Black cars! We all love them, I think, even if we don’t love owning them so much, because they look terrible when dirty. But if I’ve got pay-for-a-weekly-detail money, I’d definitely consider going black. And I mean black black, not some metal-flake anthracite or really dark silver-gray Midnight Rensezvous or whatever.
Exactly how much I want the car to be black depends on the car in question. I like my obnoxious sports and/or muscle cars to be equally obnoxious in their paint hues – lime green, banana yellow, bright AF orange – you get it. Ditto off-roady things and convertibles and hot-hatches, anything meant to put fun ahead of practicality. Give me a nice, bright color there.
Of course, it all depends on the specific car. The Subaru WRX is something I’d expect to want in a snazzy shade like the nice red below, but I don’t love the goofy plastic wheel-well surrounds and the black lipstick on the nose. But put a coat of black on the WRX, and it’s all homogenized nicely. I’m sure we can all think of a bunch of other plastic-not-so-fantastic cars that would benefit from a blackout treatment.
If we’re talking luxury or some kind of grown-upness (or sinister adulting), that’s where I think black cars really look best in general. Examples abound, but some obvious ones to me are the Chevy Impala (you know the one) and Mercury Marauder:
Mercedes S-Class? Gotta be black. I’ll have a W140, please.
Range Rovers should also be black, I think. I’ve been watching a lot of Slow Horses and The Diplomat, and MI5 is always turning up in a fleet of the things. And every time, I think, “Yes, those look good.”
Your turn: what cars are best in black?
Top graphic images: Ford; AC/DC via YouTube
While the Marauder does look good in black, I don’t think it is best in black.
You’ve got to black out the windows on the Marauder. I think it’s a law or something. Should be anyway. But then the black on black is a bit much. I personally think Marauders look best in silver. Makes the blacked out glass that much more…I don’t think “sinister” is necessarily the right word, but I can’t think of a better one.
Any German super sedan looks best in black.
The Saab NG9-5 (2010 – 2011), especially in Aero trim, and especially with the turbine-style wheels.
Any Saab from the 90s on? =)
C7 Corvette must be black, to minimize the “crying taillight” idiocy.
Lotus Europa, in John Player Special livery. It’s actually just about the only way a Europa looks good.
A car I’ll just never to cool enough to drive.
4th gen 4 door Lincoln Continental.
Anybody who bought a Chrysler 300c in anything other than black did it wrong.
Between trying to keep a dark car clean and the heat soak in the places I have spent my life, I have avoided black. A dark green Jetta in the Pacific Northwest is as close as I got. Dark gray/silver does a pretty decent job of hiding dirt and grime. I had a friend in SE Texas with a white Sequoia who had to wash it almost every day.
I think Volvo 745s and V70s looked pretty cool in black. Along with S-Class and large Audi sedans.
The Focus RS, but I’m heavily, incredibly, wildly biased. With a tint and the factory black forged wheels it’s real nice. The Blue also looks amazing but everyone wants the blue.
Brutus. This car can only be black. It would look silly in any other color. This is the car the devil drives. https://global.discourse-cdn.com/forza/original/4X/c/b/0/cb0e919d5ec468573403a552d4a77027ac943cbf.jpeg
I think Dick Dastardly could rock that one in purple though.
thanks to Earnhardt the 1987/88 Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupe
Toyota Century looks best in black – frankly it’s hard to imagine it in any other color.
I’m also in the none crowd. imo – a charcoal grey metallic is the sweet spot of a neutral dark color.
If you ask my wife, every car.
once you go black…
You go deaf.
NONE.
Black is the absolute worst color for cars, followed closely by white.
Counter-point, I like white for being a blank canvas. My white Genesis really made the Neon pink knockoff TE37s I put on really pop.
To each their own, but if I am trying to draw attention, I rather it be on the car itself rather than the rims. But I do know white cars with super bright rims is a fairly common theme.
Very specifically, the 2011-2014 GT500 Mustangs had a gloss-black finish with matte-black stripes and decals. I loved it so much, and when I got the opportunity to get a Shelby Mustang this year, that was the only color I looked at. It’s even cooler in person!
None, they look great in the showroom but unless you are buying a garage queen you are never going to have a good looking black car. Maybe Limousines and hearses.
Agreed. I can’t even put into words how much I hate black cars. A few years back when murdered-out was all the vogue was especially bad. And I especially hate how people who buy black cars are somehow so proud of it like they made a big fashion choice to pick the most boring, bland and unoriginal paint color.
This. I had a “midnight black pearl” WRX that was black in most light, but a deep metallic blue in direct sun. It looked phenomenal right after a detail, then quickly faded to “generic economy sedan” 15 minutes later with even the lightest road dust application.
I’ve always thought that gloss or metallic black is a good color for allowing the pure design of the car to do the talking, even if silver is the color that designers use during the design process. Light shining on the paint highlights the shape and surfacing. With that in mind-
Mid-engined Ferrari’s (red is so played out, blue is better on the front-engined cars)
E63- generation BMW 6 Series (though I’m biased there)
Mercedes W140
Mercedes W100
D4 Audi S8
Porsche 993
1968 Dodge Charger (even more so without the vinyl top)
Lamborghini Countach
R32 Nissan Skyline