# Porsche Colours: Famous Factory Paints and Paint to Sample Well-known Porsche paint colours by era, from Irish Green and Guards Red to Rubystone, Riviera Blue and Shark Blue, plus Paint to Sample and racing liveries. Source: https://porschetrails.com/guides/porsche-colours/ Porsche has offered hundreds of colours since 1948, and it has a longer tradition than most manufacturers of painting a car in whatever the customer asks for. This guide covers the famous ones. It is not a complete list, names were translated differently in different markets, and several names have been reused for different shades, so always confirm a particular car by its paint code. ## Finding your car's colour The paint code is on a sticker or plate on the car: in the door shut or under the front lid on older cars, and on the option-code sticker in the service book and under the bonnet on later ones. A Porsche Centre can confirm the original colour from the VIN, and Porsche Classic can supply a certificate for older cars. Colour has a large effect on value, so on a car that has been resprayed, check what it left the factory in. ## The 356 and early 911 The early palette was restrained and often lovely: Ivory, Ruby Red, Aquamarine Blue, Fjord Green, Slate Grey and Silver Metallic. Slate Grey is the colour of the 911 S driven by Steve McQueen in the opening scenes of the film Le Mans. **Irish Green** was one of the first 911 colours and was chosen again for the one-millionth 911, built in 2017. ## The 1970s The decade produced the brightest standard range Porsche has ever offered. Among the best known: - **Signal Yellow, Signal Orange and Tangerine** (also called Blood Orange) - **Viper Green** and Conda Green - **Mexico Blue** and Gulf Blue - **Aubergine** and Sepia Brown - **Grand Prix White**, the colour most associated with the Carrera RS 2.7, with its coloured side script and wheels ## Guards Red **Guards Red** (Indischrot in German) has been in the range since the 1970s and became the default Porsche colour of the 1980s, on everything from the 911 Carrera 3.2 to the 944. It is still offered. If people picture a red Porsche, this is usually what they see, which is why this site borrows it as an accent. ## The 964 and 993 era The early 1990s brought a short run of vivid colours that have since become some of the most sought after: - **Rubystone Red** (Sternrubin), the pink launch colour of the 964 Carrera RS - **Maritime Blue** and **Mint Green** - **Riviera Blue** and **Speed Yellow** on the 993 - **Arena Red** and **Polar Silver** among the metallics ## Water-cooled cars Silver, grey and black dominated sales from the late 1990s, with **Arctic Silver** and **Seal Grey** everywhere on the 996 and Boxster. **GT Silver** was introduced with the Carrera GT. The GT models kept colour alive, and their launch colours tend to be remembered with the cars: - **Orange** on the 997 GT3 RS, with black graphics, and Viper Green on the first of them - **Lava Orange** and **Ultraviolet** on the 991 GT3 RS - **Miami Blue** and **Racing Yellow** across the 991 and 718 range - **Lizard Green** on the later 991 GT3 RS and **Python Green** on the 992 - **Shark Blue** on the 992 GT3 - **Chalk** (Crayon in some markets), the pale grey that started a fashion ## Paint to Sample and Sonderwunsch Porsche's special order tradition goes back decades under the name Sonderwunsch, meaning special request. Today **Paint to Sample** lets a buyer choose from a long list of pre-approved historic and special colours for an extra charge. **Paint to Sample Plus** goes further and allows a colour to be developed from a sample the customer supplies, subject to feasibility testing. Availability varies by model and there has often been a waiting list. The result is that new cars regularly appear in colours from the past, such as Rubystone, Mint Green, Gulf Blue and Irish Green. A Paint to Sample colour is recorded in the car's option codes. ## Racing liveries Several of the most famous Porsche colour schemes belonged to sponsors, not the factory: - **Gulf**: pale blue with an orange stripe, on the JW Automotive 917s of 1970 and 1971 - **Martini Racing**: white or silver with dark blue, light blue and red stripes, on the 917, the Carrera RSR, the 935 and the 936 - **Salzburg**: red with white stripes, on the 917 K that gave Porsche its first overall Le Mans win in 1970 - **Rothmans**: white and blue with red and gold lines, on the 956, the 962 and the 959 that won the Paris to Dakar rally - **The Pink Pig**: a 917/20 painted pink in 1971 and marked up with a butcher's cuts - **The psychedelic 917 LH** of 1970, in purple and green swirls Porsche has offered several of these as factory wraps or as limited editions on modern cars, including Martini and Salzburg schemes on the 918 Spyder with the Weissach package. ## Choosing If you are buying to keep, buy the colour you like. If resale matters, unusual factory colours and Paint to Sample cars have generally commanded a premium over silver and black, particularly on GT models. For more on what to check, see the [buying guide](/guides/buying-a-used-911-or-cayman/), and for the cars behind the liveries, [famous Porsche cars](/guides/famous-porsche-cars/).