What: 1978 Porsche 928 Color: Grand Prix White (grandprixweiß; non-metallic; 908 / P5 / L908 / 9A5; Porsche) VIN: 9288200259 Mileage: 34,998 miles Price: $20,000 at 1 Day 20 Hours Remaining CarFax: N/A Window Sticker: N/A Location: Marietta, GA Listing:PCarMarket
While it’s not “refrigerator white”, Porsche Grand Prix white is still just white. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s hardly qualifies as “tailored”. A Paint to Sample oddball this car is not, however… look inside.
Okay, sure. So you’re familiar with Porsche’s discotastic hippie checkered flag mashup fabric pattern known as Pasha. It was a factory option, so here again… rare but worth featuring? If paired with green leatherette then we’d say yes.
Find another one. We dare you. Also, this car wins the late 1970s in our opinion. If you don’t agree. Fight us.
What: 2025 Lotus Emira Chapman Bespoke Launch Edition (1 of 60) Color: Isotope Green (isotopegreen; B132 / C132; Lotus) VIN: SCCLEJAX2SHA10499 Mileage: 800 miles Price at Time of this Writing: $78,500 CarFax: N/A MonroneyLabels.com Window Sticker: Link Location: Washington, UT Auction listing:Cars and Bids
It was just a couple of months ago that Lotus pulled the wraps off of their own in-house tailoring division Chapman Bespoke and one of the first results is this limited run of 60 “Chapman Bespoke Launch Edition” models. This one, painted Isotope Green, has just popped up on Doug DeMuro’s internet auction site Cars and Bids.
As a builder of premium sportscars, it makes sense that Lotus would both get into the lucrative tailoring business and also push for greater market penetration by building limited run series of cars. That’s pretty standard fare in the space, and it works well here for Hethel.
We like the way Lotus is using cue elements such as the triangular badge on the C-pillar of the car as a plaque to spell out just what the car is. The neon green level of Isotope Green is also quite different from standard colors of Emira we’ve seen so far, which will help you stand out from the Emira crowd should you join the ranks of ownership for one of the best new cars for driving purists that’s in production today.
If you’ve been seeking a vintage Jaguar Roadster, this one makes a compelling case for a number of reasons. No, it’s not any sort of paint-to-sample special, but it is a rare period color that looks great and has all the makings of an incredible heritage story to share with friends. First up is the color – Imperial Maroon. It was a standard color back in the day, and it also has royal context. While not affiliated with Jaguar back then, Jag’s contemporary sister brand Land Rover displayed a collection of cars last year at Pebble Beach painted the same basic Royal Claret color – the literal color painted on cars for the English Royal Family. This color being the color it is, and the name Imperial referring to a monarchy, the tie to the royal livery is pretty obvious.
The car itself is a desirable ’55 Jaguar XK140 Roadster. In 1955, Jaguar was in a dominant place in the automotive industry. 70 years ago this week, at the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, disaster happened when a Jaguar D-type collided with another car and was sent into the crowd amassed along the front straight. While a terrible incident, it’s an unforgettable moment in racing history and one that happened the very year this was produced.
The car in question seems well kept, including a conversion to disc brakes. Its carbonated 4.4-liter 6-cylinder and 4-speed transmission likely help it move down the road with relative ease. Its Imperial Maroon over beige leather is a handsome and stately configuration for a car of this most voluptuous era of sportscar history.
Now pivot to the car’s location in Beausoleil, France. In case the yachts in the background haven’t made it obvious, Beausoleil is literally a suburb of Monaco and the listing suggests the car is actually housed in the principality of Monaco. According to the listing, it was acquired via Sotheby’s auction in 1990. While that means you have import the car to the U.S. where most of our readership is based, it also gives you an excuse to travel to Monaco for a test drive, perhaps purchase and collect. And should you collect, how could you resist a little extra time on the French Riviera driving such a wonderful thing.
