#vinyl

Like the sketchy garage near your old apartment, Porsche is now selling vinyl car wraps. Considering full-body aftermarket wraps have become increasingly popular in recent years, the German brand is seeing dollar signs and wants to take a stab at a pseudo factory version of the trend.

On Wednesday, Porsche announced a new online platform for vehicle livery design it calls “Second Skin.” While the name sounds like something associated with contraception, it’s actually an extension of Porsche’s car configurator. However, it doesn’t appear to apply to vehicles hot off the assembly line or exist as a direct extension of the standard ordering process. According to the website, which had to be translated from German, customer vehicles will be picked up from homs or driven by the owner to a “certified expert” before being returned.

It also doesn’t apply exclusively to Porsches. Second Skin says it can wrap any Porsche and will begin accepting pre-registrations for vehicles from other manufactures immediately.

Josh writes:Sajeev –Great news! After research, waiting, and a little bit of compromise, I have finally bought my first ‘real’ car. Last month, I bought a ’05 BMW 645i convertible with very low mileage and a clean bill of health. It is wonderful and brings me a little joy every time I start it.Bad news! The country is currently gripped in a cold snap the likes of which we haven’t seen in 2 decades, and also, by the way, I live in Denver.

Long-time TTAC readers will recall my infatuation with Couch Guitar Straps and their MB-Tex “upcycled” products. Couch doesn’t just do Benz-based stuff, however; they make a very popular guitar strap from Fleetwood Talisman roof vinyl and various other products from Ford trunk linings, VW Beetle seat vinyl, and Seventies Pontiac upholstery.

This morning, Couch spammed me with something about a limited run of bright-green upcycled-from-seatbelts guitar straps, and while I was reflexively clicking the “Buy Now!” button like Pavlov’s pup I noticed a few new items for the Murilee Martin crowd.