As car enthusiasts, many of us despair at the sea of monochrome cars that flood our modern streets. Against such a mediocre backdrop, color makes a car stand out. They help highlight the magic curves penned by the designers, and can reflect the owner’s taste and personality. To that end, I ask you: What car color would you put back into production?
For me, the answer comes from my roots. I grew up in the shadow of the Holden factory in South Australia. Whenever a new Commodore came out, it wasn’t long before I saw them on the streets, many of which were emblazoned in the latest hero color of the moment. The most memorable of all was a striking shade called Hothouse Green.
The color debuted in 2002 with the launch of the VY Holden Commodore. Bright, metallic, and with surprising depth, it was known internally by the paint code 870J. It was available on all the performance models, and looked stunning on the V8-powered SS and the bonkers Maloo ute.
As is typical for hero colors, it didn’t stick around forever. Future high-performance Commodores appeared in a range of other shades, but none that left quite the same impression, at least on my budding automotive mind. It also didn’t trickle down to the lower-end models, which were still primarily sold in a range of silvers, dull blues, and maroons. In any case, the color had enough cultural impact that it became a popular shade in the tuner and muscle scenes. I’ve seen earlier generation Commodores resprayed with shiny Hothouse Green paint jobs, as well as a particularly nice Honda Integra DC2. The striking metallic worked well for show cars that were trying to make a visual impact.
Regardless, Holden wasn’t the only company putting out great colors in the early 2000s. In particular, Ford had some shockingly good colors available back in that era, as well as via its subsidiary, Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV). The BA Falcon introduced a range of bold solid colors, often without metallic components, and the trend continued with the BF generation. Colors like Octane and Breeze were instantly eye-catching and were far more interesting than the dull fleet-like colors of generations past.
Ford’s boldness saw it diverge from the mainstream, but with great effect. The rich, saturated colors on its fleet of brawny muscle cars put the brand’s vehicles right back in the public eye, at a time when the Australian arm was eager to recover from the ugly, unappealing Falcons of the New Edge era. The color served a purpose, and many buyers were more than happy to pick up their new Falcon in a daring shade.
I’d love to see all these colors come back. I can see Ford’s solid colors working well on cars like the Mustang, and maybe even the Mach-E. Meanwhile, I think Holden’s Hothouse Green would look particularly sharp on something like a new Chevy Blazer. In any case, you’ve heard my opinion; now it’s time to share yours. What classic color would you bring back, and what car are you sticking it on?
Top graphic image: Holden
The first picture I saw of the 5th generation Prius was orange. It looked great. It must have been a render because that color is AWOL. More orange cars!
Ford Mystichrome.
You beat me to it.
currently available through RTR
Any color from Saab
I remember Saab had a light/medium desaturated metallic green in the 80s or 90s that I think was called Malachite or something like that. I almost bought a new 900 (from a dealership on Manhattan’s west side no less, complete with gold BBS wheels) that color, and decided to go back to college instead.
Thogh going back to school was probably the right thing to do, that was an awesome color on the 900, and I don’t recall seeing a similar shade on cars from other brands in that era.
I love the green-tinged off-white color they offered on early 900s. Especially when combined with the green velour interior.
My ’92 C900T convertible was Nocturne Blue, which is a really beautiful color. And Sun Green on my ’00 9-5SE wagon was cool too. My ’08 9-3SC was boring white, but beggars can’t be choosers – that was a leftover car. Last one for sale east of the MIssissippi with a stick.
Marble white?
Yup, that’s the one. I also have a weird thing for early, base model beige C900 3drs. Yes, I am an odd boy.
Yes please, esp. Eucalyptus green. Also both Volvo and Saab had funky metallic copper/brown shades in the early 80’s.
Here’s an ineresting look at their paint colors over the years:
https://hdpaintcode.com/saab/
Notable that they toned the colors down in the last two model years.
The bright blue on the Anniversary 9-3, the yellow on the first generation 900 convertible…
Chrysler’s Emerald Green Pearl, the color that every 3rd Shadow, LeBaron and Intrepid was for years.
Honda’s Midnight Pearl. It is maybe the most underrated (perhaps under-known?) color to grace cars in history. The most gorgeous deep shade of purple you’ve ever seen.
