Porsche Rubystone.
Not the most accurate description for a colour.
If you had never seen it in the flesh, Rubystone conjures up ideas of a kind of burgundy hue in the minds eye. Perhaps one of those dark red Mica pigmented paint schemes so popular with an older buyer of Jaguar XJS?
Of course, if you have any Porsche knowledge at all, you’ll know that it is, in fact, closer to screaming Lipstick pink / purple. More akin to the colour of Leather mini skirt you may see being worn by women of an implausibly heavy weight on hen night parties. Subtle it is not.
I first came across Rubystone around 1994, in my previous career in specialist car sales. The car inquestion was a Porsche 964 Turbo 2.
At the time we were Ferrari main agents and our demo unit 512TR was up for sale. A slightly used Ferrari 512TR back then was not the easiest thing to shift. Big, fat, wide and by then, getting a little long in the tooth.
Everyone knew that the 355 was coming, the sublimely styled Ferrari 456 had been announced too. The sartorial elegance of Sonny Crocket hadn’t exactly done the earlier Testarossa much PR value by then either. So when we’re offered a Porsche 964 Turbo 2 as a trade, we’re eager. The prospect was a plastic surgeon, the address we had was an affluent part of town.
“What house number are you?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll leave the car on the driveway, you’ll find it”
He wasn’t kidding. We did the deal, of course.
Pretty much anything to get the 512TR off the top of the stock list and away down the road.
We thought the Rubystone 964 Turbo was stunning. Fully detailed and presented in our showroom, it had all of the impact of a pole dancer in a nunnery sitting amongst the conservative Royal Blue Bentley Continental R’s and Jaguar XJ12s.
“It will fly right out the door surely,” we confidently said.
Six months in, we were not so sure.
The local official Porsche dealership, as Ferrari dealers our sworn enemy at the time, were of course rolling around on the floor in between their desks laughing. We’d had plenty of interest, phone calls from the classified adverts (remember, this was before the Internet and the global supercar market) We even had visits.
“Wow, what a colour”
The occasional test drive, “Man that’s quick”
“You want to buy it?”
“Erm, no…..”
The fact is that, at that time, Rubystone was one of those colours that everyone loved to look at, but few had the courage to write a cheque out for. Time passes. It’s still not a colour for the faint of heart. I’ve heard it called gay, a puffs colour, stripper pink, all manner of things. I recently saw a rare 944 advertised in Rubystone with an incredibly high price tag. ” one lady owner…”
But there is, in fact, one Porsche that seems to have made Rubystone it’s defacto colour.
The 964 RS. Pastel shades abound RS Porsches, they seem made for the job. Speed Yellow, Maritime blue, those solid blocks of colour work really well.
Rubystone has found it’s home in today’s market and covering the lightweight panels of a 964 RS seems to be its vocation.and I’m glad. I drove that 964 Turbo 2 on several occasions back then and loved it.
Back then it felt like I was being fired off the deck of an aircraft carrier. Unless something thing catastrophic has happened to her, she’s probably still out there somewhere.
Today, her owner will no longer need to make excuses for the colour as the opinion out there is one of desirability, not sniggering or scorn.
It probably does still require a degree of resolve and self confidence to own a Rubystone Porsche, but I’m in touch with my feminine side. I’d like to be re acquainted.
Image via https://rosarioliberti.wordpress.com/
