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Culture > Art

This Porsche 968 art project is bound to split opinions

Created in a Paris workshop over the space of 18 months

Fans of the Porsche 968 will probably weep at this car. PHOTO FROM PORSCHE

Porsche purists—and especially those who love the clean lines of the 968—may want to look away now. Parisian fashion label L’Art De L’Automobile has taken one of the automaker’s famous four-bangers and turned it into, well, we’re not sure what. The press release of this project (which, by the way, was done with the full blessing of Porsche itself) mentions that the 968 L’Art will form part of an art installation, so we assume it belongs to the creative realms of a museum and not onto public roads.

Why cover the OEM Porsche rims with color-matched wheel caps? PHOTOS FROM PORSCHE

L’Art De L’Automobile was founded by Arthur Kar, who started his professional life at a young age as a sports-car-loving automobile dealer and expanded into fashion in 2017. The Porsche 968, a model that celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, was chosen for this undertaking as it seemingly corresponds well with the retro look of the fashion label’s latest collection. The team behind the project cut off the roof and restyled most sections of the vehicle before painting it in a shade of green that was specially created for the car.

Watchmaker TAG Heuer created a special stopwatch for the dashboard, while Recaro threw in some bespoke leather seats and Bose fitted a custom-made stereo system. The completely redesigned 968 is bound to split opinions and while we think that the rear doesn’t look too bad and still carries some of the original car’s DNA, it’s the front and the side profile that somehow refuse to please the eye. Maybe that’s what art cars are meant to do, and the reference to late-1980s and early-1990s pop culture are clearly visible within it.

Those stopwatches are from TAG Heuer. PHOTOS FROM PORSCHE

Parallel to the car, the clothing firm has launched two separate fashion collections consisting of everything from baseball caps to T-shirts and even a specially created air freshener. The pricey wares can be bought from high-end fashion shops in Paris or from L’Art De L’Automobile and Porsche online stores, where haute-couture lovers can shell out as little as P800 for a keychain, or as much as P12,000 for a T-shirt. Like or loathe the vehicle and the fashion style accompanying it, there’s no denying that Porsche is still trying hard to keep its finger on the pulse of today’s zeitgeist. And if that means sacrificing a 968, then apparently that’s worth doing in the eyes of the Germans.



Frank Schuengel

Frank is a German e-commerce executive who loves his wife, a Filipina, so much he decided to base himself in Manila. He has interesting thoughts on Philippine motoring.



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