South by Southwest (SXSW) is one of the oddest happenings I have ever attended. There are events all over Austin, constantly. Concerts, film festivals, corporate trade shows, and even drone shows promoting the new Halo TV series. Pretty much anything you can think of is happening over the course of 2 insane weeks in Austin. Having said that, one thing I did not think of was a pop-up Porsche event showcasing prototype development cars. I heard it was happening and could not skip this, even though I didn’t have tickets.

My wife and I found out Porsche Unseen was happening and we had to go. Having never been to any event at SXSW before, we didn’t know what to expect. We couldn’t pass up any opportunity to go inside so we hopped in line. The line for people without tickets, of course. Luckily for us, we were able to drool over the Safari-style Martini liveried 911 and Taycan GTS that had a VW Harlequin look going on while we waited. After about an hour of waiting, like we were heading into some luxurious nightclub, the “bouncer” let us in. I was immediately blown away but the cars inside. 

All these cars were previously never seen outside Porsche, hence the name Porsche Unseen. Being a car nerd, it was surreal seeing the design inspiration that led to some of the current Porsche models. You could see what Porsche picked from these concept cars and used them in other models. The Vision Spyder specifically stood out to me. The whole front end looks exactly like the Porsche Mission R race car, except the rest of it resembled something out of Crusin’ USA arcade game. My favorite had to be the original model used to inspire Sally Carrera from the movie Cars. I knew the car was based on a 996-era 911, but I didn’t realize that Porsche directly helped work on the project and built a real-life replica. Shortly after getting a couple of beers at the Unseen Bar, we were treated to one of the loudest concerts I had ever been to. This wasn’t an “I’m too old for this” complaint; it was more of a ” there’s no way an acoustic engineer was ever consulted about this venue” complaint. No doubt it was entertaining and was interesting seeing Paris Jackson having no idea who that was until I googled her after the show. Turns out she is the richest person I have ever been within 20 feet of, so that was exciting.

After our night ended and we headed home, I couldn’t help but think, “why don’t more car companies do stuff like this?” I love that Porsche not only showed some of what they do behind the scenes, but they showcased it at a significant event and invited people to be part of it. Most of these designs were noticeably older, so it’s not like other car companies would be getting crucial information from an event like this. There isn’t a concrete reason not to show where your inspirations come from and the work you create, even if it never goes to market. Sharing a sliver of the inner workings gave me a deeper appreciation for their work. I couldn’t get over how cool it was to feel like I was getting some special tour or something from Porsche. Hopefully, BMW will steal their idea and hosts an event of their own next year. I may even buy a ticket!