Classic Porsche Colours in Photoshop

I’m still overloaded with work so not got a lot of time to blog at the minute. There is a light out there at the end of the tunnel however, so I should be back up to speed soon.

Following a day spent at the Office of Fair Trading, I attended my usual Monday night Basic Digital Photography meet at Warwick College last night; am now half way through the course. Most of the evening was spent playing with layers in Photoshop.

Here’s an interesting effect that’s really easy to create – we call it ‘colour pop’. Start with a pic, then copy the same pic over the top of it: duplicate the 1st layer (your pic) by dragging it to the icon next to the trash in the layers palette.

Convert your base layer to black and white and then use the eraser tool to take out your colour pop subject, thus exposing the full colour version underneath. It’s quick ‘n’ dirty, not professional, but can make some stuff look good. I like the colours in these pics – like a tint effect. I chose the light blue and orange to mimic the Gulf cars and purple with green to evoke the acid-tripping Kremer 917 (my favourite Porsche scheme to date).

Week off college now for half term and then back into it. Homework is some compositional analysis of our own work and practise panning shots.

Anyone who is thinking of one of these courses should just get in and do it. Pick a college with the right equipment though. Ours has lots of Macs, tripods, projectors, card readers etc, which I think makes it. Don’t just sign up for night classes in some secondary school – pick a place that is approved by City and Guilds. Then you know they should have all the gear.

What’s in a Porsche Name?

I was reading the other day about a couple who have named their three daughters after car manufacturers. What a joy for 8 year-old Lexus and her 26 month-old twin sisters, Porsche and Audi. Not even Portia or Edie. No pressure on their choice of vehicle later in life then. “For my eighteenth birthday, Daddy got me some deed poll forms.”

This kind of stuff always grates – like bimbos who tattoo themselves with car badges, just above the waistline. No brand is forever: brand values come and go and our allegiances are not cast in stone. For example: this year, Fernando Alonso is running for Ferrari, so I’ll be following the red cars. Will this new UK tifosi be tattooing a prancing horse on the back of his head? Not likely.

All these legendary names – Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini – are now just marketing angles: brands like any other. The fascination of dynasty is kindled by Ferdinand’s grandson, Herr Piëch, and his wonderplan for the company’s future, but we will never again see the like of the independent family business that took on the world and won.

I’m not saying that I don’t connect with some parts of modern Porsche. I like the newer strings to Porsche’s bow and can easily imagine Herr Doctor endorsing the Cayenne or Panamera, but I can also see him pushing hard to balance the company’s bulk, by way of lighter cars involving the latest technologies – not the mad dash for luxo-barge market sector we have seen in the last ten years.

It’s hard to be genuinely innovative when market share is all that really matters. The freshness that Porsche was once famous for is now the preserve of other, less cumbersome brands and the 911 echoes this boardroom bulk in the metal: today, the legendary sports car is a lard-arsed pastiche of its former self (witness the side stripes on this Mexico/Riviera/whatever the new name is Blue Turbo).

Now that Porsche is 100% corporate and no longer carries that endearing family connection, perhaps the best we old-school devotees can hope for from future product is flashes of brilliance and hints of the brand’s rich history; flashes that don’t cost £140,000 and sell out in a week. For me, the current state of play is not enough to choose Porsche as a name for my kids or a brand for my skin and, to my mind, anyone who does marks themselves out as severely lacking in imagination.

Perhaps the last Emperor – Ferdinand Karl Piëch – can revive the must-see character of the Porsche that we classic fans know and love: a manufacturer whose every move was tracked and imitated because it was fresh, interesting and, above all exciting. Not a regurgitation of something they did 20 years earlier. Fingers crossed; we old school fans look forward more than we look back.

Varmint: Still Waiting

I’ve been off the pace on blogging lately, for which I apologise. Things are busy here with a lot of projects on the go.

One thing that’s been keeping me busy is a Basic Digital Photography course at Warwick College in Leamington. It’s a 10-week stint, 3 hours teaching a night so quite a bit in there. I’ve already signed up for the intermediate course to follow in April and the plan is to go on to do a City and Guilds course in September, jumping straight in to year 2.

