This article got my attention:
Why is grey the most popular car colour for the fifth year running? How subtler shades have dominated the market for a decade — and the reason brighter tones have fallen out of favour.
The reason, as any fule kno, is simple:
Consumers are concerned about a bright colour ‘driving down the resale value of their car’.
Which is fine, I guess. Certainly, if I were buying another car today, I might not accept that ghastly bronze-y color of a decade back — even if the thing was really cheap because of it.
The problem, of course, is that car colors can date a car, e.g.
Haven’t seen too many modern cars looking like that, have you? (I’m talking about the color, of course — although that applies to its styling too.)
And let’s be honest: as much as they are the boring same-ol’-same ol’, black, gray, white and silver cars do carry over the years (and even decades), whereas brown, bronze, “champagne” and so on do not.
The latest color craze I see nowadays is that ghastly “putty”- or “cement” gray:
Ugh. And the trend towards matte finishes should be halted by legislation.
Interestingly enough, there are non-bland colors that stay popular: red, yellow, dark blue and dark green (a.k.a. “British Racing Green”), but that really depends on the car, of course, e.g.
…but even I might draw the line at a purple Dino, especially if I had another choice:
Ah-ha! white and silver, just like the article suggests. But even for a Dino, I’d never take one of these:
…because, you see, I live in Texas — where the last thing you want is a black car which turns your car into an oven (against which the Dino’s puny lil’ Italian a/c unit stands no chance).
That’s not a problem they have in Britishland, of course.
Because when I buy a car, I make sure to buy things I think the next owner will like.
Precisely. The Brit thing has to do with leasing, which as any fule kno is simply a fancy name for “renting, but with a mileage restriction”. It was invented by bankers, of course.
When I see an SUV in that dark panzer grey color I think that there should be a WW2 German cross on the door. Last year I bought a used Miata in what a retired police officer friend called “arrest me” red. I’m too old to get in much trouble with that car and my one encounter with the police resulted in a laugh and a “slow down old timer” caution.
The German cross on grey would be amusing. Might attract a bit too much parking lot damage here in the depths of Seattle area idiocy, though.
Most of the Porsches that I’ve owned have been ” Ice Metallic ” OK — metal flake Silver – But also White and Speed Yellow ( that faded badly along the top of fenders ) . But the DMV insists that that they are all “Gray” , since they don’t list silver as a choice, so the “Most Popular ” statistic may be somewhat skewed.
And since Porches and Other brands can be ordered ” Paint to Sample ” or now Wrapped in custom graphics, the choices are now endless.
“Most of the Porsches that I’ve owned”… that ranks with “I’ve never been to Paris when it wasn’t raining.”
The last two trucks and one car I have bought used. Two were light gray or silver and the last one is dark gray. I buy the one with the features I want, best condition and the one I can afford. The last thing is color. I pick the least objectionable color.
Since 2002, I have had one green, one white, one black, two red, two silver and one dark gray car or truck.
The colors I find objectionable are the phlegm green, weird yellow. But they aren’t my cars so IDGAF.
JQ
I never understood the “muted” car color fad. I have a significant car collection and prefer the vibrant colors. Yellows, reds and plum crazy purple!
I just don’t fit with this current generation…
“I have a significant car collection…”
Let me introduce you to Reader GT3Ted.
For what it’s worth, my remarks in your earworm post are “awaiting moderation.” It is the youtube linkage?
Is that purple Dino named Barney? 😉
There’s no accounting for taste. I only buy used cars and generally pay no attention to the color, because I’m more concerned with condition, features, and price. But if I could change my current vehicle’s color to anything I wanted, I would choose the dark gray that Kim loathes. Gray is my favorite color, and I know how dull and boring that makes me, but I can’t help it. You don’t choose your favorite color; it chooses you.
I forgot to mention that when I buy a (used) car, I don’t give any thought to resale value. I drive a car until it falls apart, like the Bluesmobile in “The Blues Brothers.” The only resale value is whatever scrap value it has when I sell it to a junkyard. If I even do that. My last car was 22 years old when I replaced it, and I didn’t even bother with junk dealers; I donated it to a nonprofit. I presume they sold it for scrap. I was just happy that they didn’t charge me to send a tow truck and take it away.
“putty”- or “cement” gray was what my late BIL called ‘candy apple primer’.
In my life, I had a short lived habit of picking racing opponents without first finding out what I was going up against. The last time, I thought that metal flake purple thing was a VW with a kit car body. Nope. Before he went to Warp, I got close enough to see the ‘Dino’ badge on the back, and then he was gone. I told my Dad about it. He laughed about it. Live and learn.
Stay safe.
There are three colors that I tend to steer away from.
Black – because as our esteemed host has said, in summer they become veritable ovens. Black cars also show dirt and dings more than other colors. I don’t know why that is, but it is.
Gray, or silver – because in the rain, fog or twilight, they become the invisible car. There is a reason why the Navy paints their ships gray.
I’ve never understood the passion for black cars…Kim is right, and it gets hotter than Hell in Deep Southern Maryland, too. With 90% humidity on top of it.
Otherwise…I’ve heard that red cars attract cops. I had a red car once…and yes, it tended to be a ticket magnet. I’ve tended to silver after that, but had a BMW in a very fetching blue-gray.
Drove to a car gathering in the outskirts of Los Angeles, along its web of 4+ lane freeways in a metallic silver ’67 Ferrari 330GTC – this was in the Late-90’s.
Passed many other Fans of Enzo in their rides along the way.
After arriving at the event, several of my fellow Ferrari owners remarked that they thought it was a bit earie when I went by them in traffic, as they had not noticed me coming up behind them, and after getting 1 or 2 cars ahead how I just disappeared into the mass of traffic.
There is a positive about NOT driving a Racing Red Ferrari, and why the factory painted so many of the road-cars in non-racing colors – you do not always want to be the “center-of-attention”.
We travel in our ExpeditionVehicle, converted in 2003 from a 1996 Ford CF8000 commercial truck.
.
In the side-mirrors, neither of us can see any dark color sedan.
Gray — invisible.
Black — invisible, especially in shadows.
Dark anything (green blue camo…) — doesn’t exist.
All those colors blend into the color of pavement.
Sayonara.
.
So far, we only drove over one sedan.
Nobody hurt, but we ‘unstuck her and put her into the wall’.
.
An aside:
We also almost pulled a T-bone into a passing motorcyclist.
He was wearing his ‘letter’ jacket from uni, green body with tan sleeves.
Again, the word ‘invisible’ seems appropriate.