Your Thoughts on Today`s Vehicle Colors

L

Lonnie

Active member
The fodder for this thread topic was Sizzle Chest`s detailing of a Smokeshow (the color name) Dodge Challenger.
Please reference: https://www.autopia.org/forums/click-amp-brag-the-detailers-showcase/193264-dodge-challenger.html

I don`t know about you, but it seems like vehicle manufacturer`s must have gotten some good buys on excess US military paint colors to use on civilian production vehicles. The drab greys and greens being offered on some of them leave a lot to ask, "Who is the marketing genius behind these color trends?"
I realize that drab and even matte finishes might be the trend and appeal to prospective younger vehicle owners and leasees, BUT it doesn`t mean I have to like them. Then again, maybe I AM old and senile and just not with it. (You are, Captain Obvious!)

I also realize that vehicle colors go through these trends and phases. It was not too long ago that silver and greys were the most popular colors seen on newer vehicles. Now I see a lot of black and white on newer vehicles. This coming from the owner of a black 2006 Ford Freestyle (hey, the SUV came that way!)

At least Chrysler still offers some unique colors on its Mopar Muscle cars.

What do you think, fellow Autopians? And what are your favorite colors for a vehicle?
Mine are Porsche`s Guardsman Red and BMW`s Frozen Marina Bay Blue.

Remember the Grabber Green on early 70`s Ford Cobra Jet Torino`s with a yellow laser stripe on the side?
 
When the popular colors were silver and white it was commented on that it was part of a kind of conformity and lack of creative thinking in the populace (John C. Dvorak, a long time ago).

I am kind of miffed by the "shiny primer" color in that other thread. I also have been bemused by the return of browns as a color option...but whatever. As you said, these things go in phases...I try not to get excited about it until I want to get a new car and all the colors suck. In the meantime...whatever.
 
Related to this thread is the current manufacturing paint process of vehicles with VERY thin overall primer/paint/clear coat thicknesses. It has been well documented in photos within this forum by professional detailers with Paint Thickness Gauges (PTG) of such thickness measurements, some as thin as 4 mils (0.004 inches) thick in places. That`s not much paint thickness and it is easy to burn through panel edges while correcting with a long-throw buffer (15mm or 21mm orbital stroke) where there are bends and forms in such panel shape/designs for the uniformed or ignorant professional or hobbyist detailer doing such correcting without a PTG. Just another Captain Obvious observation and comment...consider the source.

I have made the bold prediction, but with no foreseen knowledge or proof, that in the not-to-distant-future, all new vehicles will be painted white and then wrapped in protective plastic film (PPF) with the customer (Or dealer if it is inventoried on the lot) choosing the color of preference (or current trend color that is most like to sell by the dealer) from a wide variety of pallet colors. If a vehicle owner wants to change that color, it is a re-wrap in a new color rather than a paint respray or if a subsequent vehicle owner buys the pre-owned vehicle, they can change it from the previous owner`s Mary Kay Pink to Mossy Oak Camouflage if they so feel inclined. And when the PPF starts to look faded and peeled from daily driven wear-and-tear, it is just a matter of a new re-wrap to freshen up the appearance to a like-new condition.

What this means is that a new skill-set will be needed by detailers from correcting and polishing machine masters to PPF removers and installers in the near future if this "bold prediction" becomes reality. Sounds plausible.

But I am old-school and hope the primer/paint/clear coat production sticks around for a while.
Just like the internal combustion engine (ICE), even if it needs to run on pure ethanol derived from some renewable or alternate (think garbage waste) source and technology. But given the current mandates from our federal government over climate change and environmental issues and the "incentives" for Electric Vehicles (EVs) production, that may be wishful thinking. I can no longer buy an incandescent electric light bulb or the R12 refrigerant (well you can if you are willing to pay $200 a pound for it from some hoarded old stock) for my old works-very-well refrigerator any more due to the same environmental /climate change mandates! Go figure.... (You sound like ventriloquist Jeff Dunham`s puppet Walter, Captain Obvious)
 
981 Cayman S said:
Known in the land of Porsche as ‘Chalk’ or ‘Crayon’ & can be found in your local home center paint aisle in the can labeled ’Battleship Gray’
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Those of us of a certain age all went to high school with someone who got their hot rod to the primer stage, and then never got around to painting it. That`s what I`m reminded of when I see one of those cars.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Those of us of a certain age all went to high school with someone who got their hot rod to the primer stage, and then never got around to painting it. That`s what I`m reminded of when I see one of those cars.
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Heck, in High School the primered panel was nearly a badge of honor marking the owner as a ‘car guy’! Right up until you masked off the entire car except for a tiny part of the windshield, drove it to the local Earl Scheib and rolled out 8hrs later w your “No ups, no extras” $99 paint job!