What: 2000 Volkswagen Bora Variant V6 4Motion Color: Jazz Blue (jazzblau; pearl effect UNI; LW5Z; Volkswagen) VIN: N/A Mileage: 91,000 km, 56,544 miles Price: € 17,490 CarFax: N/A Window Sticker: N/A Location: Ath, Belgium Listing: Autoscout24.de
Does a perfect spec qualify as tailored? We can debate the issue, but I tend to land on the side of yes, assuming the desirability of a car finely and perfectly specified from a robust factory order book represents a different sort of tailoring. It’s the sort of thing that goes with budget cars, from companies that don’t typically offer tailoring services. Nevertheless, cars like this are special and it’s with that in mind that we present to you this Y2K Volkswagen Bora.
First off, it’s Volkswagen Jazz Blue, effectively the same paint as Audi’s highly desirable Nogaro Blue, storied as it is in its association with high performance Audi wagons. And in the lexicon of VWs, this Bora is both high-performance and also a wagon.
In Europe, the Bora Variant (Jetta Sportwagon to Americans) was offered with the brand’s potent narrow-angle V6 a.k.a. VR6. A 6-speed manual was one transmission choice, while the same Haldex-based 4Motion all-wheel drive system found in cars like the Volkswagen R32 and Audi TT could also be specified. Though a Bora was pretty commonplace, a car built to this specification would have been exceedingly rare.
The perfect spec doesn’t end at drivetrain. This car also has rare factory HID headlights with their unique dual round design, and factory Recaro seats in always fashionable simple black leather.
For the most part, this car is well preserved and factory fresh. The wheels and suspension appear to be OEM, and the mileage is quite low at just over 56K miles. Yes, the odometer is metric, but should you import you can hack that by finding an equivalent Sport Edition instrument cluster out of the UK but showing miles. It’s a relatively easy swap if you can locate the parts.
There are a few modifications worth pointing out. The navigation radio system does not appear to be factory, nor does the pretty terrible fake carbon fiber dash trim. Likely this car would have had wood trim from the factory, though handsome aluminum trim from period Sport Edition Golfs and Boras is also an easy swap. And while Volkswagen didn’t offer navigation in the Mk4 era in the USA, finding a navigation unit in Europe shouldn’t be hard if you desire it.
At the end of the day, this is an excellent specimen. You could just buy it and enjoy it as is, convert it fully back to factory and preserve, or go the VW enthusiast OEM plus route and swap in various partsibin bits (looking at you MkIV R32) in order to take it to a whole other level. Whatever your choice, we suspect you won’t be disappointed.
What: 2019 Volkswagen Golf R Spectrum Color: Copper Orange Metallic (copperorangemetallic; metallic UNI; LA2W / 3J; Volkswagen) Chassis: WVWVA7AU4KW218035 Mileage: 32,700 Price: $31,998 Location: Hertrich Ford of Elkton, Elkton, MD Listing: Link
Though VW doesn’t have a tailor of their own, most regular readers of this website should by now know of the Golf Spektrum run of cars. Back in 2019, VW built a large collection of Golf R models painted in micro batches of unobtainium colors. These cars command a premium and are highly sought after when they come up online.
This particular one is Copper Orange Metallic. It’s one of three painted that color for the USA and was originally sold and delivered by Smith VW in Wilmington, Delaware. It’s now showing just 32,700 miles and hasn’t traveled very far, just across the border into northern Maryland where we find it at a Ford dealership.
What: 1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE Vitesse Color: AA Yellow (aayellow; non-metallic UNI; 559 / FMB; Land Rover) Chassis: SALPV1441VA350282 Mileage: 28,000 miles CurrentPrice: $15,000 at time of publication Location: Costa Mesa, CA Listing: Bring a Trailer
In 1997, Land Rover made a limited run Range Rover 4.6 HSE Vitesse editions. 250 were built, in either red or yellow. The high-impact yellow, as you can see here, is known as AA Yellow. It was paired with Ash Black leather.
This example is a clean and low mileage example with just 28,000 miles logged.
What: 2005 Acura NSX Color: Imola Orange Pearl (imolaorangepearl; pearl effect UNI; Y536P; Acura) VIN: WUA4BCFX9P7900806 Mileage: 13,000 miles BidPrice: $164,747 at time of writing CarFax: Link Window Sticker: N/A Location: Bethel, CT Listing: Bring A Trailer
Acura didn’t have tailoring at the time this NSX was built, but we’re going to give it a pass anyway for representing an excellent and rare specification that is also low mileage and impeccably maintained from all appearances.
