Famous racing paint schemes on road cars

[EnglishTony]

Please forgive me if this has been done before.

Parked in the road outside my flat is a 2nd generation Renault Twingo, painted in Gulf colours. Which makes it look ridiculous I reckon. You can get away with Gulf colours (if you really must) on Porsches, McLarens, Astons and some Fords but not on a Renault surely? Or, thinking about it, that Fiat 500 I saw a couple of weeks back. Or the Mini last summer. The point being that Porsche, McLaren, Ford & Aston Martin have raced in these colours as works/semi-works teams wheras the others didn't. Might as well paint your Merc with Alitalia stripes or your Honda with Martini 1s. It just doesn't seem right.

Or am I completely wrong?

Edited by EnglishTony on Sunday 14th February 17:20

[Rawwr]

It needs to be a pretty special car to be able to get away with it. I know a couple of people who painted their Elises in the iconic Gulf livery. Utter gash.

[jayemm89]

If it's your car, and it's done well, do what you like.

That being said, I like cars with racing paint schemes to at least have some sporting ability.

In the 5 miles around me there's a Civic Jordan, and a Rover BRM.

[drivin_me_nuts]

What's the problem? Gulf or Martini on pretty much anything look great. Other than a twizzy that is, or a bicycle. Mind you, a cycle in gulf racing colours would probably cause a eco wotsit's head to implode.

Could be worse, I mean, just think about how many 320 dreasels barge and grind their greasy rings up and down the highways of this green and pleasant land sporting M badges on their RSes... yes Mr Audi 2.0tdi, I'm also looking at you...

Now't wrong with a little bit of colour in life.

[ambuletz]

what about this? Mazda did it and sold it.

[HustleRussell]

Gold leaf Elan acceptable

[CS Garth]

Not to my, err, personal taste but makes me smile that someone has the cojones to do it and if my son sees it and asks what it is then a good excuse to explain.

I think my personal favourite would be a Fiesta tricked out like a Texaco Cosworth - does such a car exist...

[MajorMantra]

I think y'all need to lighten up. Gulf colours are great. They make most cars look better. And funky paint jobs add variety to the world's dull grey tapestry. Would you rather everyone stuck to resale silver instead? Who gives a toss if the car deserves it?

[EnglishTony]

I once saw an XR4i in Texaco colours. It seemed deeply wrong.

As for the MX5 Le Mans thing - yes. Yes to Golf Leaf Elises too.

Edited by EnglishTony on Sunday 14th February 17:18

[Ace-T]

Seeing silly paint jobs like this makes me smile. I would rather see that than the current fad of too small tyres on wheels that are touching the arches because the suspension is lowered so much it looks utterly broken.

[Turn7]

HustleRussell said:

Gold leaf Elan acceptable

Saw a very lovely example of this on the M25 last weekend......

[Alucidnation]

It's going to be a long week.

[Riley Blue]

Like this?

[DrTre]

Usually looks naff on any car, but on the right car

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?h=0...

(not sure whether the Martini livery is pre or post the Gulf one)

[EnglishTony]

The Audi Quattro paint job looks fine on the S3 but it wouldn't suit, for example, a Polo despite being built by the same company.
Nor would it suit an A2.

[saaby93]

EnglishTony said:

The Audi Quattro paint job looks fine on the S3

Is that a quattro at the back or a straight audi coupe

[carl_w]

If you're going to paint a Twingo like a rally car it should be something like this:

[hufggfg]

While maybe not to my personal tastes, I entirely agree with this:

drivin_me_nuts said:

Could be worse, I mean, just think about how many 320 dreasels barge and grind their greasy rings up and down the highways of this green and pleasant land sporting M badges on their RSes... yes Mr Audi 2.0tdi, I'm also looking at you...

Now't wrong with a little bit of colour in life.

I'd much rather see people paint cars in quite frankly any colour they want if it makes them happy, rather than do things purely due to the image they are trying to express to other people (M badges, HUGE wheels, anything stanced). For that matter, I think painting your car in a classic racing livery puts out a much better image (I like car racing) than adding M badges (I want you to think I have more money than I do).

[V8RX7]

Only looks good on a replica of the racing car IMO.

IE if your model of car raced in a design - that's ok - anything else isn't.

[chevronb37]

I find the whole Gulf on anything; Le Mans stickers thing really naff. I realise it's heresy to say on here though.