1986 Earl Scheib commercial - YouTube


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
That was my friend`s catch phrase (among many) "no ups, no extras!" He painted his himself, in high school auto shop. However, we knew where the closest Earl Scheib was.
 
Then there are names for these colors, like Honda`s battleship grey: Urban Grey Pearl. OKaaaaay????!!!!!
I guess it gives vehicle manufacturer`s marketing department something to do and come up with a "catch color name" to appeal and sell to perspective customers.

One color that I do need to mention is Chevrolet`s Black Cherry Metallic. It`s one of those colors that looks "different" in different light brightness or viewing angles. Might look black, might look dark red, might look dark brown depending on the viewing angles and ambient lighting brightness and "temperature" (color hue). Some other manufacturer`s may call this color Root Beer. Not my choice, but a nice option for some who likes this alternate color.

I dislike Silver Metallic because of what was mentioned by Setec above: it lacks the "pop" that makes a vehicle stand out and the impression of lack of creativity.
That said, ANY Mercedes-Benz vehicle (the half-a-car Smart car excluded!) in silver just stands out to me as being "regal and dignified". I also think that any detailer who CAN make silver "pop" is worth his salt. Then again, sometimes it is the vehicle the silver is on, like a M-B or Porsche or Ferrari or Rolls-Royce.

AND speaking of detailing vehicle colors, remember when it was discussed in this forum should a detailer charge more for detailing black? Some do, but I think the "better" detailers consensus was that attention detail was given to ALL colors and it was more about the exterior paint-and-trim`s condition than the color. I still think it takes a little more "finesse" (right pad and right polish) and time to make black look perfect. AND don`t even go there about rock-hard ceramic black of some M-B`s or the ultra-soft black of some BMW`s Jet Black or chasing the micro-marring on a self-healing black paint offered on certain Infinity`s. I`ve only worked on ONE black M-B and it was in pretty great shape before I started. I cannot imagine what correcting and polishing it is like for a Jet Black BMW or a self-healing Infinity.
 
I don`t know how similar that Chevrolet color is to a Cadillac color from some years ago that had some sort of black cherry name like that. If I remember it looked black in overcast and only got that purply color when the sun was on it.

One other thing, it seems to me, is that there are a lot less color options in any given year, like it seems there are only 5 or 6 or 7 choices, where years ago I thought there would be 10 or 12.
 
First off, I`ll admit to being a hypocrite. We own a white car... Now that`s out of the way.

I don`t get the color`s these days. Look across any highway traffic jam or large parking lot and it`s just a sea of monochrome; black, gray, silver, white. Boring. I`m also not a fan of the army green/tan or the battleship/fighter plane gray. A long military career probably did me in there, I just want a little variety and "spice" in my car colors. While a color, I`m also not a fan of the non-metalic blues like Toyota`s Neptune Blue or the baby blue on the Hyundai N cars.

As for stuff I do like, Mazda`s Soul Red; some of the metallic blues from Subaru, Ford, and Acura/Honda`s; the dark green and maroon from Genesis, and you can`t ignore some of the classic colors like Guards Red from Porsche. Some of the matte or "frozen colors" look pretty good, but IMO you need a special car to really pull it off.
 
Growing up, my dad had a `65 Corvette Stingray in Nassau Blue. I love metallic blues of all sorts. As for what I own, Silver, Meteor Gray, Rosso Corsa. The Rosso Corsa is because my father`d probably disown me if I went with Titanio Grigio or TDF Blu.

As for trends, everything here in NJ is Black, White, or Silver. I took the red car to my nephew`s soccer game and it was the only car that wasn`t one of those three in the lot out of over 100, stood out like a sore thumb. I love metallics and pearls. I feel like they really add to the curves and lines on vehicles. I`m not really digging the matte look.
 
The primer grey color is the worst to me. I just don`t like it and I think it will age like metallic pea did. Speaking of metallic, I want some of the late 80s and 90s cherry red and forest greens to come back.

Also annoying that white costs extra now.
 
