A question of colour
Remember the hot hatches of the early 1990s that were always white with red trim? White was a cool colour then it went wildly out of fashion, to the extent you simply couldn’t sell a white car.
Then, in the last couple of years white has made a comeback. Cars such as the Golf GTi appeared at motorshows finished in retro white with red trim, obviously to appeal to blokes of a certain age.
Porsche spotted the trend and showed the GT3 and GT2 in white, and it’s gone on to be the in colour for these sporty variants in the UK.
But what of other 911s? It’s rare to see standard Carreras in white, partly because buyers are worried about getting their fingers burnt when it comes to resale value – they’d prefer to stick with the safe shades of blue, grey and silver, even now.
So, a GT3 or GT2 looks ultra-cool in white, yet if you see a Turbo in white it starts to look slightly vulgar. While the Turbo Cabriolet that’s sitting outside Raby Towers at the moment looks like something you’d expect a rap artist or footballer’s wife to drive. I’m finding it embarrassing to be seen in it.
Why is this? I think that Cabriolets are slightly flashy at the best of times, and combine them with a bright colour (OK, I know, white isn’t actually a colour) and they just look over the top. This car would look quite classy if it were finished in a dark metallic shade, because the colour would then compensate for the image people associate with the open roof.
Of course, such thinking varies from country to country. In the USA or Middle East, white cars are more acceptable and people probably wouldn’t look twice at my blingy Cabriolet.
On the plus side, I bit the bullet, dropped the roof and had a fantastic drive down the M27 in the Turbo. It’s fast, civilised and I could easily listen to the radio at 80mph, even without the wind deflector in place.
Look out for a full report in Total 911 very soon!
Now, where’s my gold medallion?
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