nathan1

Great topic, I will weigh in on a few thoughts/experiences that I have had over the years:

• Working at Porsche Dealer in the USA in this period- I worked at a Porsche store when 964's were new and as hard as it is to believe the market was VERY tough (and we were in a very affluent market!). When I left in 1994 we had 2-3 year old UNSOLD new Porsche's, including models you would die to own right now like 964 Turbo, 3.6 Turbo, Speedster, America Roadster, 928 GTS Manuals, etc. We could NOT give them away! Can you imagine the dealer principal who would have gone out on a limb and ordered a Raspberry on Linen car for speculative purposes when he already couldn't sell the Black/Black coupe on the lot? Wasn't going to happen! The sales reps also generally discouraged customers from ordering "out there" colors, coaching them that they might be tough sells down the road or heaven forbid that customer was a regular and would expect a good trade value the following year. I recall one customer who had a Amethyst on Amethyst 1991 964 Turbo, we PRAYED he didn't attempt to trade it back. Of course now thats a pretty insane combo, but it wasn't in 1992....
• Difference Europe vs. USA- In the US our car culture is one where we expect to walk into a new car showroom on a Saturday with our wife and 2 hours later drive off in a new car. In Europe (Germany especially) this is not the model. The dealers don't inventory dozens of cars, consumers expect to order their car. In this situation the dealer has no risk, so the customer gets whatever they want, hence you will find way more daring/unique color and option configurations from ROW markets than in the US. Funny observation is that in Europe people generally dress in shades of grey and black, but are more willing to have a bright colored car whereas in the US we are apt to dress more colorfully (albeit more sloppy!) but usually drive cars in shades of gray....
• Spouse/Partner- Most cars are purchased by people in some sort of relationship/marriage and bright color cars are never compromise colors. So one party likes Speed Yellow, the car is for them but their spouse still generally weighs in, something like "The car is fine, but the yellow is a bit much..." so they compromise and get silver, grey, white, etc.... Hence I call neutrals "compromise" colors, they generally aren't someones first choice, but usually nobody "hates" them.
• Trends over Time- Color preferences across fashion, design, culture, etc shift over time. Currently bright, vibrant colors are all the rage in Porsche, however that could shift. The best way to show this is that there are 4 basic colors that are ALWAYS on the palette and will likely always be: White, Red, Black and some shade of Gray. The other colors rotate in and out but those 4 standbys are always there. So if you are playing the safe game and pick one of those colors, you are almost assured you have a color that might not be "the" color of the moment, but it certainly wont be the sale proof color either. I have been around long enough to recall that some of the colors that we would kill to own now were literally sale proof. Think how many bright cars were repainted Guards Red or Black in the 80's, 90's and early 2000's!
• Communication Color- Great article posted above! This is a key point, the Porsche marketing team will oftentimes pick a color they don't actually expect to sell well but feel will provide a certain marketing "pop" or vibe they want to communicate. For the 993 Porsche chose Riviera Blue, hence you will see all the original road test vehicles and press material in this color. Porsche discontinued this color after the first 3 months of production in early 1994 for just that reason. One of the reasons it is so sought after is just that, they build very few of them (21 IIRC for 1995MY). Oddly enough Porsche chose Guards Red for the 1989.5 964 C4 as you will find the first cars for the "Venture Tour" all in this color. My guess is they were playing it safe as they were concerned that the 964 was already such a departure that switching to a bolder color might scare people that their beloved car was radically different.
• Enthusiast vs. just "Owners"- Oftentimes those of us on these forums think we represent the market because of course we are passionate and "all in" on Porsche. However it is always worth remembering the bulk of the market is made up of people that think "I got a bonus at work, I have always wanted a Porsche, so now I will go buy one...". They might really like the car, but they aren't necessarily "car people". Believe it or not, those people generally don't get this color obsession and will oftentimes tell me that they would shun a bright color and usually say they want one of the 4 common colors as that is what they have always visualized the car would look like. These people actually make up the bulk of the market. This is true now and it was true then. I recall most of our buyers in the early 90's were Dr's, Lawyers, Engineers, Business owners, etc and the car was a treat, but it was just a car. Hard to believe but true.

