Beating that Ol' Dead Horse - Color

[Lunajammer]

Looking for a nice Duplicolor green at the auto store, I was confronted with a fairly broad selection of paints... if you love silver, black white and three reds. Eight slots just for silver alone, and these are just spray touchup paints, not engine, wheels or caliper paints.

Universal Silver

Radiant Silver

Bright Silver

Ingot Silver

Pewter Metallic Silver

Galaxy Silver Metallic

Ultra Silver

Fine Silver

Edit: Just returned from another auto store with a better appointment of Duplicolor so we'll need to add..

Classic Silver Mica

Gunmetal Metallice

Fine Silver Birch

Magnetic Metallic Silver

Silver Charcoal Metallic

Charcoal Gray Metallic

Satin Silver Metallic

Silver Mica

Alabaster Silver Metallic

Lunar Mist (it's silver)

 

How did automakers ever survive the 50's??

Edited January 16, 2024 by Lunajammer

[Ace-Garageguy]

How were car buyers brainwashed that "color is bad" and every purchase needs to be based on potential resale, not what you actually want?

I'm surprised there isn't a universal color called "resale silver".

Something like this would be unthinkable in today's more "sophisticated" marketplace.

Edited January 15, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[BlackSheep214]

12 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

How were car buyers brainwashed that "color is bad" and every purchase needs to be based on potential resale, not what you actually want?

I'm surprised there isn't a universal color called "resale silver".

Something like this would be unthinkable in today's more "sophisticated" marketplace.

I love that color scheme!!!

[Classicgas]

Beautiful Ford.

[StevenGuthmiller]

I guess that most people today want their car’s color to match their car’s soul.

Drab and boring! ?

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

Nobody will ever take chances like this again!

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

Edited January 16, 2024 by StevenGuthmiller

[iamsuperdan]

Yeah, no one makes bright and interesting colours anymore.

 

 

And this isn't even getting into the exotics, such as Porsche or Lamborghini or McLaren that do all kinds of wild and crazy colours.

/devil's advocate ?

 

 

 

I get what you're saying, and mostly agree. The colour palette was definitely more interesting back in the 50s and 60s. Heck, even into the 70s and 80s. 

But as someone in the sales side of the automotive world for about 25 years...guess which colours sell the least. 

If you guessed the loud and interesting ones, you'd be correct.

Silvers, greys, black, white...all of those neutral colours are far and away more popular.

 

For the record, I love the crayon colours.

 

[Lunajammer]

6 minutes ago, iamsuperdan said:

Silvers, greys, black, white...all of those neutral colours are far and away more popular.

Which brings us to...

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

...every purchase needs to be based on potential resale, not what you actually want?  I'm surprised there isn't a universal color called "resale silver".

-----------------

9 minutes ago, iamsuperdan said:

Yeah, no one makes bright and interesting colours anymore.

Actually Dan, I almost went there myself and started googling Kia Sol for some of their two-tones, but why confuse my own rant? ?

[BlackSheep214]

55 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Nobody will ever take chances like this again!

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

At least the classics with two tone colors had a lot of soul compared to todays automobiles.  Skirts on the 50s era automobiles makes them even more elegant looking.

[Ace-Garageguy]

27 minutes ago, Lunajammer said:

Which brings us to...

-----------------

Actually Dan, I almost went there myself and started googling Kia Sol for some of their two-tones, but why confuse my own rant? ?

Thing is, interesting colors may be available, but how many of them do you actually see on the road?

Boring rules the masses, and nobody can deny it.

Edited January 16, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[StevenGuthmiller]

19 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Thing is, interesting colors may be available, but how many of them do you actually see on the road?

Boring rules the masses, and nobody can deny it.

Not only that, but “bright” doesn’t necessarily translate into “interesting”.

 

 

 

Steve

[sfhess]

And good luck finding (in many car models) an interior that is not all black.

When I was shopping for my 2016 Fusion, I really had to hunt for a Guard (green) car with a Dune (tan) interior.

[Brian Austin]

Yeah I recall a better selection of paint colors at my local auto parts store years ago so I was rather disappointed last time I checked.

I will say I see more variety out and about than what was represented on the shelf.  I've seen lovely bronzey/orange colors, and pretty blues/aquas, among others. Often these were Japanese makes.

Regarding the trends of the past few years, the color palette reminded me of 1940s / early '50s muted colors.  Also brown seems to have made a comeback.

Note that of the four cars I've owned since the 1990s, only one was not some shade of metallic grey.  Color was not a consideration my car shopping.

