Silly, or the extreme version- Ridiculous, is just a euphamism for something quite desirable or attractive. e.g. "The Carrera GT is just a silly automobile" , or " Charlize Theron is absolutely Ridiculous!" Just an expression which I like to employ.

 

'Who said Guards Red is dead?'

Uh....maybe 'taste' did?

J/k! I've already been chastised once on this board for asserting that red is only for Italian cars...and actually Guards Red has grown on me of late in an 80's retro kinda way....sorta like pinstriping on seats. I've just never liked colors that have little depth, and Guards Red was always a 'shallow' color even before the ravages of oxidization.

Silver has been over-done of late...but I think the proclivity towards metallic colors for Porches has some basis in history- what with Porsche's involvement in German armor. During WWII, Red meant dead, literally. ( I've always thought it would be fun to do a 944 in Panzer style camoflouge- maybe even three color grey, black, and white. )

And of course there is the racing tradition from the early days of GT racing where Italian cars were red, French cars blue, German silver, the British 'racing' green, and who was it that was 'white'? The Dutch?

As to the origin of the name 'Guards Red', I always assumed it came from the British Guards at Buckinham palace...which never made much sense what with the lingering animosity between Brits and Germans.

 

I think the 944 is pretty accomodating -- they look good in a wide range of colours. About the only colour that I've seen that makes the 944 look bad is a metallic brown colour (I assume it's a factory colour -- I don't know it's name though), which fortunately is pretty rare. I could never understand someone ordering a brown Porsche.

"Let's see... red... no, too common. Black... a bit of cliche. White... a bit of a non-statement. Ooohh! Brown! That's it! I _must_ have it in Brown!"

But 911s are trickier. Some colours just look terrible on the 911 shape. I saw one not too long that was kind of lime green -- disgusting. Looked a bit like a frog. And an ill frog, at that...

-Mark

 

I really like that lime green on the 1976 911 Carrera.

 

Thanks, Danny. Goes some way to explaining why we have brown 944s...

-Mark

 

Be fair. There is a big difference between the racing green and **** brown.

 

Well, if you're talking about racing green, as in British Racing Green, I have no problem. I love BRG. And generally, I like greens. My 86 944 while I was in the US was a light metallic green ("Crystal Green": see avatar). One of the most beautiful 911s I've seen was a 964 in a dark green (called "Oak Green", IIRC).

The lime green I'm talking about is not a racing green. It's the sort of green that inspires Kermit the Frog to sing "It Isn't Easy Being Green." It was almost fluorescent. Truly hideous, IMHO.

-Mark