When did colour fall out of fashion?

[Tamworthbay]

The same time we had to pay for fucking paint,what is that all about? Can I have my new car naked then? Fuckin £500-£800 sovs for paint. They all come down the same production lines.

it used to be to pressure you into getting a car in a standard colour and spec so it was easier at the factory, now they are all on an individual build sheet so it doesn't matter anyway. It's now just another way of keeping the headline price down. Buy a Mercedes for £6000, well that's the steering wheel sorted but anything else is an 'option'.

[Junkman]

The same time we had to pay for fucking paint,what is that all about? Can I have my new car naked then? Fuckin £500-£800 sovs for paint. They all come down the same production lines.

 

You know, VW, that honest and sincere non fascist corporation solemly interested in your health, run by the same State that brings you emissions legislation?

Well, when they launched the Up!, they were so keen to keep the sticker price of the base model under €10,000, that ALL available colours* cost extra!

[oldford]

My two, I like the blue on the Sierra - it looks quite bright in the right light, the factory tide line on the Cortina is how most of them ended up in the 90s.

 

 

 

[Eddie Honda]

You know, VW, that honest and sincere non fascist corporation solemly interested in your health, run by the same State that brings you emissions legislation?

Well back in the 1980s they used to milk the popularity of Mars Red by charging top wedge for it - it was dearer than metallic or black.

[Junkman]

I had a Granny Turnier in that Sierra blue.

 

 

Well, also had one in a non colour.

 

[Junkman]

Also had a 3.0 Si in Inca.

 

 

It had green tinted glass and a green interior to boot.
I always wondered, what kind of person had specced it that way.

BTW this is the very car. I don't think there were two of them.
 

[fordperv]

I can't really play this game my daily is black, it does have a red stripe though and it stands out

 

 

[Honey Badger]

We have been out looking at a new lease car for my wife with her car allowance and it's just a sea of Black, Silver, Dark grey and White.

 

We have left instructions at the Lexus garage that when they get one in that's red or blue to give us a call, till then we will wait for something that isn't in grey-scale.

[mercrocker]

I don't like all these modern jazzy colours.  Black, Grey or Fawn (if you are particularly flamboyant)  

 

That's all you should have.....

[fordperv]

My old kawasaki green s2 escort rs turbo

 

 

It went like stink

[EssDeeWon]

1987.  Those were the days.  Enjoy

 

[danthecapriman]

1987. Those were the days. Enjoy

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1td52J0DuY

Hey it's 4wheeledstool in his Cav at 2:26!

 

That's a really great video, loads of top notch chod everywhere. There's mk2 Transits all over the place, where did they all disappear to? Loads of Sierras and mk2 Granada's aswell.

It's such a shame the country's roads aren't like that anymore! It's so shit now, and the cars now are just faceless boring shit too. Oh for a time machine!

 

Edit: is that an early Toyota Landcruiser at 5:30? Must have been a real rarity even then.

 

Edit 2: interesting to see that jumping red and amber lights isn't just a modern phenomenon!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

A newish Seat LeonaLewis pulled up next to me as Tescrotes earlier - it was a metallic kermit green for those who used to watch The Muppets. I quite liked it, but not sure I'd have the nads to specifically choose the colour in the first place.

[Supernaut]

A newish Seat LeonaLewis pulled up next to me as Tescrotes earlier - it was a metallic kermit green for those who used to watch The Muppets. I quite liked it, but not sure I'd have the nads to specifically choose the colour in the first place.

 

Probably Java Green, like the A4 I used to own.

[Partridge]

I think the death of actual colour has a lot to do with fears of OMGDERPRECIATION. I think the war on colour start in the late '90s when people discovered (at the time when German cars were really becoming popular) that silver, grey and black cars tended to hold their value better, because it doesn't tend to date a car as much as red cars or bright blue ones for example. But they didn't have much choice as most Mercs and Beamers seemed to be finished in grey. I remember a Merc dealership in Eastleigh being an absolute carpet of silver and black when I was a kid. It makes sense because silver is Germany's version of BRG. Did you have to put a special order in if you wanted an actual colour? The amount of old silver E-Classes in Southampton will attest to that. The fucking things are everywhere, much like if you lift an old piece of wood you'll find the ground crawling with woodlice, if you visit a housing estate in Scumhampton you'll find it crawling with silver E220 Elegances...

 

I also remember reading an article in What Car in circa 2005 telling potential buyers of the new 5 series to "avoid wacky colours such as green" if they wanted their cars to hold their value. Green.

 

I suppose in a world where people keep cars for 18 months and then chop them in, while they're still worth actual money, it's inevitable. Avoiding having something the way you want it to keep the next person happy seems a bit sad to me, but there you go...It reminds of my Grandma who had all her walls Magnolia, so when she died the next people wouldn't have their eyes offended.

[Pillock]

Well back in the 1980s they used to milk the popularity of Mars Red by charging top wedge for it - it was dearer than metallic or black.

 

A myth, it seems.

In 1985, my ma bought a new Mars Red Polo C. She loved it and convinced at least two of her colleagues to get similar cars during the 80s, however she warned them that since she bought hers they'd started charging for that colour.

 

The dealer didn't know anything of this. I know one of them was a 1987 model as it had the larger reversing lamp  

[Junkman]

1987.  Those were the days.  Enjoy

 

 

Surprisingly little old chod out there. I mean, old in 1987. I bet the shiters were moaning a lot back then about the demise of 60s shite.

Also, did you notice that there were hardly any Minis?

Oh, and weren't those 80s people towards the end of the clip just way too 80s?

[Tamworthbay]

Ford Tibetan Gold and imperial red, the best colours ever made and neither of them grey, white or black.

