Lying here, coughing my brains out, I have more time than usual to contemplate the deep mysteries of life. Like why have car colors become so boring?
Think about it. What are our options? Take a look at any parking lot and this is what you’ll see. All pulled out of the same sock drawer of mismatched darks and lights. Pretty darn dull if you ask me.
There was a time when you could pick a car from nearly any color in the rainbow.
Like this ’68 Camero in 
Lime Green.
Or 
this sporty little ’69 GTO orange number.
Or how about a wispy sky blue
roadster?
Or this adorable pink little getup with the white top? 
Purple? Did somebody say purple?
St Paddy’s Day is coming up. How about kelly green
?
And, for those of us who couldn’t make up our minds,
we had two-tones. 
Highways looked like cheerful rows of skittles scooting along.
And since we Americans loved our open-tops, we could see into our fellow cars to check out their snappy interiors.
Like this dapper hounds tooth. 
Or this outrageous red!
And, it goes without saying, that back in these good ol’ days, you’d inevitably spy one of these coughing and sputtering down the road.
Oh, I think it’s me who’s coughing and sputtering. Time for a swig of codeine cough medicine and lights out. So I can continue to dream about my Technicolor cars, with bumpers that actually worked.
That’s a Copy good buddy. Over and out.
But before I konk out. What would you pick for a car color, if you could pick ANY color?
Me?… 
This little Austin in yellow would suit me just fine.
Well, when you start with a gray mini-van with fake wood paneling (brown) on the sides, you get all giddy about a neutral-but-SANE color like dusty green!
Visiting BIL in St Louis recently, they intro’d us to the game they play in the car – they yell Bingo when they see a yellow vehicle. And it can’t be a taxi or a bus or construction machinery. I immediately thought, “well you must not yell bingo very often” when they started shouting Bingo! and pointing. I’ll be darned if we didn’t see 2 dozen yellow vehicles in a 10 minute drive!
I just bought a new car last week, for the first time in nine years, and was really disappointed at the color options. Like you said, they look like my husband’s sock drawer. I at least wanted black, you know, because mini-vans are oh-so-much-cooler in black, but they didn’t even have that available. In another life I would just spray paint it like that VW bus you’ve got pictured…
I love bright red cars. Besides that I would have a pink car.
LOL!
It’s the same in Europe, so many boring grey cars driving by…but once in awhile you’ll see a bright red Ferrari fly by :)
My current drive is midnight blue. My last drive was a slightly different shade of deep blue. Before that was the first car I owned which was originally a white Volvo 245DL wagon with the teal interior. There must have been a bumper crop produced because there were always 6 of them in any parking lot so when it needed a paint job due to a hail storm we painted it a GM truck azure blue which coordinated well with the interior. I never lost it again. I really miss my Volvo; and they have better colors now.
I would love a deep cobalt blue, but my truck didn’t have that as an option. However, I did pick my truck out because of the name of the color-Salsa Red Pearl. I love salsa. Mmmm.
I am so boring; I think I’d still choose a dull, neutral color!
I love red cars. I know, I’m boring. But I just respond to them.
I also like yellow, and hunter green, and black.
Well, I might go all practical and choose a really bright color. Because brightly colored cars get in fewer accidents. :)
Fun post. I loved all the photos!
I have wondered this same thing. We had a salmon pink vw bus once…we also had a yellow one… and a blue one…we were the vw bus family.
I always wanted to get a red VW Bug (the original), paint a black stripe down the middle and add some dots.. with a plate LDYBUG
I have the car color I want — a gorgeous shade of blue that’s almost cobalt, but has a hint of purple in it.
AND, it was in the showroom that color — I didn’t have to get it custom-mixed.
Many dealers will let you order a custom color. Or, if you can’t get it at the dealer, if you find a body shop that specializes in paint jobs, you can get it that way.
VW has some really cool colors, though. The EOS has a lovely shade of powder blue, and there’s a jetta wagon in a color I call “ghost green” because it reminds me of Cape Cod mist.
Feel better soon!
I’m one of the boring folks. I bought a Honda Element for my dogs and picked a color that wouldn’t look dirty because 1) I never have been big on washing cars, and 2) the top of the Element is too high to reach even if I did wash my car on a regular basis.
The official name of the color is “Shoreline Mist.” I call it “Metallic Taupe.” I really liked the orange-ish color that was available for the first couple years of the Element, but opted for the not-that-dirty look.
In the early ’90s, I did have a “Rio Red” (bright) Honda Civic Si. That was a fun, fun car.
I always thought I would look smashing in a hunter green Jaguar. :) My current car is gold, which has grown on me quite a bit.
The bus is so fun!! I’d love to have a bus like that :)