Foul weather today, otherwise I had been planning to do a general cleaning and more photography out in the open air.
Most of my vehicles end up with some sort of moniker, a name that ends up becoming attached to the things, whether intended or not. While I see no need to formalize anything, the practice can be useful for purposes of reference. Several candidates keep slipping into my conversation and that of others. Some I have heard, or even uttered, include:
Blue Bastard
Blue Berry
Ol’ Blue
BlueNine
Baby Blue
Blue Buzz
… and there are more, but I forget …
Most often I seem to almost unconsciously refer to the thing as either the P-Car or the Poor-Car.
We should note that the original paint — much of it is actually still there — is LY5B, or Copenhagen Blue. For 82 – 91 Porsche paint codes, try this. That link doesn’t show color samples, but I have readily Googled up examples of some I wanted to see.
Which makes me return to musing about what approach to take with this car’s future.
My ’66 911 was Bahama Yellow. A color that would not have been my first conscious choice, but I was an adventuresome young man, and the deal that I secured took higher priority. But I came to rue the choice, as it seemed to be as blatant a rolling invitation to law enforcement to pull me over as if I had extended a middle finger in passing. Seemed to be all about visibility; even worse than red. At one point I told myself that if I needed any body/paint work sometime, it should be just gray primer as a sort of cloak of invisibility. Furthermore, and this is not a small consideration, parking in inconvenient “safe” spots to minimize risk of parking lot dings and scratches is something that I got my fill of back in those days.
In my quest over the past year or two for a retirement 944, I purposely sidestepped Guards Red — arguably the signature 944 color — unless there were to be compelling reasons to the contrary. Actually, my later-life cars have been mostly lower-profile grays or whites. An ideal shade, especially for a car that might be driven with vigor, would be Concrete Highway Gray. And black or deep near-black blues or greens were pretty much off my list, too. But look what happened. Copenhagen Blue, almost a Navy Blue.
So all this color consideration stuff gets mixed up with the larger issue of how to prioritize work and how far to take it. The more I drive the P-Car, the more I appreciate the experience behind the wheel. And that’s how I really want to spend most of my time. I like bright & shiny, to be sure. (To make matters worse, Herman just sent me pics of a late 80s, regulation red, 348 Ferrari that he just encountered in a shopping mall (!) with its luscious, pristine appearance and whose owner he engaged in discussion, spinning me into momentary fantasies about bodies and paint jobs … until I remembered that stuff usually involves money, four and maybe five figures.)
Short-term, the path is clear. I aim to make the vehicle as sound as feasible, mechanically and driveability-wise. And I like that its interior is quite livable, but will want a little ongoing attention. As for jumping off onto the body/paint track, I’m thinking about my old 911 experiences/frustrations and am very tempted now to just throw in with the Derelict Aesthetic. I think of this as something of an art movement, perhaps harking back to Mad Max post-apocalypticism, and slowly evolving to present-day relevance with a modern economy of diminishing resources, environmental challenges and other global constraints — as least for the 99% of us. Heck, just watch an episode of Antiques Roadshow and you will find that original finish patina has become highly valued on almost any sought-after object of age. As I reported the other day, Jim intends to preserve his new-found Bug in more or less its current state of appearance. Clear coat your patina.
Well, I don’t know if the P-Car really is a suitable candidate for my Derelict Aesthetic, as it exists with more than just “patina”; it might just be “funky” without much pretense to art. But we shall see.