Ok, while we`re at it, I hate black wheels. There, I said it.

I associate black wheels with steel wheels without a hubcap (or police cars with steelies and the little pie-plate hubcap over the lugs). Wheels are supposed to be silver/gray/shiny metal color (chrome, etc.). Some of this thinking could be due to my advanced age as noted earlier in the thread, I know you young guys love your black wheels.

And since I`m still going, not really a fan of the gun-metal gray...to me that`s "let`s get wheels that look like silver ones with brake dust on them so no one will know whether I keep my wheels clean" which is kind of antithetical to an Autopian mindset.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Ok, while we`re at it, I hate black wheels. There, I said it.

I associate black wheels with steel wheels without a hubcap (or police cars with steelies and the little pie-plate hubcap over the lugs). Wheels are supposed to be silver/gray/shiny metal color (chrome, etc.). Some of this thinking could be due to my advanced age as noted earlier in the thread, I know you young guys love your black wheels.

And since I`m still going, not really a fan of the gun-metal gray...to me that`s "let`s get wheels that look like silver ones with brake dust on them so no one will know whether I keep my wheels clean" which is kind of antithetical to an Autopian mindset.
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Was never on the black wheels thing myself either. I associate black wheels to winter rims. Half the year, then take them off for the summer months for brighter rims.
 
I’m not a fan of them either but it seems more and more these days if you want a new car, they come with them. My dad has them and so does my friend. The salesman said they have them so they don’t have to be cleaned. I said I’m going to clean them any way.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Ok, while we`re at it, I hate black wheels. There, I said it.

I associate black wheels with steel wheels without a hubcap (or police cars with steelies and the little pie-plate hubcap over the lugs). Wheels are supposed to be silver/gray/shiny metal color (chrome, etc.). Some of this thinking could be due to my advanced age as noted earlier in the thread, I know you young guys love your black wheels.
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I hate them too! From more than a few feet away, it just looks like an empty hole in each wheel well of the car. If they don`t have colored calipers there is nothing to see but a dark void. Even with a nicely styled wheel, you can`t see really see it because it just blends into the black background of the wheel well.

And since I`m still going, not really a fan of the gun-metal gray...to me that`s "let`s get wheels that look like silver ones with brake dust on them so no one will know whether I keep my wheels clean" which is kind of antithetical to an Autopian mindset.
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I can see that with some which might be totally matte, but with the shiny painted ones or the satin, they don`t hide brake dust at all. My current OEM wheels are a gunmetal satin and I had a previous car with aftermarket sating pewter/gunmetal gray wheels. Brake dust stood out pretty clearly on both of them. Nothing like silver, hyper-silver, or diamond cut aluminum, but it was very obvious when they got dusty.

For my current car I`m looking at some which are gray or brozne AND shiny clear coated! No hiding brake dust and dirt with those.

Since we`re having a confessions... I hate chrome wheels on any car built after 1975...

Bill D said:
I’m not a fan of them either but it seems more and more these days if you want a new car, they come with them. My dad has them and so does my friend. The salesman said they have them so they don’t have to be cleaned.
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I find that theory hard to believe. The ones I see which are highly neglected are every bit as bad as a silve wheel. A silver wheel turns grey and black, while a black wheel turns this nasty dirt-brown/rusty color as the brake dust builds up. To make matters worse, the painted black rims, seem to have really soft paint that scratches REALLY easy. I`ve noticed several GM vehicles with painted black wheels which obviously see a lot of automated car washes and those wheels look almost gray they are so swirled out.
 
Desertnate said:
Since we`re having a confessions... I hate chrome wheels on any car built after 1975...
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I was in a hurry and I really shouldn`t have used the word chrome, I have a car with the GM "high-polish clear" wheels, which is clearcoated aluminum, that`s really the look I prefer, over silver, gray, etc.

EDIT: I don`t know what I`m talking about, my other car has gray/silver wheels, and they are fine, I guess it depends on the car and color.
 
Heh heh, "everything old is new again", huh?

Back in the `50s, Ian Fleming got the idea for Bond`s old (sorta ratrod) Bentley from a pal who painted his souped-up one with old Royal Navy (literally) Battleship Gray paint. I followed suit by using a Flattener in the gray paint of an early project car since gray primer was too porous for my taste.
 
That Smoke Show gray is not my cup of tea. To each, his own. Some of the best colors I`ve seen were the old "Firemist" Cadillac colors.
 
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