What: 2012 Audi R8 GT Coupé Color: Samoa Orange (samoaorangepearl; pearl UNI; LX2U / J0; Audi) VIN: WUA9NAFG6CN900124 Mileage: 11,000 miles Price: $90,124 Bid with 7 Days Left at Time of Writing CarFax: Inquire Window Sticker: N/A Location: Potomac, MD Listing:Bring a Trailer
Though popular amongst Audi exclusive clientele, Samoa Orange wasn’t an Audi exclusive color on the R8 GT. In fact, it is believed to have debuted as a launch color on that first limited-series GT Coupé, then has graced a few other special editions over the years.
Dropping on a car such as the R8 GT is a great way to make a paint color popular of course, a car where really any color inspires and looks spectacular. In the case of the Samoa Orange R8 GTs though, relatively common amongst R8 GTs, we’d argue it’s one of the most memorable color combinations for the car… and that’s before you consider most had matching orange stitching on the inside.
This one is particularly low mileage, and worth a second look.
What: 1994 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet Toscana Edition Color: Copper Metallic (camemetallic; metallic Uni; LK2V; Volkswagen) VIN: N/A Mileage: 85,060 km, 52,853 miles Price: € 19,999 CarFax: N/A Window Sticker: N/A Location: Remscheid, Germany Link: Auto Nord Remscheid
For the most part, Volkswagen doesn’t have an in-house tailor, but this German economy brand is rife with special editions, ranging from sticker pack mediocre to truly special. We’d weight the Golf Cabriolet Toscana special edition more on the truly special side of that spectrum.
What makes it so interesting? For starters, it was sold as a final runout of the so-called “Mk1 Cabriolet” built by Karmann. It’s a version and a color that North America never received, and with a March 1994 build date, this car was built after Volkswagen of America ceased importing Cabriolets.
The Toscana came in several distinctive paint colors – Bordeaux Red Pearl, Brilliant Black Metallic, Lieder (Lilac) Metallic, Pearl Grey Metallic and Came (Copper) Metallic you seen here on this example. The cars came with interior code #28, including height adjustable front sport seats trimmed in a set black sport cloth and fabric combination standard across all colors, MFA instrument cluster, leather-wrapped non-airbag steering wheel and shift boot, and Gamma stereo-cassette radio with cassette holder.
Each car would have had 15-inch Le Castellet alloy wheels, though this one shows what look like 15-inch BBS RA wheels that Volkswagen / Karmann had offered on other Cabriolet models but likely weren’t original to this car. We wouldn’t rule their originality out entirely though as this is a very late production car and it’s entirely possible Karmann was fitting whatever they still had in stock.
We note this car has an aftermarket stereo head unit, but is otherwise relatively pristine and reflecting its remarkably low mileage.
Special thanks to Cabby-Info.com for the very detailed index of information on the Toscana.
What: 2002 BMW 525i Touring Color: BMW Slate Green (schiefgrün; metallic UNI; 449; BMW) VIN: WBADS43452GD86927 Mileage: 193,400 Price at Time of this Writing: $5,655 with 1 Day Left CarFax: N/A Window Sticker: see photo gallery Location: Moss Beach, CA Auction listing:Link
From the discount tailored rack comes this well preserved and rare specification BMW 525i Touring we found listed over on Cars and Bids. Whether or not you count it as truly tailored is up to you. The exterior color of Slate Green was a standard offering on the E39. And, though we haven’t yet found it in period catalogues, the interior specification of Stone Green and Black doesn’t appear to be listed as special order on the attached Monroney window sticker.
So, it’s a rare spec then and not a tailored ride. Even still, it’s a rare specification that includes tone-on-tone coloring with green on the outside and green on the inside. That all makes it very tasteful.
Alas, it does have an automatic transmission so the true obscure wagon nerds who are seeking gears they can row may find that part a disappointment, but close inspection of the attached photos over on Cars and Bids also shows very detailed record keeping for this car’s nearly 200,000 miles logged, not to mention well-preserved condition in the many photos.
