When did unpopular colours become popular?
Discussion
It's not that long ago that I was sat in a BMW dealers spewing out a new car and when I suggested white paintwork, the salesman said "white?, you will get hit on resale you know". A few years on and try finding a white Z4m coupe without paying a premium. In old cars, colours that were unloved are now commanding a premium. Magenta in Triumphs, Sahara Gold or pale blue in Porsches. Metalic browns etc.
It just goes to show, there is no such thing as a bad colour, just wrong time in people's taste cycle.
It just goes to show, there is no such thing as a bad colour, just wrong time in people's taste cycle.
TomR91 said:
Just trends I guess, Just buy black and be on the safe side 
Suppose its Like two tone cars, Fiat 500 just brought that back, not seen that for a fair while.
And Fiat with their 70's colour range too.Suppose its Like two tone cars, Fiat 500 just brought that back, not seen that for a fair while.
Huff said:
Yes, but white paint was always tasteless.
Will never forget stopping at a Chateau in Northern France in 2008, next to a brand new Ford Transit camper van - so new it had several stickers around its periphery...One of which - adjacent the driver's door - included the interesting words "Farbe: Fridge White"
.My dad had TWO new 205GTIs in white; the 'colour' didn't do them many visual favours in my view
.Huff said:
Yes, but white paint was always tasteless.
Do you mean tasteless or bad taste? The recent trend for white cars has become synonymous with wags and chavs but has a white e-type with a red interior ever been considered chavish. I certainly don't think a powder blue 356 with cream interior ever has. Girly maybe but not chavish. I remember a time when Magenta TR6s were being repainted red. Now Magenta is considered rare and desirable. The same is true in that s
tty brown metallic that you couldn't give BMWs away in but they are now sought after. I guess it is trends but I'm surprised myself how my personal preference changes. At one time I wouldn't have considered a brown car but I've got a feeling that that's what I'm going to go for.
I guess colour also has to be appropriate for the car. A lime green Mondeo is just plain wrong but a lime green Muira? Yes please.
I guess certain colours become too common such as a red TR6 is nothing special, just another red TR6 but a rare original colour then becomes desirable.
Re black, they say you only ever own 2 black cars. The first one because black looks so good in the showroom and you fall in love with it. You then buy one and realise its a b
d to keep looking good, you eventually sell it and get a low maintenance colour. A few years go by and you forget what a pain it is to keep looking good so you buy another. I've had 2 black cars - never again. Dave Hedgehog said:
no idea why white paint went out of fashion
vast rafts of iconic road and race cars from my yuth in the 80s where white
Whale Tail Cossie
MK1 Escort RS Turbo
Pug GTi
Astra MK1+2 GTE
RS200
and race cars
RS200
Group B quattro
Group B lancia
E30 M3 Tourer
Senna and Prosts Mclaren F1 car
etc
White cars went out in the 90's and 00's. Was this to do with every van being white? Police vehicles being white? Affluence and evryone wanting metallics? I dont know?vast rafts of iconic road and race cars from my yuth in the 80s where white
Whale Tail Cossie
MK1 Escort RS Turbo
Pug GTi
Astra MK1+2 GTE
RS200
and race cars
RS200
Group B quattro
Group B lancia
E30 M3 Tourer
Senna and Prosts Mclaren F1 car
etc
My 1989 mr2 was white, we ordered our 2001 mini in white and my 1991 mx5 was white also. But now its fashionable again, i am avoiding....... Not intentionally, it is just the way I am
I think white went out of fashion for three reasons
1 Saturation by the tuning industry
In the late 80's all the major tuning companies were knocking out masses of white cars. Usually with massive body kits (Zender, etc) and/or vast ICE installs. This filtered down to the high street and on to Essex where there were tens of thousands of white XR3 convertibles and RS1600i's. The whole thing disappered up it's own a*rse
2 Being used as fleet colour
Vauxhall used to sell fleet cars cheaper if they were in non-metallic red, white or blue. If you were allocated one of these, it was depressing. I was, twice. You knew that all the other reps knew your diry little secret.
3 Miami Vice
And rolled up sleeves.
1 Saturation by the tuning industry
In the late 80's all the major tuning companies were knocking out masses of white cars. Usually with massive body kits (Zender, etc) and/or vast ICE installs. This filtered down to the high street and on to Essex where there were tens of thousands of white XR3 convertibles and RS1600i's. The whole thing disappered up it's own a*rse
2 Being used as fleet colour
Vauxhall used to sell fleet cars cheaper if they were in non-metallic red, white or blue. If you were allocated one of these, it was depressing. I was, twice. You knew that all the other reps knew your diry little secret.
3 Miami Vice
And rolled up sleeves.
Andehh said:
IMO its because of the likes of Dubai etc having white cars due to the heat - practical reasons. When the money/residents floated back here they brought their trends with them.
I noticed that when I was working in Libya back in 2006, white cars everywhere but they looked good. Anything is better than silver. As soon as the A4's starting clearing up on the touring car front everyone bought silver in the UK, for far too long. Silver with silver and black interior. How exciting.
Huff said:
Yes, but white paint was always tasteless.
Historically, white was swerved in the UK as it was the colour for commercial vehicles from vans to hire cars and police cars and ambulances etc. Black was the colour of limousines so synonimous with 'having made it' which is why it has become popular in the big SUVs and then spread out.
What has probably helped white is more the trend for commercial vehicles to not stick to this colour.
ZOLLAR said:
White F430, quite nice IMO.
That just reminds me of the Chris Evans fleet - awful, really nasty. What possesses him to do it?As a previous poster said, it's just passing fads - we buy what we think we need to have. I'm old enough to remember platform shoes in the 70s. When the fashion was over, we all laughed like hell at how dumb we'd been, and now they're back in the shops and fashion monkeys are saying "oh look, I'll have to have some of them".
Don't forget - at some time in the future you'll have to sell that car. If the colour is no longer the fashion, you're gonna lose a pile.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff