DREAMING IN FULL COLOUR

Dreaming in Full Colour

Author: Type7

Sean Wotherspoon and his incredible multicoloured Porsche Carrera 2.7RS art car.

These days, being able to lay claim to a distinct style is a gold standard of success for any working artist. There are many who endeavour a lifetime to defining theirs and never quite achieve it. Then there are artists like Sean Wotherspoon, who’s name you don’t even need to mention before you sense his handiwork when you see it. His latest is this, a Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7RS, repainted and reupholstered panel-by-panel in a painstaking process that took weeks to execute. How long the style itself had been bouncing around in Sean’s head however is a story that goes back much, much further.

“When I was in high school, I grew up in a group of VW heads.” Explains Wotherspoon, reminiscing on a time when he and his friends spent their nights on VW Vortex, an active online forum that remains in use to this day. “One day, while deep diving VW vortex, I saw a Harlequin golf. And yo! Like that, I wanted one so bad. That was my dream car, but I never thought I’d have enough money to own one.”

Fast forward to 2018 and Wotherspoon had found his groove in the vintage fashion realm, with multiple locations of his store, Round Two, thriving across the U.S. “I was like, you know what? I have to find a Harlequin golf, I have to buy one.”

So he did, finding a pristine example in Pennsylvania. It had never been lowered, no tacky exhaust mods, just a clean, base example from among the 264 that were originally produced. He still has the car today and credits it as a key point of inspiration, saying “I want everything to be colour blocked.”

Colour-block everything he did, from his popular Nike Air Max 97 to his custom Taycan project with Porsche. That project in particular was a launch pad for Sean’s entry into art cars. It featured four different colours, each named after a member of his family, including “Nashy Blue”, named for Wotherspoon's son, and “Sean Peach”, obviously named after him.

“My goal is to always use as much colour as I can, but use it in a way that’s done so well that it doesn't hurt your eyes. You know, a way that makes you curious.”

To capture that curiosity in the 2.7RS project, Sean was introduced to a unique cast of characters. He first met Philip Sarofim at the 2024 FAT Mankei opening, alongside Porsche family members Ferdi Porsche and Ferry Ahorner. Sean recalls the moment he first met Sarofim, and the first words they shared. “Philip was like, ‘dude, I'm a fan. I have your Air Max’s, I’ve worn them to events - I also love what you did with the Taycan, I love how you work with colour.’”

Shortly after, Sean was contacted by Jimmy Howson of Stuff by Spot, a creative agency specialising in art cars, with the proposal to work on something from Sarofim’s own collection. While there were a few cars to choose from, the 2.7RS was the obvious canvas. The Porsche had been an ongoing project for Sarofim and one he’d owned a while, but it was important to Sean that the subject be a car with history, as opposed to a new purchase. “I was a little apprehensive at first because the value of these cars” explained Sean, “but honoured at the same time.”

From there, Sean dug deep into the archives Porsche, his own work and that of Meyers Manx. Though not an official collaboration with Manx, Philip Sarofim’s work as the company’s chairman made it an obvious link to explore and the RS uses a healthy selection of colours from their catalogue. The hood for instance is painted in Old Red. “This was one of the original Manx colours, and one of the most iconic” says Sean. “So it was an honour for me to use the project to kind of bring these worlds together you know, in one piece of art.”

While the outside of the colour blocked Carrera certainly attracts attention, it’s quite possible that the interior is the element that really sets it apart. “I’m so hyped about it,” exclaims Sean. “It’s all made with vintage Levi’s denim and flannel shirts, dating anywhere from like the 60s to the 90s. I also used some corduroy in there because it’s one of my favourite materials, and the cork dashboard is also really special. The cork was leftover from the Taycan project, so it was actually developed by Porsche. So yeah, the interior is magic.”

Each piece of material was chosen with purpose. Denim sections with a particular wear or fade were chosen for areas like the driver’s seat for instance, as a symbolic nod to the history of the vehicle. The door cards feature functional Levi’s pockets, just the right size for a wallet. Even the frunk features a curated tapestry of materials.

“My goal is to always use as much colour as I can, but use it in a way that’s done so well that it doesn't hurt your eyes. You know, a way that makes you curious.”

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“It’s all made with vintage Levi’s denim and flannel shirts, dating anywhere from like the 60s to the 90s. I also used some corduroy in there because it’s one of my favourite materials, and the cork dashboard is also really special."

“You couldn’t find a flaw if you tried” says Sean, of the work done by the Meyers Manx upholstery team. “Every stitch is perfect, I love that. When you look at the flannel, it’s all 70s patterns. It looks like some wild factory option Porsche might have offered back in the day, I’m really proud of it.”

Roughly eight months into the project, the car was ready for its first drive, which it took on the way to this very shoot. The public reaction cemented just how special the car is. In those 30 minutes, people were breaking their necks to catch a glimpse and kids, just out of school, were chasing the car for the perfect photo.

“It’s really something to drive that car around LA on a summer’s day. With the blue sky, green trees and all these beautiful flowers in the background, it was unreal. The car reminds me of nature. Even looking in front of me right now, there’s like purple trees, pink roses, red roses and orange flowers. Nature is always creating so much colour and we always look at it as beauty, no one’s ever really mad at nature for being colourful - so I tried to bring that into the project.”