did. The first Seal Gray car I saw in person was a then new 996 Turbo. Exceptional color.

My comment about the dealer only ordering in those specific colors for most of his stock cars really was meant to emphasize that he HAS to order that stuff in order to sell cars. Gotta order what's popular and that makes full financial sense. There is no sense in ordering an orange 997 with a lobster red interior since that will sit around way too long looking for that one specific buyer that wants an odd color combo like that. If I was the dealer, I too would make sure I had silver over black Boxsters with Tiptronics in stock. The rare guy that wants the odd color combo can order it special.

Jay
90 964

 

Actually, I was not offended at all! I did enjoy the read and I agree with your points. Maybe my reply was a bit caustic. Regardless... we can still be friends. Mike