Peeling off the psychedelic dress of Janis Joplin's 356

• 

You may have noticed that RM Sotheby's is planning to sell the Porsche 356 formerly owned by singer Janis Joplin. It’s not just this heritage making this car stand out from its siblings – it’s mostly the psychedelical paint job. With her smoky voice and rebellious character Joplin bought the Porsche in 1968. By that time it was three years old and mundane white in colour. Nothing to suit the Texan Queen of Soul, who was eager to have carpenter, roadie and self-thaught tattoo artist Dave Richards give it a bit of a revamp. He did just that, decorating it in radiant colours, with flower motives, butterflies and astrological signs. Some band members were supposedly also immortalized on the German bodywork.

We wondered if the original paint job by Richards was still on the car, as on some pictures it seemed very different. But a specialist of the auction house was smart enough to point out that this was in fact due to mirrorized images. Well spotted. We did come across another great tale. The car was in fact stolen after a year in Joplin’s ownership. Perhaps not the easiest car to shift, the San Francisco police found it back quickly, hastily painted in a silver-grey coat of paint. Joplin reputedly had it repainted once more by Richards in the exact same way. Many years later it was restored (early 1990s) and most probably repainted once again. Now, we can't help wondering what you'll find beneath the current psychedelical dress. Will  the second Dave Richards mural still be there? And the 'rattle can' grey paint job? And how about the very first 1968 Joplin layer? Or the car's orginal white? New owner, if you are ever in need of some body work repair, do let us know! 
 
(Words Jeroen Booij, picture courtesy RM Sotheby's/Yoram Haraka) 

Plaats een reactie...