[Skizzer]

Friend of mine had a company Audi in that vivid green metallic they did In the late 90s. When he changed jobs and gave it back, he got hit with a £3k+ bill from the lease company apparently because of the alleged difficulty they'd have in selling it on.

 

I haven't seen him in ages, but I suspect grey looked a lot more attractive after that.

 

So, what killed colourful cars was probably all the lease deals in the cheap consumer credit boom of 1997-2007.

[EssDeeWon]

Surprisingly little old chod out there. I mean, old in 1987. I bet the shiters were moaning a lot back then about the demise of 60s shite.

Also, did you notice that there were hardly any Minis?

Oh, and weren't those 80s people towards the end of the clip just way too 80s?

 

A lack of Mini's is always a good thing! I hate those awful little things anyway.

 

I guess a 20 year old motor in 1987 was deemed a right old banger where as now a 20 year old car isn't really as bad.

 

JM you are right in your observation, most cars are all 3 years old and under, lots of Ford Sierra's and Cavaliers, XR3i's etc on B, C and D plates

[Alusilber]

It's ironic that solid black is usually one of the few colours you don't have to pay extra for nowadays, when back in the 70s, you usually had to pay more for black (something to do with it showing up the orange peel more than other colours, was it?).

 

Personally, I think if all new cars had by law to be either white, AA yellow, Kermit green, dogknob red or Fisher-Price blue, then there would be a significant reduction in collisions. A car the colour of wet tarmac is just asking for someone to see you too late.

[For Fiats Sake]

London traffic isn't representative of the country though is it?

 

I remember my mate had an allegro, another a mk1 fester van (yellow with black vinyl roof), dad had a SD1, relatives had mk1 reno 5, citroen visa, rover p5, metro city, etc.  Used to regularly see reliants and even a blue invalid carriage.

[stormee]

Also had a 3.0 Si in Inca.

 

 

It had green tinted glass and a green interior to boot.

I always wondered, what kind of person had specced it that way.

BTW this is the very car. I don't think there were two of them.

 

Total geil!

[danthecapriman]

Given that video was shot in the Kensington area of London it's pretty much sure to be filled with what were then relatively new cars, I expect most were company cars.

 

Move out of town and it was a different story. I remember in the very late 80's and early 90's around where I lived there were loads of 70's bangers around still. Mk 3 Cortina's were very common still, a lot were in a right state by then too. A neighbour of my auntie and uncle had a 77/78 Capri mk2 for years, it was white with a brown interior and brown vinyl roof and it was awesome! My Grandad had a 78 Talbot Horizon, then an 83 Metro. My mum had an 83 Datsun Sunny coupe. There was even more old stuff in the council estate type areas too.

 

It's not really the same now, on my street I could count on one hand (excluding my cars!) the amount of 10+ year old cars. Almost all are 5 or 6 years old at most. Even in the council estate areas, most cars are less than 10 years old.

It seems that people can get cars and credit so much easier than they could so few people keep cars when they get old, regardless of wether or not there's even anything wrong with them.

[17-Coffees]

I blame the fact that to alot of people, cars are just white goods and the colour doesn't matter, and dealers wanting good 'resale value' for when it comes off finance in 3 years.

Aberdeen is essentially just a sea of black, white & grey. Depressing really, kinda like Aberdeen then I guess. 

 

That said, my Abarth is in black and that's a 65 reg...making me part of the problem. Ooop's...

[chaseracer]

Friend of mine had a company Audi in that vivid green metallic they did In the late 90s. When he changed jobs and gave it back, he got hit with a £3k+ bill from the lease company apparently because of the alleged difficulty they'd have in selling it on.

 

I hope he invited them very firmly to jog on.

[dugong]

A newish Seat LeonaLewis pulled up next to me as Tescrotes earlier - it was a metallic kermit green for those who used to watch The Muppets. I quite liked it, but not sure I'd have the nads to specifically choose the colour in the first place.

A friend of a friend spent £22k on a new lime green Leonard and had a shit fit because the dealership didn't fill the washer bottle up.

I'd have had mine in that colour had it been available but I liked the red and the price enough to buy mine (at just over a quarter the price - that's a damn expensive DSG gearbox and rock hard suspension she specified over mine).

[Eddie Honda]

A myth, it seems.

In 1985, my ma bought a new Mars Red Polo C. She loved it and convinced at least two of her colleagues to get similar cars during the 80s, however she warned them that since she bought hers they'd started charging for that colour.

 

The dealer didn't know anything of this. I know one of them was a 1987 model as it had the larger reversing lamp </vaggeek>

Well I'll concede the exact details (year/model/colour shade) may be wrong, but there is evidence out there of them being chiselling bastards for popular colour choices.

 

Exhibit A: https://books.google.ie/books?id=hFeOUgc0PtcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PT30#v=onepage&q&f=false (bottom of page) "Careful scrutiny of a brochure's small print revealed that Volkswagen's Scrooge-like accountants not only demanded more money for metallic options, but also for 'sun colours'"

 

Exhibit B: 1980 VW Golf brouchure

 

Look at the colour combination table and not which colours are marked as "special" and incur more cost.

[Junkman]

Well back in the 1980s they used to milk the popularity of Mars Red by charging top wedge for it - it was dearer than metallic or black.

 

But back then at least a few non extra pay colours were available. Not so on the base model Up!. ALL colours on that cost extra.

A business practise, that would see me in prison quickly, if I tried.

 

However, charging extra even for some non metallic colours was customary back then. Renault also charged extra for 'safety colours'.

I think it was justified by them requiring an extra layer of some special yellow basecoat to fully develop their brightness.

[sierraman]

The shitter the colour the better for me. Resale isn't an issue and if the fact it's beige puts someone off a £1000 car then they are silly bastards.