Colors a Car Should Not Be
July 21, 2008
- Robins-egg blue a la late 1990s Ford Tauruses. And while I appreciate vintage Thunderbirds, the new ones look sickly and clashy in that pale aqua.
- Metallic pumpkin. Not an acceptable trend.
- Mint green. My mother owned a mint-green Honda Accord in the 90s. My sister was good enough to smash it into a pole at high speed. Good riddance (my sister is fine).
- Goldish-bronzish-metallic-beige. Not even fleet cars should have to suffer this humiliation.
- Carnation is not OK unless you won it as a prize from Mary Kay.
- I am also of the rather controversial opinion that black is a wretched color for cars. To me, it makes all of the lovely lines (well, in some cases) of the car disappear into a murky, confusing shadow. I want to see the shape!
- I also don’t like white but I understand that other people do.
Colors I do like on cars:
- European red. I emphasize: Euro-red. Japanese red is too purply (Subaru) or orange (certain Toyotas). Audi and VW have the best red. That milky, deep soft yum red.
- Charcoal. I just like it.
- Acura had a lovely indigo a few years back. Indigo. Dense. Mmmmm.
- Silver. Straightforward, but it works.
- Subaru currently has an acceptable, unique mid-blue with some grey in it that is appealing.
You?
4 Comments
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i am pleased to say that i can see no future in which you and i might need to co-own a car. cause, well, i LOVE that metallic orange that’s been going around. and if i had lots of expendable income, Klaus would be getting a makeover. i also love that midnight blue/indigo that VW and Audi have been running for the last few years. and, Triumph has a production spring green that is the color of my fantasies about cycles.
i do however HATE white cars and would not own one. mint green & aqua are vile. beige is a cop-out, not a color. competition yellow (you’ve seen it on corvettes and the long lamented Geo Storm!) is offensive. no shade of pink belongs on metal. ever.
For my graduation present my parents paid for a paint job on my truck. I chose to go with a dark metallic gray.
I had it back from the paint shop for a grand total of three days before totaling it. Weep.
Just as I think men and women should pick fashions that look best *on them* and not what looks best on the rack, I’m also of the opinion the car design often influences what color looks best on it. Plus, if a car design has reached iconic status in a particular color, our brain gets conditioned to it, and expects to see the car in that color.
Cars that IMO go best with red: Ferrari (almost any model, any year), Porsche convertibles, and Alfa Romeos (especially their new 8C Competizione!). Black: Porsche 911 Turbos, BMW’s (almost any model, any year), Audi A8L/S8 and S5, C2 Corvette Stingrays. Silver: 1st gen Audi TT, Mercedes (almost any model, any year). White: C1 Corvettes, 2nd gen Audi TT, new VW Scirocco. Charcoal: BMW 335i. Seal grey: Porsche 911 and Boxster. Metallic Blue: Mini Cooper S (with racing stripes). Lime Green: new Beetle (Actually, IMO the new Beetle can pull off almost any color, but just not with lime green or yellow rims too). …….
I hate cars that come in that shade of “tarmac grey” which instantly becomes invisible when it rains.