We all know who Matt Farah is, right? Of course we do. He’s like everyone who loves cars’ friend who always seems to have more and better cars, but we’re not bitter. We’re excited! One of the exciting cars Matt has gotten recently is a new Porsche 718 Boxster Spyder, decked out in a remarkable color called Frozen Berry Metallic, which sounds refreshing and delicious. The interior is a rich, raspberry red, and the whole combination is unusual and striking and one that I think works extremely well. It’s fun and novel and I can’t imagine anyone seeing it and not smiling. Of course, thanks to the dark magick of the internet, I don’t have to imagine such an improbable reaction, because the collection of Porsche ninnies and fussbudgets that haunt online forums like Rennlist are full of people who are quite cross, quite cross indeed with Matt’s choice of color scheme for his own car, and they’re making their wrath clear online, in between bouts of filling their Depends tight as snare drums with indignation-poops.
I find these vitriolic responses puzzling, so I reached out to Matt himself to ask about his color choice, and give him a chance to defend himself and his car from the Angry Porschemen. I learned so much more than I expected. It’s good.
For some backstory, it’s worth mentioning that Matt getting this car hasn’t been an easy process, since this is really the second example of the car that was built, since the original sank into the unforgiving Atlantic when the ship that was carrying it burned and sank back in February:
I just got the call from my dealer. My car is now adrift, possibly on fire, in the middle of the ocean. https://t.co/Ge2DYk8IJ0
— Matt "Stick to Cars" Farah (@TheSmokingTire) February 16, 2022
Remember that? That was bonkers. However Porsche made good, and Matt’s novel ride is now here. And now that it’s been shown off a bit, here’s some reactions from the Rennlist forum:
As you can see, there’s plenty of people who don’t get it. Which is fine! It’s not supposed to be for everyone! But there’s also plenty of people who don’t just not get it, they don’t want anyone to get it, ever, and say things like “…some builds should not be approved by the factory to begin with,” or “a little bit of puke came up into my mouth” (which I bet isn’t true, I’ll need a puke sample to confirm that (looks at notes), Scrounger) and people speculating that somehow Matt couldn’t have actually wanted this, he just bought a whole car to, you know, be weird.
As someone who firmly believes that cars deserve to be in colors, real colors, not just the grayscale hell that defines nearly every silvery-gray piece of shit on the road today, I cannot fathom why there’s these sorts of angry, indignant reactions. It looks good! It’s fine that it doesn’t look like every other Boxster out there. And if seeing a car in this interesting color-shifty, powdery pinkish color is actually making you vomit, get off fucking Rennlist and go see a doctor, immediately, because I think something is up with your gastrointestinal tract.
Matt actually tells a bit about his decision process for the color in this video, right about at this time marker here, and it makes a lot of sense, I think:
But you know me, I like to really know stuff, and to really know anything, I needed to hear what Matt himself said. So I reached out, and he gave some really interesting and in-depth answers that I think you’ll enjoy. Here’s what he said:
There is a back story to my color. I think it’s important that people undertstand that everywhere in my life, I like to have little easter eggs to other stuff. If you come to my house, there are mementos and links to other things and places in my life that I find interesting, and I commit to them, I go all the way with them.
As you may know, I had a Keen Safari 911. It was Cassis Red over Burgundy interior, which I accented with purple confetti bus fabric. If you just told people that color combo without them seeing it, they would think i was insane, but it was actually stunning in person, and became wildly popular.I showed that car to a longtime Porsche dealer friend of mine. He said, “Is that Cassis Red? Man we couldn’t GIVE that color away in the 80’s. I drove one as a demo for six months because it was unsellable.” Of course now, we know the color was just ahead of its time, and it’s absolutely stunning, and if you want a cassis red G-body 911, there is a literal $25k premium for such a thing.When Frozen Berry Metallic came out on the Taycan, I felt exactly the same way about it as I felt about Cassis. This was a transformative, stunning color that radically shifted tone depending on the sunlight, didn’t photograph particularly well, but glowed radiance in person.
