The car show as an activity is a bit old-fashioned and boring, don’t you think? Not really much activity to speak of amongst a bunch of cars shut off in a grossly unaesthetic grassy field. Yet for years and years, this is exactly what the car show was — and often still is.

I have nothing against getting people together to admire each other’s cars while their engines aren’t running. After all, it’s awfully hard to coordinate, appreciate and converse with 100-plus owners and their cars as they’re actively driving them. What I’m describing is a rally, of course, and while they might be more exciting they are a bit of a larger investment in terms of time, they’re also awfully tough to enjoy from a spectator standpoint.

The fine folks orchestrating car shows have naturally recognized these things and have come up with a number of dynamic events over the years, especially recently. Gatherings like Goodwood, Rennsport Reunion, Luftgekühlt, or RADwood come to mind. Cars are meant to be driven, and when that isn’t possible you need to be creative.

This is exactly what 000 magazine has done with their Rare Shades show, which is organized in collaboration with PTSRS as a semi-curated collection of exactly what the name says: Rare shades – special Porsche colors you don’t see every day, like the crazed and likely original Minerva Blue Metallic (304) above, all organized by their hue.

This fifth Rare Shades show a couple weekends back was held at Skywalker Ranch just outside 000′s own offices in Marinwood, California and was a limited-capacity event that comfortably sold out well in advance.

Yes, that Skywalker.

The attention to detail at the show itself it plays perfectly into what they’re doing with their magazine. If you aren’t familiar, you can take a (long) pit stop here, but the short of it is that 000 is a 250-plus-page quarterly art journal dedicated to all things Porsche. That’s 1,000-plus pages each year on Porsche history, concepts, factory archives, race cars, barn finds, rare specs, parts and more.

That being said, I think it’s important I disclose that I’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunity to contribute to the latest issue. As such, I don’t want to put my thumb on the scale or impart any more of my own opinion than I already have.

Rather, there’s one car I’ll point out as well as a couple of short stories from owners I’d like to share, and then I’ll let my camera do the talking.

Before this, you can see that 000 brought out their Pikes Peak-prepped 2019 Porsche GT2 RS Clubsport, which was shown to be more than just an art car when it took first place in the Time Attack 1 class at 2020’s PPIHC. The following year’s class winner was also on display, nose-to-nose.

This 964 Turbo is quite special, and it took a few passes for me to realize just how special it is. That 3.6 badge at the rear indicates this is one of fewer than 1,500 examples produced with the larger engine during the final year of this design cycle.

Factor in the insane color scheme and you’re looking at what I would guess to be a one-of-one example, made complete with its period Porsche-branded car phone. I would like to see it with a slightly lower ride height, but I don’t think that’ll be happening any time soon. Read: ever.

Moving along, I spotted actor Daniel Wu and his Cassis Red coupe that his father bought new. Daniel shared with a laugh that he was 12 years old at the time of the purchase and selected the color himself, but neither he nor his dad realized how rare it was until the dealer had trouble tracking one down. Having traded with his father for the car some years back, Daniel seems pleasantly surprised that he can stand by his choice all these years later.

The Cassis Red paintwork has aged fantastically, and he adds that he’s probably glad he didn’t get his way with the white interior 12-year-old Daniel tried to select. Ironically, Daniel mentioned he did spot this exact pink-on-white color combo in the parking garage at the show. Only at Rare Shades…

I also spotted my friend and Bring a Trailer colleague Beck Diefenbach, who had his 911 Targa on display.

Similar to Daniel’s story, it was Beck’s father who purchased this car before Beck acquired it from him in 2017. It was 1993 when the car entered their family’s care, and Beck says he remembers being late to a soccer game due to his father haggling with the local Porsche dealership in Marin, California. It all worked out in the end, although the exact color is unknown, with ‘Paint to Sample’ being the only real clue the Diefenbachs were given from Porsche. 000 had it tagged as Anthracite Metallic Gray.

At the edge of the venue, a handful of cars organized by Marqued – a venture of Porsche Digital – were on display. Marqued is setting the stage to launch an auction platform soon, and you can read about the cars they brought to the event here.

After a few hours, the crowd thinned and owners began rolling out of the venue, likely taking the long and windy way home through the fantastic driving roads that California’s North Bay has to offer.

With that, I’ll stay true to my promise to stop talking. Please enjoy the gallery below, where I’ll take you from the downstairs parking garage and through each shade of the show. You may even spot a wild Naveed and his new-to-him Turquoise Metallic 964…

Trevor Ryan
Instagram: trevornotryan
tyrphoto.com