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This is a repost of what I wrote on another thread on the 918 forum. But
I thought it might be of interest to some of you on this forum too:
Originally Posted by Crisis
Very timely post. I just got home from the unveiling of two 918s in
Gulf Livery at Porsche Centre of Saskatoon.
The owner of the dealership, Vaughn Wyant, went into quite a bit of
detail about the ordeal he had to go through with Porsche and Gulf
to be able to get the cars painted in the Gulf Racing scheme. He
initially approached the President of Porsche Canada, who went to
Porsche AG with the request. The reply was "if you can get approval
from Gulf, we will build them for you. But you will never get it approved."
Turns out that the approval from Gulf wan't really all that difficult, and
after some back & forth with Porsche, they agreed to build them as requested.
He also mentioned that another Gulf 918 had just just surfaced on
instragram, but went to great lengths to point out that his 2 cars
were unique in a few ways. Those differences included the
period-correct matching paint colours, the "Gulf" logos embossed
in the headrests and the lack of any green paint on the lettering
or the brake calipers. Sounds like the deletion of the green paint
took some persuasion, but Porsche finally agreed that it would
look stupid with the blue & orange paint scheme. This may all
seem pretty trivial, but when you're paying $1.4 million USD each
for these cars, you want to protect your investment.
He plans on selling one and keeping one.
Here are some crappy cell phone photos (I somehow failed to
get a shot of the calipers, but I believe they were black). Also,
I'm sure that there will be some better shots showing up on
twitter at #918gulf. Here's a link to some of the stuff from
tonight's event. https://twitter.com/hashtag/918gulf?src=hash
Originally Posted by Z356
Good reporting Crisis. As to what was
told at the event, anyone ordering a 918 could change the calipers
of his/her car from 'Acid Green' to a dark 'Silver' by paying for the
$2800 option. It took little 'persuasion' other than offering the
money to get that option...to which PAG readily agreed to do that
for anyone that asked!
It'll be interesting to follow up on the claim that the Canadian 918s
have 'period-correct matching paint colors', which suggests that the
Atlanta 918 does not. I'll make some inquiries to see if I can get an
answer to that question.
I think everyone who ordered one of these 3 Gulf 918s will do well
in the long run. They are very special.
OK, there is a bit of a story here involving these Gulf 918's. So far, we
have one in Atlanta and two in Saskatoon (Canada). And as I sensed
from reading Crisis' post of what was reported to him by the Canadian
owner, there appears to be a rivalry going between owners & their
'Gulf' livery cars. And it's not just what the Wyant folks are saying up
North, the Atlanta owner has his own set of peculiar claims:
And, as a reminder, here is what the Canadian owner is saying about his two 918 'Gulf Livery' Spyders:
"He also mentioned that another Gulf 918 had just just surfaced on instragram, but went to great lengths
to point out that his 2 cars were unique in a few ways. Those differences included the period-correct
matching paint colors..."
So what gives? Does the statement by the US owner that his is the: 'ONLY 918 CAR' in North America that has
been approved by Gulf Oil and is being developed by Porsche AG /PCNA in Gulf Livery' true? Did Porsche changed
the colors on the Canadian 918s from current PTS 'Gulf Blue' & 'Gulf Orange'? Is the issue the approval by Gulf Oil
Canada? My understanding is that PAG required owners wanting the Gulf Livery scheme to get a license from Gulf
Oil to use the logo and colors. The license was free and the only limit was that the car not be used for advertising.
So I would argue that every one of these 'Gulf' livery 918's obtained that license from Gulf Oil.
Here is the email I received from a knowledgeable 918 owner who is familiar with the 'Gulf' theme on that model:
"Eduardo,
Re: The US 'Gulf' 918 in Atlanta:
1. It is painted in the current standard Porsche Gulf Blue and Gulf Orange. The stripe is paint. The Gulf logos and
the roundels are vinyl. The interior is the standard brown leather with orange piping.
Here are 3 photos of the car at the factory that the owner posted that show exactly how it left the factory before
the decals were installed:
2. There are also two Gulf 918's in Canada. These cars don't have the vinyl roundels mounted, and the side Gulf
logos were placed differently. These also differ in that they have black interiors with blue piping and the Gulf
headrest imprint."
We know that Porsche has approved both 'Gulf Blue' and 'Gulf Orange' for PTS in the 991/981. It would be my educated
guess that Porsche used those already approved PTS 'Gulf' colors to do all three 'Gulf' livery 918s that we know of so far.
