by Harry de Souza
Porsche and Pixar Animation Studios have unveiled a very special Porsche inspired by one of the most popular 996s out there: Sally Carrera, the famous 911 from Disney Pixar’s animated film Cars.
Very much like Sally herself, the 911 Sally Special is one of a kind. This project, which is a first for Pixar, is a one-off charity effort that will be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s this weekend, as part of Monterey Car Week in California. The proceeds of the auction will be shared between Girls Inc and UNHCR, an organisation supporting refugees from Ukraine.
“Vehicles need a face and a story. And the animated Pixar’s film ‘Cars’ has impressively transferred done just that: brought cars to life on the big screen,” says Dr. Sebastian Rudolph, Vice President Communications, Sustainability and Politics at Porsche AG. “The story conveys values such as friendship, love and mutual support – and in the middle of it all is a Porsche: ‘Sally Carrera’. Together with Pixar we have brought the spirit of Sally to life in a new way, not on the screen, but off the screen. With this one-off street legal 911, the ‘Sally Special’, which we are auctioning for charity, we want to help people who urgently need support, quite in keeping with the spirit of the film character.”
Part of the team that helped bring Sally to life more than 20 years ago was reunited as part of the project. Jay Ward, Creative Director of Franchise at Pixar Animation Studios, and Bob Pauley, the Production Designer who first drew Sally Carrera for the Cars film were assisted by members of the Sonderwunsch team at Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur in Stuttgart and designers from Style Porsche in Weissach. The team worked together for over ten months, and the result is a unique factory one-off.
“We had great fun creating 911 Sally Special and it’s the first time we’ve worked on a project of this kind,” says Jay. “We decided early on that we wanted to create a completely drivable 911 – inspired by Sally Carrera, but just not an exact copy. Sally Carrera loves to drive – that was our inspiration. We asked ourselves: if Sally were built today as a road-approved model, what would she look like?”
“911 Sally Special is based on the fastest and most agile variant of the 911 Carrera model line, the 911 Carrera GTS. The car is equipped with a manual gearbox, tapping into Sally Carrera’s passion for driving,” explains Boris Apenbrink, Director Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur vehicles. “The customisation elements are detailed and extensive. 911 Sally Special was one of the most intense, emotional and detailed Sonderwunsch projects our team has worked on. One example is that the car is painted in Sallybluemetallic, a custom paint that was hand-applied specifically for this project. We also thought of Sally’s tattoo, of course. Implementing that was a very special challenge.”
Those familiar with the Turbo-specific look will spot her rims are a reinterpretation of the ones sported by the range-topping 911 and manufactured especially for the 911 Sally Special. Now using the staggered diameter used on the 992 generation, the ‘five-arm’ design creates a visual link to the 996 generation on which the movie Sally Carrera was based.
Daniela Milošević, Porsche interior designer, led the team to design the new blue colour and the vehicle’s interior. “We were given complete freedom, which was great! In the film, Sally Carrera was a lawyer from California who valued style and elegance. At the same time, she was down-to-earth and fun-loving,” says Milošević. “The special Sallybluemetallic is used in the interior as well, where it creates both obvious highlights and subtle details that will hopefully bring a smile to the future owner’s face. At the same time, it was important to us not to forget everyday usability and practicality. 911 Sally Special is meant to be driven often and gladly. We developed a special Pepita houndstooth fabric upholstery in three colours, combined with chalk-coloured leather and stitching in Speed Blue. Working out these details makes the project special and brings back a lot of memories of the movie and Sally Carrera.”
The 911 Sally Special will be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s on Saturday, 20 August during Monterey Car Week in California, and she will be available for viewing during auction week in Monterey. For more information, visit rmsothebys.com, but bidding is restricted to US citizens.
Words: Harry de Souza
Pictures courtesy of Porsche Newsroom
