SONDERWUNSCH 1.0

Sonderwunsch 1.0

An origin point for custom Porsches

After making quite a sensation at Luftgekühlt 10, this German-market ’86 Carrera sparked a flurry of attention on social media, all of which failed to identify the mesmerising shade of yellow that it has carried since the day it left the factory.

Now part of the Harper Porsche collection in Knoxville, the colour was named “Hellgelb-Perlglanz”, which translates simply as Light Yellow Pearl and was conceived by a particularly special owner.

Tilman Brodbeck was a veteran within Porsche. Over a 40 year career, he was Executive Assistant to five Porsche CEOs and an aerodynamics expert involved in a number of 911 design advancements.

He’s credited with the ducktail on the 2.7RS and the chin spoiler that was attached to the 911 from the early 1970s onwards. Brodbeck was also a prolific customiser of his personal cars and led the effort to establish Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur in 1986, a department he would go on to run outright from 1995 to 2000.

Brodbeck was a prolific customiser of his personal cars and led the effort to establish Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur in 1986

Among the very first cars completed there was Brodbeck’s own, the subject of this feature. Not only was the exterior colour a one off, but the interior was too. Upholstered all over in “Hannibal” grey, the colour was named for the elephants that Carthaginian general Hannibal famously used to cross the Alps in 218 BC.

A set of sports seats, akin to those found in a 928, hold the passengers in place, each bearing the signature of Ferry Porsche embroidered into the headrests. This was a unique feature at the time, repeated only in 1988 with the Jubilee edition 911 Carrera.