PTSRS: the Instagram channel inspired by Porsche Paint to Sample colours
Meet the New Yorker who dreamed of creating a vibrant online Porsche community
PTSRS – the Instagram channel inspired by Porsche Paint to Sample colours
There are thousands of different colours available when you buy a new Porsche. Find out how Will Lee interacts with them and the stories behind them
Living in New York City is an exercise in sensory overload every single day even for those who grew up there – the sights and sounds, smells and tastes. But when Will Lee moved there from his native South Korea there was something that energised him like nothing else – the colours of this unique, forever vibrant city. Or, to be specific, the colours of the Porsche cars that he’d see cruising past or parked up in the street.Having moved from a country where Porsche has a presence but is nowhere as prevalent as it is in the Big Apple, Will would experience a visceral thrill whenever he spotted a 911, 718 Cayman or Cayenne. So much so that he began to document his encounters in words and photos online, creating his very own Porsche community in the process – with Porsche colours the focus.
Man on New York street looks directly into camera
When Will Lee moved to New York City from South Korea he was wowed by the array of colours of Porsche cars that he saw on the streets
How Porsche Paint to Sample inspired a new Porsche communityAt first, Will admits, he imagined that there was only a limited Porsche palette when it came to colours. He knew about Guards Red, Racing Yellow, Pure White, Carbon Black Metallic – classic hues that over the years he’d come to know and love. “You aspire to own a white Porsche or a red Porsche because that’s what you know about,” says Will. Yet, as his interest in Porsche blossomed, Will began to discover an array of unique colours that weren’t part of the regular options when you bought a new car. He had – unwittingly at first – discovered the world of Porsche Paint to Sample (PTS). Very quickly he realised that Porsche in fact make thousands and thousands of unique colours available to customers. They’re a unique opportunity to personalise the colour of your new Porsche and truly express yourself.
Line of colourful Porsche cars, Manhattan skyline as backdrop
Will has built a huge community around lovers of Paint to Sample Porsche cars, which gives owners the chance to personalise the colour of their cars from thousands of options
Unique Porsche coloursWill, he readily admits, is a ‘data nerd’. It led to him embarking on a journey to photograph and document as many of these unique Porsche colours as he could. “It made me pay full attention to colours,” Will explains. And it also resulted in him starting his own Instagram page, PTSRS – a place to showcase to the world not just these special Porsche colours and the cars but their owners too.
In the process, he had formed a new Porsche community that both celebrated the power of individuality and the beauty of dreaming in full colour. Each post Will creates is packed with great insight into the colours, their names and history behind them. It’s certainly very easy to while away the hours flicking from one car to the next, discover all you can about the colours themselves in the process. It’s no wonder that, before too long, the Instagram channel that Will had formed had grown to over 100,000 followers. By the beginning of 2024, that figure had risen to almost 200,000.
Man in chinos stands next to brown Porsche Cayman
When he started his Instagram account, Will didn’t own a Porsche. Today he is the proud owner of a Cayman (type 981) in Anthracite Brown Metallic
Buying a new Porsche of his ownPerhaps surprisingly, despite photographing and documenting hundreds of cars on his Insta site, Will didn’t have a Porsche of his own when he started his quest. “I brought a whole Porsche community together and I didn’t even drive one,” he says with a smile.Thankfully, Will’s dream of owning a Porsche one day eventually came true. Today he's the proud owner of a Porsche Cayman (type 981) in Anthracite Brown Metallic. In many respects, it’s a colour that embodies Will’s personality – seemingly muted at first glance, but one that is full of life and character when viewed in the right conditions.
Men and women walks towards Porsche cars, Manhattan in background
It started as an online community, but Will and his Porsche-owning friends in the New York City area also get to meet up too
It’s a clear testament to Will's love of Porsche that he's managed to build such a vibrant community of enthusiasts for a unique sub-culture celebrating a special facet of the Porsche brand. As for the future? Will says that he aspires to keep pushing boundaries and opening people’s eyes to the power of colour – and, in particular, the rich, wide-ranging palette that Porsche has to offer.
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