And PAG most certainly created a PTS color code sticker (like they do on all their PTS cars) for those two Canadian 918s
with their official 'farbcode'. And I would bet that sticker reads: 328 just as mine reads 22S:
But if anyone can verify the color code sticker on any of the two Canadian cars it would go a long way towards solving this
PTS color dispute!
By the way, could there be a fourth 'Gulf' 918 not yet delivered?
The Saga of the Gulf Livery 918s...to be continued.
Amulet Red Leather Interior
R8 gt Alcantara Steering wheel with deviated red stitching
R8 gt Alcantara knee pad with deviating red stitching
R8 V10 shifter cap with red circle
New 'R8' badge (with red enamel) on rear
Purchased from Mercedes of Annapolis 1/08/2013 with 3847 miles,
after original owner traded it in on a MB. Currently 6566 miles, so
I have put only 2719 miles during my ownership.
In Service Date - 9/29/2011 . No accidents, no mechanical or paint issues.
Audi Care - Maintenance Program. I purchased 'Audi Care' in 2013
which covers the first 4 maintenance be it 4 years or 45 thousand miles.
Full Service History available.
First time advertised for sale. Priced to sell this week at US$94000.
I have around $120,000 invested in the vehicle as it sits. Need room
in my small Carmel garage for my new 'Signal Green' 991 gt3!
The new 911 configurator has graphite blue and Miami blue available to order on the Carrera S at least.
That is great...if true.
I spotted & photographed the color 'Graphit Blau Metallic' during my visit to Leipzig in late July & reported it here on Rennlist.
I believe it was the first time this color was discussed as possible new hue for Porsche! I am glad they finally have announced
it's a new color in the Porsche 991 palette! You will also see it on the 981!
I've done quite a bit of research on slate grey over the past month or 2 as I've now been confirmed for my Slate Grey GT4. Seemingly, there have been many 'shades' of Slate grey over the years. As been stated, the Steve McQueen slate grey (615) is nothing like the newly released slate grey (Y97).
Not entirely sure if I've uploaded these pictures properly but I'm pleased to share these photos that I've discovered (after what seems to be over 100 hours of research) of the Porsche Exclusive 991 Turbo Cabriolet that has been confirmed as being Slate Grey (y97). It seems to almost have a light purple / blue tint which changes in different light.
I opted for the lighter slate grey (Y97) - I wanted more of a contrast with the black exterior accents. I also went with LWBs, black leather, yellow stitching and belts. I'm very excited to see this colour in person - Delivery scheduled for February, too long.
Cheers,
Rob
Originally Posted by Z356
Blu RS: Thanks for the note. As long as you understand that according to 'Porsche Exclusive' the 'Slate Grey' 615, not 'Slate Grey' Y97, is the historic / vintage 'Slate Grey' color that was Steve McQueen's 911S and perhaps even that Turbo, you are in fine shape. Quite frankly that photo provided by 'Porsche Exclusive' (which I posted) was a surprise to me. I was expecting the opposite - color code 615 to be lighter than Y97!
Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel
Last edited by NORTH DRIVE; 09-09-2015 at 07:53 PM.
Reason: add pictures
Nice work Rob and Eduardo.
That Slate Grey RAL7015 Y97 looks similar to Audi Nardo Grey, probably a closer match than Fashion Grey 61H.
Here's the darker Slate Grey 6601 615 on the right, compared to Grey Black 7A1 on the left.
Slate Grey 6601 has been described as greenish, and Grey Black purplish.
I saw Grey Black in the metal this Summer on a previous generation RS at Scottsdale Porsche in AZ, and can confirm it has purple (metallic?) flakes.
Nice work Rob and Eduardo.
That Slate Grey RAL7015 Y97 looks similar to Audi Nardo Grey, probably a closer match than Fashion Grey 61H.
Here's the darker Slate Grey 6601 615 on the right, compared to Grey Black 7A1 on the left.
Slate Grey 6601 has been described as greenish, and Grey Black purplish.
I saw Grey Black in the metal this Summer on a previous generation RS at Scottsdale Porsche in AZ, and can confirm it has purple (metallic?) flakes.
Yes fashion grey is very light - I think Y97 will definitely be closer to nardo (which is one of my favourite colours) than fashion grey, but more purple even then Grey Black (in certain light) - which is an idea that is actually growing on me.
I must tell you that until recently I thought that PAG would stick to their announcements that that they would not
duplicate in paint the foil decals themes they had originally announced for the 918. The problem for collectors with
the factory foil wrap was that the 'decals' are not guaranteed to last beyond a few years...and then what? The solution
was to paint the design schemes directly to the panels! But would the factory agree to do that?