So when it came time to order the Boxster Spyder, I was absolutely shocked to learn that FBM wasn’t just available for the car, it was FREE. This is not a PTS color. It was listed, for 2022 model year only, as a standard color. People are out there paying $13k for PTS grays and silvers and blue, and here is this incredible color that is literally free, and because it’s kinda pink, no one is gonna have the balls to buy it. It’s literally the Cassis Red thing from the 80’s all over again.And because my Cassis Safari car had the red interior also, I knew for certain that no matter what other people thought, and no matter what the configurator looked like, that the FBM over Red would look ace in person.Plus, I was always going to do the insane Deman 4.5L motor. So the idea of a pink car with a red interior and a hot rod 565 HP engine under there was just hilarious to me.So that’s the story. there’s a connection to my previous air-cooled car, continuing that lineage of my porsche’s being this color. There’s the fact that I predicted the color would be rare because people weren’t brave enough to buy it en masse, which is true. Porsche told me that less than 10 spyders were sold in this color in 2022, that mine is the only one with the 2-tone spyder classic interior. The color has been cancelled entirely for 2023.and of course there is a long history of Porsche race cars being pink too (Pink Pig, etc)I think the theme is just that there’s layers to it that people who don’t seek to find out will easily miss. yes it’s a cool color. yes it’s unique and rare, but it’s also got a personal connection to my history with the brand, and a built-in prediction for rarity, and a little bit of anti-toxic masculinity too.
only people who don’t drive their cars enough will care about the color, because they are looking from the outside, i care more about the interior and how comfortable my seat is when i only spend a minute or 2 but spend an hour driving
Bravo Matt.
Torch, you completely threw me off the rails here: What is going to happen to the world in the next 9 years so that we can have cryogenic reprogramming? I saw that movie in the 90’s and now it’s close enough to 2032 that it looks like it would be funny to watch again. I know I’m going to regret it, but like Mystery Science 3000, I’ll be sure to comment all along the way to annoy my kids.
The reaction he got is all the more reason the color choice is primo.
People need to get over being upset by other people’s color choices; why would anyone care how somebody else paints their car?
Personally that sort of reaction drives my desire to paint things the ‘wrong’ color.
Hmm yeah I’m happy for Farrah and his FroBeMe. His celebrity status ensures he will at least break even when it’s time to sell, even with all the spendy modifications.
I think the color will make him money, or eventually make it for someone else. There only need to be two people who love it, and Porsche candy colors that were hated on arrival many years ago are drawing a premium now.
I also think the color in photo above got boosted somehow, or the video needs better color grading. I think it’s the photo, because the highlights on the wheels and on the back deck look a little too happy to me.
No more boring colors! Of course the exception can be made if you buy your car used and the market gives you few choices (I say as a guilty owner of a 2nd hand black car)
It’s his car, it’s interesting at least. I draw the line at anime characters pasted all over the car. My dad bought a 911SC in 1978, I have never liked going to Porsche meets, there are some cool people but let’s just say there are people that make me thing they would write these comments.
I don’t particularly like it, but mostly because it looks like a tinted gray as opposed to any kind of properly saturated color. I’m all for more colors in cars, but pastels are kind of a half-assed way to get there.
That said, I’ve seen plenty of car colors that I thought looked terrible in pictures but were great in person. My current truck was that way, I looked at the color in the configuration tool and said “nah”, but then I saw one in person and custom-ordered in that color.
By a lot of accounts, this color falls into the latter category. I’ve heard this color has an interesting chameleon effect in sunlight that cameras just don’t pick-up.
There was one time in Forza Horizon 5 where I decided to participate in a Horizon open race to get an unlockable. I prefer single player, but I wanted the points to get the special car of the week. Anyway, I enter this thing with a hot pink Miata and it was one of those “horses for courses” things and what I brought was perfect for it and I ran out to an easy win in race 1 of 3, which surprised me. I think losing to the pink girly car caused some rage quits because half the competitors quit before race 2 of three started. By the time race 3 started, only 3 of us left total. I’ve NEVER seen that happen again in the game with more conventionally colored vehicles.