Car Colors: Answer me a question.....if you can!

[yaktown]

There are sites where you can see available paint colors for car models by year. For example:

http://automotivemileposts.com/cadil...t1971cadi.html

One way to see other years is to update the year in the URL, ex.:

http://automotivemileposts.com/cadil...t1969cadi.html

They don't have every year, but they have many.

Another good website is paintref.com

Yellow cars make terrible getaway vehicles ;-)

[oladub]

When Tesla introduced its Model 3, black was standard with all other colors being $1,000 more. There was a lot of excitement about the Model 3 being marketed for $35,000. I took the $1,000 cost for all other colors to be a sign of bad faith. If Tesla charged $1,000 of any other color, one can only imagine what Tesla was going to charge for sending a mechanic to one's driveway once the warranty ran out.

Note: Tesla changed its free color to white in 2019.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

As someone interested classic cars from
the late 50’s through the 60’s, I find the current white/silver/gray/black trend to be utterly depressing.

I’ve had four greens, four reds, and two whites, notwithstanding the fact that blue is my favorite color.

Oh, and one white over coral ‘55 Nash Rambler.

[Kathleen]

I seem to recall hearing that red cars get more stops and tickets.

Driving a red car for nearly 25 years, I can say that I haven't been pulled over any more often than when I drove my previous models in silver, off-white, or green.

[bust]

At the risk of being again accused of setting up a soapbox, I humbly suggest it's not as much the color of the car that matters as it is the color of....

My opinion is based on self-collected unscientific empirical data. I grew up in Grosse Pointe.

[Meddle]

Seems Lucerne Blue isn't an option anymore, eh Ray?

[bust]

I’ve had four greens, four reds, and two whites, notwithstanding the fact that blue is my favorite color.

Oh, and one white over coral ‘55 Nash Rambler.

That beats mine by a long shot.
My first car was a 1980 Mustang hatchback. Yeah Ghia, but so?? 1980.
It was old, discredited, already then.
I bought it at age 15, from money I made shoveling snow, cleaning gutters, mowing lawns, raking leaves, and collecting newspapers I'd haul to a recycling center on Groesbeck.
I could push it past the limits of the speedometer, but what an a-hole I was to risk that.
Older, much wiser, I want a crossover.
Not sure exactly when, but sometime after my fourth bicycle was stolen, I gave up on bikes. At least where we've lived.
Maybe since exactly when I realized it was stolen, and evaluated the cost.
Haven't tried in the new neighborhood-- theft can't be as bad. But the drivers??
More importantly: Now I'm a parent, and we live where biking is unsafe.
Our priorities?
We'd pick it back up in an instant if we moved back to Grosse Pointe.

[Jimaz]

He said he wants black? How black?

Spraying a Car in the WORLD'S BLACKEST Paint [[Darker than Vanta Black?)

It doesn't seem practical if it's water soluble. What about rain?

Go full screen for the reveal.

Here's a followup with stars in the paint: Spraying a HyperShift Over Musou Black [[The World's Blackest Paint).

[Ray1936]

Blue and Michigan+UAW-made Enclave here. I seem to recall hearing that red cars get more stops and tickets. Ray, how about it?

Naw, in trying to recollect, a car brand or color did not have anything to catch my attention. Maybe a junker car caused me to look for something like no brake light, but I think red cars just made me a bit envious. Pretty color; sad that they are so scarce any more. Except for the fire chief, of course. [[Ah! Maybe that was why!)

[Ray1936]

Seems Lucerne Blue isn't an option anymore, eh Ray?

My present ride is a deep blue. But it's four years old and I'm getting the itch to visit a dealership. Damn car advertisers, anyway.

[bust]

Books don't have ads, unless they're comics.
Comic book ads are among the worst.
At least Sea Monkeys are cheap and harmless.
Better than whatever our options wherever else.
The more costly the ad the more likely it's not true.

[Henry Whalley]

Mao suits come in gray, olive or blue. And complaining about it is bad for one's health.

[Onthe405]

I know this will get slammed for being sexist but you can track this phenomenon to the rise or women in the auto industry and their influence.

You're kidding, right?

Out of deeply ingrained homophobia, men are the ones who voluntarily restrict themselves within a tiny conformist spectrum of color/fashion/style. Anything too colorful or the least bit creative is now considered "gay".

Today, any man that would dare to violate the code by wearing a pair of shorts that might expose a bit of thigh is considered "flamboyantly effeminate" and illicit chuckles. Hell, the Archie Bunker era of 50 years ago was more open-minded than it is today. A young guy driving a VW bug in the 70s was considered status quo. Imagine the kind of taunting a young man has to endure driving a similar vehicle nowadays?