We’re now four weeks in to the Basic course and I have really been enjoying it. It’s cemented my understanding of the relationship between time and light, which reading books or playing with my camera on my own never managed to do for me. As I see more of other peoples’ work (15 in our group) happening in real time, I learn more about my own eye and am a little bit more centred in how I want my pictures to look. I feel less out of the loop between the camera and the scene  in front of it – I now feel the light coming through the lens, up the mirror into my brain and down to my fingers, which is something I have never felt before.

Am I excited? Yes! But slightly terrified at the same time. I can imagine a time where there will be a cohesive creative streak running between the words I write and the pictures I take, but that is a long way off yet. For the minute I am just having fun, finding out what light looks like when you hold on to it that little bit longer. This is a long exposure shot at 2am the other night, with a frosty full moon lighting Woodford up like a stage. The amber is a street light and the Varmint is still waiting.  I love the stars in that soft blue blanket above.

These pictures are straight from the camera, no colouring in later on. I know they are nothing special unless you’re me, but it’s all part of the journey.

Here comes the Summer: 1974 Porsche 911S Targa

Not too long ago, a 2.7 911S Targa from the mid ’70s was amongst the lowest of the low: a 911 that often sold for less than a 944 in good condition.

Thanks to the ungalvanised chassis, many of the cars well used from an early age have caught the rust bug and – due to historically low values – been scrapped. Others manufactured with the so-called “narrow body” shells (cars without the SC rear arches) have been used to rebuild pre-’73 Porsches that have long been more desirable and worth more money.

Times have changed however. Cannibalisation of the impact-bumpered 911S has taken so many examples off the roads that the car is now a rare specimen. And a car in good condition is a very unique car indeed.

Consider the RHD example seen here then: spotted at Tuthill Porsche in Wardington today for some routine servicing. Far from being a tired and tatty pop top, this car is one of the best examples in the UK, whether right or left hand-drive. Where 911S Targas with a valid MOT once changed hands for under £5K, this car should be valued at £25-30K for insurance purposes.

What a difference a few years can make in the world of classic cars. How long will it take the 2.5 Tiptronic Boxster to go the same way?

Porsche 911 Backdate Rust

Nick Moss at Early 911 has just sent through some interesting pictures of a 3.2 Carrera he is currently backdating for a customer.

The car was bought as a badly done backdate and handed over to Nick to correct. As with most RHD cars now, rust had taken hold in the classic spots and needed sorting out before going any further. These pictures show the extent of the problem.

B post rot is a classic on Impact Bumper cars. It starts behind the wing and door slam panels and, by the time you can see it, you’re into £1000 to £1500 a side to repair. The pic above (click on it for a bigger version) shows B post/kidney bowl rust. It also shows rust in the C pillars, just above the rearmost corner of the rear window, where sponge is packed in to kill noise, and stop wheel well muck from being slung up towards the roof.

Also in the pic above, you can see the carbon canister – another ’80s emissions control which is nowadays only useful as a muck trap. Here we see the canister removed and the rot that has set in behind it: enough to perforate galvanised metal. Don’t be relying on Porsche’s original protection to help you any more.

Ledge syndrome is well known in Impact Bumper cars, and this next shot shows a classic spot along the top of the inner wings up front. Rust is pretty much a given here on a used, unrestored car. It’s a long time since I’ve seen a RHD 3.2 that was rot free in this area.

It’s impossible to see rot here until the wings are removed so, if you have a 911 3.2 Carrera, watch this space like a hawk! Here, and also along the top of the front bumper mounts in the inner wings.

The final pic is a close up of what was taken by the buyer to be minor bubbling in the bottom of the door slam panel (the b-post). Turns out to be not so minor. This area is structural, so all repairs must be carried out properly. To repair the B-posts and kidney bowls is quite a bit of work: I’m looking forward to seeing pics of how Nick goes about tackling it.

The pictures remind us that all 911 buyers should tread very carefully before agreeing a deal on a car. Always get an independent pre-purchase inspection done, preferably by someone who knows these cars intimately as a result of working on them. RAC or AA inspections are all well and good, but anyone who didn’t know 911s wouldn’t have the first clue to look in these spots.

Thanks to Nick for sending these over – the information is much appreciated.