Other than Ford Model Ts, pace car replicas, and the Buick GNX, you can usually choose the color of the car you buy. However, in my mind, I always see certain cars as synonymous with one particular color regardless of how many options the manufacturer gave you at the back of the brochure. Are there any out there that you tend to picture in your mind in a certain shade of one hue?
Ferraris I always tend to picture in the signature red, which is why if I ever bought one it would need to be in some other color.
The Mustang that I was brought home from the hospital in after being brought into this world was painted Ivy Green, a color not unlike the Highland Green shade on one of the most famous Mustangs of all time. Maybe that’s why I always picture ‘Stangs (particularly old ones) in something akin to that British Racing Green.
Certain eras define colors for cars that I imagine; if you say “Plymouth ‘Cuda” it pops into my head painted Plum Crazy purple like the one in the topshot. How about a Geo Storm? You just know it’s going to be in early nineties teal, right?
Pity kids today. Any car they remember that was popular in their youth, they’ll picture in either gray, silver, white, or another grey. Maybe black. How sad.
How about you? What cars do you personally always associate with or picture in a certain color, and what color is it?
Top graphic image: Worldwide Auctioneers
You say old Porsche, my brain shows me Meißen blue
Mercury Grand Marquis = Champagne
Viper = Red
Jaguar = British Green
Air cooled Beetle = Yellow
Chevy Spark = Lime green
Auto Union cars are bare aluminum color, right?
The obvious: MGB=BRG
Honda Civic del Sol in Samba Green Pearl
Plymouth superbird? Vitamin-C. Dodge challenger? White. Pontiac vibe? Orange. Jeep ZJs are all forest green.
Silver Mercedes,teal Geo Tracker,blue WRX,and black Grand National.
The Neons don’t specify a color, but they do imply a brightness. I always thought the black Neons I spotted in traffic were just missing the point entirely.
My family has owned not one but two Opels (one a Kadett Rallye, the other a GT which is still in hand) and now all Opels are yellow except Mantas, which are a beautiful burnt orange with a black roof because of the neighbor down the block, unless it’s a Manta B which must of course be race white with the stripes.
Prius is silver. I have never seen a car so resolutely gray in my life, not even a BMW. It does one thing very very well and make a visual impression is NOT it. It gets you there for a minimum of fuss and expense, EVERYTHING else including being recognizable is battling for third place. I loved mine and its dogged determination to be as undemanding as possible which included being damned near invisible.
Somehow the luxury market brands all self-divided themselves on color.
Mercedes Benze- silver
BMW- black
Audi- white
Lexus- champagne gold
Infiniti- pewter
Acura and Volvo don’t really have them though
I mean, yes, most European cars have their national racing colors, though I’ve always thought of BMWs in Blue rather than white. Mini, thanks to the Monte Carlo Rally, I affiliate with Red. Renault and Opel also buck the National Racing Colors trend, both being Yellow.
Chevy is blue other than the Corvette Z06 specifically, which is Yellow. Dodge and Ram are Red. Jeep is Olive Drab. Ford will always be Blue. Lincoln and Cadillac are Tuxedo Black, Chrysler and Mercury are Silver, and Buick is Old Person Champagne Metallic. Pontiac was Red. GMC is fleet truck white. Plymouth was a rainbow, with highlights being Petty Blue and Prowler Purple. AMC was their patriotic red/white/blue, Unless it’s the Gremlin. That’s white, with a red hockey-stick stripe, and sitting in The Field near Bubs’ Concession Stand.
Toyota, Mitsubishi, Daihatsu, and Honda are red, mainly. Nissan, Mazda, and Subaru are Blue. Suzuki is Yellow because motorbikes. Isuzu can only be Fleet White anymore. Hyundai and Genesis made up their own Racing colors, but Kia is red to me.
Family Truckster = Metallic Pea
Kia Soul Green
The AMC Gremlin and brown. Not just the color, but the driving experience.
Late model Nissan Altimas and white with black primer bumpers. I’m pretty sure they come that way from the factory.
First Gen Viper: Red
Model T: Black
Pink Cadillac
Toyota Camry: That light beige/tan/gold color that was everywhere.
Cashmere Beige Metallic or Almond Beige Pearl??
One of the automakers used to call it Champaign. That must have tested better than Pilsner or Well Hydrated Urine.
Corvette: red
Mercedes: silver
BWM: black
Anything from the UK: BRG
Any muscle car derivative: don’t care
Volvo: brown
Subaru: blue
Audi: white
Jeep: yellow or olive drab
Toyota: beige
Jeep Cherokees are all red
Subaru WRX / STI – World Rally Blue
All Eddie Bauer Explorers are teal with gold accents and beige leather interior.
Trans Ams? Black, duh.
There’s a reason they call it “Corvette yellow.”
Any Ferrari should be red.
GMC Sierra Grande: the classic root beer brown/gold two-tone, as in “The Fall Guy.”
Less exciting: In my mind, all Ford Fairmonts from the late 70s/80s are either powder blue, or that Band-Aid color. Tailpipe banana optional.
Geo Metro convertibles will always be pink in my mind. (or red that faded to pink)
Saab Sonnets will always be some bright color like orange, yellow, or red to me, never greyscale.
All Corvettes are red. The rest are just mistakes. They even wrote a book about it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671685015/?bestFormat=true&k=all%20corvettes%20are%20red%20book&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-bk-v2_k0_1_14_de&crid=1QD1G081LWY98&sprefix=all%20corvettes%20a