[Hornwrecker]

Did a search to see if I could find any stats about this, and this page turned up. Seems to confirm what everyone has been posting. About 75% of cars on the road are gray scale, with red and blue being both around 10%.

https://www.iseecars.com/most-popular-car-colors-study

[Lowell]

Driving a red car for nearly 25 years, I can say that I haven't been pulled over any more often than when I drove my previous models in silver, off-white, or green.

That doesn't count because we all know you are a Sainte.

[p1acebo]

Did a search to see if I could find any stats about this, and this page turned up. Seems to confirm what everyone has been posting. About 75% of cars on the road are gray scale, with red and blue being both around 10%.

https://www.iseecars.com/most-popular-car-colors-study

Doesn't it have something to do with the fact that grey and silver hide dirt well and don't have to be cleaned as much?

[Eber Brock Ward]

The primary reason for this is driven by dealerships, who want to do spot deliveries on cars, where you take the car home the same day.

Very few consumers are against greyscale cars and are more likely to take one home the same day, which prevents the person from "thinking it over" and changing their mind or anything like that.

Similar reasoning is also why you see a lot of dealer promotions which require you to take a car from dealer stock, rather than special order or dealer trade with another dealership. Dealership ownership and management wants a SURE sale on the board NOW, rather than a potential sale down the road.

[EGrant]

Anecdotally, the cars that I am interested don't really come in interesting colors. When looking for a typical commuter sedan, most of the "vibrant" color options are often dark red, navy blue or gold, which screams "dull" to me. So I opt for black, metallic or gray. Heck, James Bond drives cars with that color!

It seems like sportscars and trucks come in actual bold colors like red, yellow or orange, but not so much when looking at the average car/crossover.

[Richard]

It may boil down to economics in mass production,Without looking I paid between $1800 to $2100 extra for red on a 2019 F250.

In the automotive paint world any paint with red pigments is way more expensive then base colors such as white.

Most people that I know anyways seem to pick colors based on what shows dirt the least.

[p1acebo]

Anecdotally, the cars that I am interested don't really come in interesting colors. When looking for a typical commuter sedan, most of the "vibrant" color options are often dark red, navy blue or gold, which screams "dull" to me. So I opt for black, metallic or gray. Heck, James Bond drives cars with that color!

It seems like sportscars and trucks come in actual bold colors like red, yellow or orange, but not so much when looking at the average car/crossover.

Black always looks good though :P

[One Shot]

Its true that red paint is typically expensive. It also covers poorly so it requires more. The candy red on Ford products [[ and some other makes) is what is referred to as a 3 stage, tint coat, or tri-coat paint. Its an extra coat of color that adds to the effect of the paint. Its expensive and hard to match if you have a fender bender.
The expensive pigments are limited to exotic colors always. Some rather normal colors contain ingredients that are expensive. There is a grey on the new Ford trucks that has a metallic in it. That metallic ingredient makes the a paint that is almost $20/oz. Normal colors range from $3-6 per oz.
The pastels of the 50's with two and three tone paint jobs were really cool. The 60-70's Mopars had some wild colors as do they today!

[goggomobil]

The costs involved with offering the endless possible combinations of trim levels, paint and fabric combinations of the 1960s was substantial. Interior panels are different for two and four door cars, wagons and convertibles. All of those door panels, headliners, dashboards, rear window shelves, carpets, etc., not only have to be on hand, but installed on the fly on a moving assembly line, per the build sheet. Multiply all of that by trim levels.

Offering far fewer colors resulted in more profits which, of course, were passed on to us so that we don't have to take out 72 month car loans or sign on to money toilets [[leases).

[Meddle]

I still to this day drive a '95 Taurus GL Wagon. It has age related problems but is one of the most versatile and useful cars I've ever had. Color is a deep burgundy/maroon. When I was looking, only three colors on this car looked decent. This red, a vivid blue and a deep green. The whites, blacks, greys, tans and lighter blues made it look completely different and less appealing.

Then there was Ford's Electric Blue available on some of the 2 and 4 door sedans.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Days gone by.

[Richard]

Days gone by.

Looks like a horse track parking lot with all of the high dollar cars back then,lots of caddi convertibles.

Look at the two tone pink convertible compared with its sister in what looks like a baby blue two isles in front of it.

Big difference in the way the front fenders are accented with the two tone.

Thats the difference in today’s cars,they have the body lines of a brick wall.