Now after all that I can't wait to finish up my latest project. It's under wraps for now but it is a PTS 964 in a bright, non metallic color that I have never seen another 964 in before... Hopefully I will have it ready by summer....

sdematt

I would love to track down that Amethyst over Magenta Turbo, @nathan1 ...

GoKart

I asked a US BMW dealer once about ordering a new car via the BMW Individual program (allowing access to a full color palette, as well as some other interesting things like Ostrich leather upholstery, etc).

The dealer, in a pretty wealthy area, said they used to allow it but they had too many people come to the showroom to receive the car and decide they didn’t like it. Then they were stuck trying to sell a specially-ordered car in a custom color. The BMW Individual program allows paint-to-sample, so you can literally pick any color you like, no matter how cool or weird.

Who knows... may all be BS... but I can see it.

JAB12

Thanks for stopping by @nathan1 I agree wholeheartedly with your points especially coming from someone in sales during period. Especially your last 2 points. Although point 3 was quickly dissipated in my household by getting the Mrs. a Miami Blue Macan last year. So there's no 'its a bit much' I mean she still would say it but I still would buy it. Thanks again, great insight. I always wondered why it took me so long to find a non red/black/white 964. I could live with grey/silver but not the other 3, on any variant. I should've started this thread years ago. Who knew!

JAB12

How long ago was this? I saw a mint green BMW M4 just last week and it wasn't a wrap.

9SIX4-C4

@nathan1 super great insights, very valuable. The original owner of my 964 was registered to a Construction company. It made sense during that period of time, very few people due to the economy was able to afford the cars unless they were able to write it off, or a reward/treat. They were purchased as a car to drive to and from work, including social events. It was just a car.

I also observed that the mileage most often is from the first 2 owners (average of 6-8k miles per year, for the first 10yrs of ownership). Then the mileage per year drastically goes down due to the expense of the upkeep/maintenance vs trading for or buying the 993 or the 996.

Most non-red-white-black cars were ordered, and some produced from the Porsche Exclusive division before it was called that. I created a post in FB before, for participants to share the colors of their 964s, and the results are quite interesting.



The caveat is that the numbers were for those who actively participated in the survey and were active in the group. It did show the obvious top 3-4. 60% are red/black/white/gray.

Tioga120

Not the Amethyst/Amethyst Turbo but it will do.

JAB12

@9SIX4-C4 You can add mine to that spreadsheet list '980 Silver Metallic' Special Order color for launch year 1989.5. US Spec car. The original owner of my car I guess did not care as when the launch campaign of the 964 was all Guards Red with that tour of cars in Europe, he orders silver metallic with a red interior. That was back in late 1988. Think about that for a second.

JAB12

Not a jellybean or rainbow color but it is special order and not Red/Black/White so I guess it counts:


1989.5 964 C4 - 980 Silver Metallic - Velvet Red Interior

9SIX4-C4

i've added you in the stat-sheet. Thanks,

I totally agree that there were extra-ordinary buyers of these cars that veered away from the norm. And I am really thankful for those original owners, giving us buyers with a preference for uncommon colors, to enjoy the hunt.

Not related to colors, but the breakdown of the length of ownership also shows new there were relatively new owners of these cars.

stutt911

The colors no one wanted are the ones everyone is paying big bucks for now

Sirenty

Yeah, so many 911s are silver, especially from 996 on, that I don’t really feel my Polar is special, even though it technically was a special order color. I wish it was a jellybean color because I love loud cars.

Which reminds me of driving my old SC one day. It was bright yellow. Not a darker, orangish yellow, or a pale yellow, but the yellowest yellow. I loved that color. Anyway, i pulled up a stop light one day, and an older guy looked over and said, “I could never drive a car that loud.” I thought he was talking about my exhaust, which was quite loud, but realized later he was talking about the color. 🤷‍♂️






Have you aggregated the colors from the 964 Study? I wonder how that shakes out, especially by year.

Greg Wolfe

Obviously, you and I feel the same which is why this is my Polar Silver.



Mr. Wolfe

Sirenty

Love the color of yours! Hoping to find someone down here who can do the same process. If so, I’m leaning Signal or Gulf Orange... 😁

Greg Wolfe

That would be bada$$!

Mr. Wolfe