It’s a tough pill for any Millennial to swallow, but the Porsche Carrera GT is now two decades old. Examples of Porsche’s turn-of-the-century supercar are now eligible for refurbishment by the automaker’s Sonderwunsch (German for “special wish”) department. The process brings cars back to like-new condition, but one owner asked Porsche to take things a little further.
Victor Gómez, a Carrera GT owner hailing from Puerto Rico, sent his 2005 model back to the factory for some TLC. He also asked for a rendition of the red and white “Salzburg” livery worn by the Porsche 917 that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970. This was the first of what (to date) is a record 19 overall wins at the French classic. Driven by Hans Herrmann and Richard Atwood, that car was one of two entered by Porsche Alpenstraße, a dealership located in the south of the Austrian city of Salzburg.
Porsche’s Sonderwunsch team are no strangers to applying vintage racing liveries to newer cars. In 2021 they adorned a 992 911 GT3 owned by Paolo Barilla in the livery of the 956 that the racer and pasta heir drove to victory at the 1985 24 Hours of Le Mans. That didn’t make the challenge of adapting the Salzburg livery from the 917 to the completely different shape of the Carrera GT easy, Porsche noted in a press release.
Designers started with sketches and then moved on to better-defined renderings. They then applied tape to the bodywork to double-check the flow of the white lines over the dominant red paint color. Like the original race car, the Carrera GT also wears white roundels with the racing number 23, while matte carbon fiber roof panels, pillars, mirror caps, front air duct, and rear diffuser add a more modern touch and contrast the bright paintwork. A black engine cover and wheels blend in with those bits, and all paintwork is protected by a transparent foil.
Gómez also requested a red interior to match the exterior. Red Alcantara covers the dashboard, door panels, steering-wheel rim, center console, and even the front trunk and tailored luggage set. There’s a sprinkling of matte carbon fiber trim as well, and the seat shells are also made of that lightweight material. The seats are upholstered in the same black FIA-approved textile used in the 918 Spyder.
The factory recommissioning also covers all mechanical components, each of which was gone over after disassembly. This brings a car practically back to “zero kilometer condition,” the release said. The process is completely documented to future owners will know what was rebuilt, replaced, or—in the case of this car—changed dramatically from original spec.
The Carrera GT is worthy of this treatment. Launched in 2003, it’s powered by a naturally aspirated 5.7-liter V10 derived from a stillborn Le Mans challenger and features what was one of the first carbon-fiber chassis in a production car. That combination of power (604 horsepower) and low weight (3,042 pounds) is still a potent one 20 years later. Last year, a Carrera GT on modern tires posted a 7:12.69 lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife, beating its old time by 16 seconds.