There are a lot of weird questions I have about the Cars universe. Do the anthropomorphized cars have children? If so, how? If not, who made them? Why? But, of all the things that keep me up at night about Cars, I never once pondered how they'd look in real life.
And, yet, that's exactly what Porsche and Pixar brought to life with this one-off custom Sally Carrera car.
You know what, though — Sally doesn't look nearly as scarring as I'd have expected of a vehicle with monstrous windshield eyes and mouth. Something about the Cars characters inherently looking like real-world cars softened the blow, I suppose.
My trepidation over how cartoon characters are translated into the real world comes from abominations like the original Sonic the Hedgehog design that got meme'd to death a couple years ago.
Now, no hate to the animators who had to work double-time to rework the animated Sega mascot but the original Sonic's little human teeth were some real nightmare fuel.
Anyways, Porsche and Pixar translated Sally from Cars into the real world without any issue.
In fact, the results are shockingly slick, looking all the world like the newest attraction at Disneyland.
Sally is street-legal and was painstakingly built around the body of an existing Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, which is appropriate given her last name (it's "Carrera").
It took ten months of work to create Sally in real-life, with work beginning back in November 2021. The finished design is impressively in-depth and includes plenty of subtle touches, like "Sally Special" branding throughout and a recreation of Sally's pinstriping "tattoo."
“We had great fun creating 911 Sally Special and it's the first time we've worked on a project of this kind,” Jay Ward, Creative Director of Franchise of Pixar, said in a statement. “We decided early on that we wanted to create a completely drivable 911 — inspired by Sally Carrera, but just not an exact copy.”
“The customisation elements are detailed and extensive. 911 Sally Special was one of the most intense, emotional and detailed Sonderwunsch projects our team has worked on,” Boris Apenbrink, Director Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, continued. “One example is that the car is painted in Sallybluemetallic, a custom paint that was hand-applied specifically for this project.”
Apenbrink also cited Sally's unique rims as another major challenge.
As if there wasn't enough work put into this project, there's an additional collectible angle.
Sally's owner will also receive a 911 Sally Special Chronograph watch, indoor car cover, wheel rack with additional wheel set, a book about the production behind Porsche's Sally Special, and original concept drawings from Porsche's Shuichi Yamashita and Pixar's Bob Pauley.
Oh, yes, about Sally's future owner.
The best news about all this is that Sally wasn't merely designed to show off the skill of Porsche's craftspeople. Instead, Sally will be auctioned off on August 20 by RM Sotheby's during Monterey Car Week for charitable intent.
Specifically, some of the proceeds generated by Sally's sale will go to Girls Inc., which promotes "direct service and advocacy" in the lives of young women, and UNHCR, an organization that "ensures the safety and protection" of Ukrainian refugees.
