718 Cayman

Make
Porsche
Segment
Coupe

Porsche only made 1,270 examples of the Carrera GT, and most of them left the factory in silver. A few were painted red, yellow, black, or gray. But one collector wanted to give his a unique touch, so he sent it back to the factory for a complete aesthetic overhaul.

The successor to the 959 and precursor of the 918 Spyder, the Carrera GT remains among the most celebrated of German supercars. It boasted a 5.7-liter V10, naturally aspirated to produce over 600 horsepower, delivering a 0-60 mph time in the mid-threes and a top speed in excess of 200 mph.

With such prodigious performance and so few made, the Carrera GT was deserving of the care and attention paid by Porsche Classic. The team resprayed it in Oak Green Metallic, a color first offered on the 911 in the 1970s but never on this model.

The green paint job was just the start, though. To contrast, the Porsche team painted the wheel spokes, a handful of engine components, and the lettering on the rear deck and brake calipers in gold. But the wheel rims took some extra special care. The customer wanted them polished, which was determined could weaken the magnesium.

So they applied a layer of authentic silver, and lacquered it to prevent corrosion. The center-locking wheel hubs were decorated in blue and silver, and a center mark was inserted at 12 o'clock on the steering-wheel rim in gold flanked by stripes of Oak Green.

The most laborious part, however, was refurbishing the carbon-fiber components – right down to the monocoque – which took 350 hours to sand and re-coat by hand. The finished product was presented to its owner at the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta in front of 100 guests, including Porsche's own designers, specialists, and Le Mans class-winning driver David Donohue.