Well initially they refused. But apparently somebody convinced them that this was the right thing to do for their most
demanding 918 customers - an elite among their long list of VIP clients. And these special PTS 918s were then set to
be built & delivered last. Almost all were based on famous 917 liveries in Porsche history.
Here is the list of cars I have been able to identify:
1) Mark Webber - 'Salzburg Racing Design' in Paint
So far, these are all the 918 I have seen done in this special PTS process. The latter involves painting two colors
on the same panels, something which is not normally available via PTS.
************************************************
Costs: 'If you have to ask, you can't afford it'
Regular PTS on the 918 was $21000 for most colors. Some of the more complicated PTS were priced at $49,000
(e.g. Pearl White 947). The two exclusive 'Liquid Metal' paints, which required 9 coats applied in high precision
(metal flakes were aligned properly by magnets) and three clear coats, was priced at $63,000.
I can only guess that for the design, labor & execution of these last PTS 918s in historic liveries, PAG probably
charged their customers over $100K + for the privilege! And when you add some of the special requests done
by 'Porsche Exclusive' in the interior - e.g. special leather colors, deviating stitching, deviated leather beading,
unique leather headrest embossing - the combined expenses for the paint & interior is probably close to $150K
for these special PTS 918s!
***********************************************
My understanding is that for the Gulf 918s, the factory used the current PTS approved 'Gulf Blue' & 'Gulf Orange'
colors. If Vaughn Wyant has documentation that points out to the use by PAG of different hues for his two cars vs
the Atlanta car, I will be glad to correct my statement.
***
For Mark Webber's car, PAG matched the colors of the current 917 at the Porsche Museum done in Salzburg livery
(by the way, the original chassis was 'lost' - this is not the LeMans winning historic chassis). I took photo of that car
in July.
***
For Hurley Haywood's 918, PAG added the Brumos colors which was not complicated to do. And the factory previously
had done 'Brumos' Limited Editions, the most recent if I recall was the B59 '12 997 GTS below. So we know that the
'Brumos' colors are on file at Zuffenhausen!
This was the easiest PTS livery of the bunch that PAG had to do. I hope Hurley got a discount on his PTS option!
****
For the 'Blue-Purple/Green' & 'Yellow/Red' Hippie car, the story now takes an interesting turn. Both color schemes are based
on 'one' historic 917 chassis # - 917 -021. That chassis was raced in various liveries. And that is where the story needs to be
told in full so that you can understand what these two 918 owners were trying to 'honor' or 'pay homage' in their particular
(& expensive) color schemes:
OK, now that you know the story on 917-021, let's go to the easiest of the two 918 'Hippie' color scheme
to explain why it was done that way. The 'Yellow/Red' Hippie 918 is duplicating the livery on 917-021 as the
Shell Psychedelic (at least it's third racing livery paint job):
It is probable that the 918 owner chose to follow the colors researched by Gunnar Racing for their careful
restoration of the formerly Rosso-Bianco 917 in 'Shell Sandeman' livery.
Although that original livery did not have the psychedelic design, it was painted in the exact same Shell Oil
colors (the 'yellow' has a bit of mustard & the 'red' has a bit of orange) that would adorn the later 'Yellow/Red'
livery #2 on the 917-021. And even the 'red' seats on that historic car are reproduced on this 918 'tribute'! So
all of that makes sense!
****
What about the 'Blue-Purple/Green' Hippie 918? How true are those colors to the original historic livery? The
'other' 917-021 painted in this color scheme is apparently in Belgium. From the photos in the 'Classic Driver'
article above the darker hue appears more 'purple' than in the 918 color scheme. We don't know if that car
was available to the 918 owner to request color samples.
But there is another 'psychedelic' 917 (917-043) that resides in Pennsylvania at the Simeone Foundation Automotive
Museum & is more accessible to research for color. It is also painted in a 'Blue-Purple/Green' Martini livery.
So what color scheme was followed by the 918 owner in reproducing the original livery? Did they nailed the colors right?
I think we will need to see that car photographed in different light to see if the 'purple' comes through on the base blue!
If anyone can add more to how the colors of this car were 'chosen', we would appreciate the input.
*******
Altogether, it's a fabulous story of these last, and very special, PTS 918s. And let me leave you all with this video which
attempts to capture the era of the 917-021 which inspired some of our subject matter:
In the early '90s, Stoddard had a mint green America Roadster that sat on the showroom floor for what must have been a year before someone bought it. It was... different.
08-28-2015, 05:22 PM