 

In the end, it's no longer the '50s or '60s.  The world has moved on.

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, sfhess said:

And good luck finding (in many car models) an interior that is not all black.

When I was shopping for my 2016 Fusion, I really had to hunt for a Guard (green) car with a Dune (tan) interior.

Interior color is always one of our biggest considerations when deciding on a new car color combination, although options are extremely limited.

I refuse to buy a car with a gray interior!

I can't think of anything more depressing than driving around in something surrounded in gloomy, monotone gray!

 

Our blue Honda S-2000 has a blue interior, and our pearl white Acura MDX, an "Espresso" interior.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[1972coronet]

I'm rather fond of the en masse SUV's and sedans which are painted - what I call - East Berlin Grey or Iron Curtain Pearl . 

Talk about "inspired" or inspiring ! 

Bright paints on new(er) vehicles looks off to me ; resembling something like a Happy Meal toy or some-such.

[Ace-Garageguy]

8 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

I'm rather fond of the en masse SUV's and sedans which are painted - what I call - East Berlin Grey or Iron Curtain Pearl . 

Talk about "inspired" or inspiring ! 

Bright paints on new(er) vehicles looks off to me ; resembling something like a Happy Meal toy or some-such.

Yes tovarisch. You can have any color as long as it's gray applied with a dirty pinecone on a stick.

Edited January 16, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[iamsuperdan]

13 hours ago, Lunajammer said:

 

Actually Dan, I almost went there myself and started googling Kia Sol for some of their two-tones, but why confuse my own rant? ?

We picked up a 2015 Kia Soul for my daughter....black with metallic lime green accents, black interior with lime green stitching. 

It's a little different, just a splash of colour.

 

[iamsuperdan]

12 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Thing is, interesting colors may be available, but how many of them do you actually see on the road?

Boring rules the masses, and nobody can deny it.

We have all the colours of the Ford rainbow in stock here at the dealership. The neutral colours fly off the shelves. The interesting colours tend to linger and sit around.

They really are what people tend to gravitate towards.

 

 

Just going to ignore the fact that my wife's Vovlo is white, my (son's) Tahoe is pewter, my daughter's Kia is black, and my truck is white. Previous trucks were silver, white, black, grey, Race Red (!!), white, white, black...

?

[TarheelRick]

I do miss the full color palette of the 50's and 60's. However there are still a few bright colors and fun to drive vehicles on the road. Took a while to get used to the red, but now I really love it, and it is fun to drive - except past gas stations.

[iamsuperdan]

25 minutes ago, TarheelRick said:

I do miss the full color palette of the 50's and 60's. However there are still a few bright colors and fun to drive vehicles on the road. Took a while to get used to the red, but now I really love it, and it is fun to drive - except past gas stations.

 

Hey that's kind of like my last red truck! Here's the day I picked it up, last January. Everything I've had since then has been a neutral colour.

I miss this one.

[Jordan White]

@Lunajammer Were you able to find a green you liked? Just curious since I have an ongoing list of all the Duplicolor touchup sprays, and I know that some aren't easy to find in stores.

[Oldriginal86]

One of the manufactures offer a color “cement”. Now cars can look like a brick and can be the same color.

[webestang]

All I know is my yellow 99 Mustang sticks out in every parking lot.

 

Edmunds says..............   https://www.edmunds.com/most-popular-car-colors/

[Ace-Garageguy]

16 minutes ago, webestang said:

All I know is my yellow 99 Mustang sticks out in every parking lot.

 

Edmunds says..............   https://www.edmunds.com/most-popular-car-colors/

I wonder how they differentiate between "gray" and "silver".

If you lump those two together(colors like "storm gray metallic" and "gray mica"...both actually silvers), it's around 30%.

Edited January 16, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[espo]

Just an observation on my part on colors. I agree that most of the new car and truck manufactures offer some great looking colors, but I think the problem is the dealers are not ordering them for inventory. We toke a drive to northern Texas for New Years to visit some family. Hours and hours of staring out the windshield it downed on me that except for a very few exceptions everything, be it a truck regardless of size and cars as well were either a shade of white, silver or black. Most people buying a new car or truck are forced to buy whatever a dealer is stocking. The dealer seems to order primarily these three colors and shades of them. I recall on morning looking out the window of our hotel that was on a street where you could see a Chevrolet store and a Ford store. You could count on one hand the number of cars in inventory that were of a different color. I started looking at dealerships from the highway the rest of the way down and when we returned. They all stocked the same colors and again very few other options.