Colour maketh the car | Six of the Best
We all know that the wrong shade of paint can ruin a car - but what about the right one?
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio GTAm, 2022, 7k, £196,900
You may recall that last year Six of the Best ambled its way through iconic car colours, and duly lit the forum touch paper on the subject. Colour, perhaps more than anything else, is a very subjective quality, and while there are some combinations (much like the ones we covered back in September) that are considered classic, many others can only be judged by the eye of the beholder - especially when they’re paint to sample commissions. Here then is rundown of some lesser-seen options then, starting with this show-stopping two-tone Lipari Ochre and Silverstone 1972 Livery Giulia GTAm. Kudos to whomever spec’d it because a) the limited edition model illustrates exactly what we’re talking about and b) it qualifies as a total visual riot whether you like it or not. For the record, we’re in the former camp - and that’s because we know from firsthand experience that the car underneath carries off the flamboyance appearance, and then some.
McLaren 750S Spider, 2024, 920 miles, £274,950
Of course, there’s also a lot to be said for going in the opposite direction - especially when it comes to supercars, which tend to err toward look-at-me paint jobs as a matter of course. Nardo grey is a great example of the sort of colour that people either love, or love to hate. If you’re on the former side of the fence, a McLaren 750S Spider - unquestionably one of the great cars of the 21st century and the twilight of the mechanical age - looks fabulous in its MSO-commissioned finery; if on the latter, the idea of spending more than a quarter of a million quid on the sort of primer a Royal Navy matelot would recognise is probably not one to dwell on. Again though, someone somewhere paid extra for it - and someone somewhere will consider it one of many good reasons to meet the extravagant asking price for a second time.
Aston Martin DB7, 1997, 70k, PH Auction
Which isn’t to suggest that great paint only comes at great cost: check out this Suffolk Red DB7 destined to go under the PH hammer this coming Wednesday. Like most prestige cars, Aston’s ’90-era GT is typically seen in darker colours - or silver or a patriotic shade of green. Probably it is for this reason that the car looks unexpectedly splendid in a shade that looks not unlike Porsche’s Guards Red. Additionally, it’s the five-speed manual with a pleasingly reasonable number of miles on the clock and has been with the same owner now for the past 23 years. With Valhalla pending, Aston is on the cusp of glorious new things this year - making the DB7 a lovely looking and very cost-effective way of enjoying where it’s come from.
Bentley GT Speed, 2023, 6k, £182,000
Great colour brings great responsibility when it comes to the tricky business of naming a new shade - not least because you have to compete with classics like ‘Oak Green’ that are destined to trip off the tongue for as long as there are tongues around to trip off. It is therefore disappointing to note that the vendor for this wonderfully yellow Continental GT has failed to tell us what name Bentley has bestowed on the colour (we think it might be Monaco, but welcome clarification below). Either way, much like the DB7, the visual impact of it on so much restrained styling is considerable - doubly so when it is repeated inside. A guaranteed head-turner for all the right reasons.
Porsche 911 (991) GT3 RS, 2019, 24k, £169,995
If any car lends itself to the faddish world of personalisation, it’s the Porsche 911. We count ourselves among its biggest fans, but even we are willing to concede that some generations of the world’s most prominent rear-engined sports car do tend to look alike. Consequently, the business of picking out a non-standard shade of paint is a substantial one, and interesting personal choices proliferate in the classifieds - not least this 991 GT3 RS, which (courtesy of Litchfield Motors) has gone from being a very sober GT Silver to a dazzling Ferrari Blu Corsa. The transformation in this case was achieved using Paint Protection Spray, which forms a seamless plastic film when applied. The benefits? It can be peeled off without leaving a mark if you fancy a change. Double bubble!
Lamborghini Huracan STO, 2022, 88 miles, £290,000
Let’s end with a personal favourite. Black is not usually associated with the thrilling end of the colour spectrum - and it’s true that a preference for blending in has put hearses of all shapes and sizes on British road - but in the right place it can leave an indelible mark. Take this Huracan STO in lustrous Nero Noctis. The car in question is fantastic to drive (and listen to) but it’s also a lot to look at in the flesh thanks to the bodywork addenda required to substantially improve the standard model's aerodynamics. But in black, offset perfectly by those sublime 20-inch monoblock wheels, it all comes together in a way that unites the sum of its parts. In other words, with the right eyes, an already phenomenally good car is made to seem perfect.
911 looks nice but not with that crappy spray plastic paint. Everything else is simply the worst choice out of every other colour available for that particular car. Poor choices gents.
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