We need more purple cars – my color to bring back is Black Rose from the C4 era Corvette. It came back for a few years in the C7s but a nice C4 in that color is high on my list of cars to own someday.
As a Gen Xer, I loved the teals and purples from the 90s, especially 90s Hondas. I’d love to be able to buy a teal car with a tan cloth interior a la the 4th generation Honda Accord.
All this, all day.
Per my comment below, I am on the same page as you are but I will caveat these by saying one thing I do not want to see anymore from Honda is exterior/interior color combos being locked down so much. Why is it so hard to get the tan or even gray interior with some exterior color options?!? It always seemed to be that any interesting color option had to come with a black interior.
I agree 100%. Give me a choice of exterior and an open choice of interior. Maybe I want tan with my teal, but maybe I want grey with my teal.
I almost think that I wouldn’t so much insist on a discontinued color being put back into production, as I would insist on a 5-year moratorium of all vehicles painted white, black, or any shade of silver, gray, pewter, anthracite – “whatever the f**k you guys call it,” to quote Frank Rizzo.
Not just colors but the full on graphics packages. The old Mustang King Cobra still looks cool as F. More screaming chickens! Full on paint/stripe packages like 80s Toyota trucks (I know, Toyota will still sell you the stripes, but it’s not the same).
I bought a Chevy Sonic for my daughter to drive. It was Inferno Orange. LOVED that color. Metallic with what appeared to be a pearlescent top coat. Just amazing in direct sunlight.
Honda should resurrect that purple they used in the 90’s. I think it was called Amelia red pearl or something like that. It was fun! They also had a teal at the time that leaned a little green that was great.
I LOVE actual colors on cars, and particularly non-metallic colors on older cars and trucks. Sadly, since I almost always buy used cars, color tends to be the last priority on my shopping list, so all but a few of my dozenplus cars have been black or silver, since there are so dayum many of those around. The 240 wagon I just bought last month is a very faded silver with almost no clearcoat left above the beltline… but it does have a five-speed transmission and working A/C, which were more vital to me than it being that fantastic, gentle/medium non-metallic blue that Volvo put on so many 240s in the late 1970s and through the 1980s.
Lately, I’ve been seeing teal wraps on a lot of cars, and it almost always looks good be it on a Civic or something bigger. I prefer the lighter, non-metallic versions that resemble robin’s egg or Tiffany box blue, but even the extroverted, deeply saturated metallic teals are lightyears better than the endless sea of monochrome drek and Nardo grey.
Here’s a few pix of teal wraped cars for reference: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=teal+car+wraps&t=opera&ia=images&iax=images
PS: I was also a big fan of Ford’s “Area 51” on early Mavericks and other models… a nice, non-metallic blue-grey that was recently discontinued on Mavericks. 🙁 Also, the early Maverick’s “Cyber Orange Metallic Tri-Coat” looks simply wonderful, though I’ve only seen a few in person… kind of a soft, pearly, pumpkin orange.
Early Maverick colors: https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/attachments/2021-maverick-packaging-guide-colors-trims-options-15-jpg.2045/
PPS: I don’t know the name(s), but BMW has had some amazing dark purple metallics lately, and Porsche has a light metallic blue that I’ve seen on Taycans that would also look great on almost anything.
Ford Lime Gold metallic from the late 1960s.
Toyota Inferno
Still my favorite color out of every car that I have owned.
Easy: Volkswagen Great Falls Green!
BMW’s Boston Green Metallic
Teal. I don’t care what shade or what you call it, but I get crazy excited when I see teal cars because they are just so much fun!
Couldn’t agree more!
Bring back literally any color that’s not a shade of gray…
I am so goddamn tired of primer gray. Lately companies have been trying to spruce it up a bit with vague, distant green or blue shades…but it’s bullshit, gray is gray.
I hate these paint options that look like they put a drop of color in a 5 gallon bucket of gray and pretend it is a shade that color.
And then they charge you MORE for it and treat it like it’s special or some shit. Hell primer gray is an upcharge more often than not. People are literally paying more to have the most boring automotive color of all time.
I would like to resurrect 2 old BMW-colours from the 80/90′.
First LachsSilber (silver with a streak of pink in it) from E30 and Technoviolett from E36.
And that’s because those were Cars/colours i really wanted to have but couldn’t afford at the time.
I came to say Technoviolet, good choice.
If I bring back a model-exclusive color, does that also bring back the model? If so, I want Tangerine Scream back into production, but it still can’t be on anything but the Focus ST. Otherwise, let it rest in peace. That color on an Explorer would hurt more than its absence ever will.
Compass Yellow from Rivian!
The Crush Orange on my JKUR
Saab’s Viggen blue
and the Viggen, too, please
I’d settle for just Saab
I would love to see more british racing green, gorgeous color.
BRG should be offered on literally every car. It’s perfect.
Not a paint color, rather a paint type.
Matte
I want matte paint to come back.
Thankfully that fad has left the building
I take it you haven’t been around many classic cars. I’m talking proper classics with factory matte paint. Ever seen an Acapulco Thing in person? What about a Regular thing? Land Rover Series? Land Rover Defender? First gen Range Rover? The list goes on and on. All beautiful automobiles with matte paint.
For Defenders and 4x4s in general metallic paint looks awful, every dent you get looks so much worse in metallic than in matte.
I would not call what Land Rover did back in the day “matte” in the sense of the modern matt colors. More that the paint back then was gloss, just not anything like as glossy as modern clearcoat paint. And of course, it faded *quickly* to an even less gloss paint if not kept polished and waxed. The only Rovers with actually fully matt paint were military ones.
I guess I’m talking about non metallic paint with hardly any gloss to it, which to me is a matte, and I’m fine with actual matte, I’m just not a fan of shiny metallic paint.
I definitely get where you are coming from, and it’s my preference on the old stuff too. We just plain need more colors in general!
What funny is brand-new Series Land Rovers were actually pretty shiny fresh off the showroom floor. I can remember when my uncle got his one brand-new one, one of the last sold new in the US. But they faded in short order to that sort of matt look you are thinking of. Took a LOT of work to keep that old single-stage non-clearcoat paint looking showroom fresh. Even my ’95 Disco has faded to basically flat (it’s medium green), but if I cared and dug out my random-orbit polisher, I could get the old girl back to shiny again (but nothing like modern metallic) with a LOT of elbow grease. But I like the “shabby chic” look on it.
Fair enough. I guess my comment should have been ‘Anything but metallic paint’.
I think “flat” is the term for paints with no metallic flakes. At least that’s what I remember from my old Testors paint sets.
Nah, flat is no gloss at all, aka “not reflective at all”. Solid color is the term for not-metallic. And there are flat metallics as well – typically the “metal” colors like Steel, Aluminum, Brass, Copper, etc.
-Model Railroad dork with lots and lots and lots of little bottles of paint cluttering up the place.
Do you really mean matte, as in the non-glossy finish? Or are you actually meaning non-metallic, as in lacking metal flake/sparkle, but can still be glossy? Real matte paint is a pain to maintain and keep looking good. I had a motorcycle that would get stains from bugs and where your thighs rubbed the tank would make the finish look different. Washing it took special soap and you couldn’t wax it. Whatever the protective coating you could use (kind of like wax) was way more expensive and a pain to use than typical wax. 100% never want a matte finish car or motorcycle again.
Non-metallic, gloss paints were basically the standard back in the day. Matte really wasn’t, and if it was available, was certainly not typical. And when I google a VW Acapulco Thing, it’s actually not matte. It appears to be just standard non-metallic gloss paint.
Not metallic, not very glossy. Maybe it’s just a product of the paint fade on older cars but I prefer the colors they have. They’re not a true matte, but they’re hardly glossy and they’re not metallic.
Yeah to each their own, but this is not a take I can get behind. Far too hard to maintain, and it looks like a cheap wrap so much of the time.
Matte is much easier to touch up than metallic. It depends on the car and the color but matte can look amazing, see the partial list above. A matte teal looks great.
Rn I got a Black 25 Nissan Leaf S on it’s factory steelies without the wheel covers, I’m not running any locked lugnuts on it because who wants surface rusted steelies? If the rest of my car was matte black like the steelies I’d be very happy with that, and any future dents, scratches, etc. won’t look as bad and will be much easier to repaint than metallic.
Yeah I am sure it works in a lot of situations, but I have never seen a matte paint job that I thought looked good. Like I said, it either looks like a cheap wrap or just primer. Cars are supposed to shine! I don’t care that metallic paint is harder to match, I still prefer it.
The world needs more good browns