Tasco Turquoise. Fiesta Red. Buttercup Yellow. Hawaiian Blue. Alaskan Gold.
No, they’re not the street names of the latest in hipster college kid hallucinogenics. They’re the line up of paint colors for the Big Three American Automakers of the 1950’s and ‘60s, and they’re dinosaurs.
In the old world of big fins, aggressive chrome, and minutia gas mileage, the look of a gypsy red and shoreline beige two-tone Chevy Bel Air fits right in.
Ford’s marquee Mustang of the mid-1960s came in Dynasty Green, Skylight Blue, and Wimbleton White, just to name a few. Interior leather and convertible tops offered respite from single tone body hues, and the garages of daily drivers and family vans of suburban America were festooned in colors like Yosemite Yellow, Cote D’Azure Blue, and Tuxedo Velvet Black. It was an auto industry where style ruled and color was king.
But somewhere, in between the oil embargoes of the 1970s that squashed design in day long gas lines, and the desperate push for futuristic styles of the early 2000s, those colored disappeared. Instead, they’ve been replaced with the most basics of silvers, beiges, grays, and blacks – and what does that say about the future?
The auto industry now is brilliant. With models like the Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S, and new BMW M4, this generation of cars has taken design, innovation, and speed to the next level. And they should be proud of it.
But while the cars of yesterday came in colors for every rank of society, it seems like today’s palate is reserved for the Ferraris, McLarens, and Lamborghinis, cars unabashed in their madness, and unafraid of alienating their consumers. But in an ever increasingly global society, that claims to be more open minded and knowledgeable than any who’ve come before, that alienation might just be a myth.
Perhaps, in our desperate need to find the future of design, and the designs of the future, we’re pushing the future further and further away. Because car companies will never know what their consumers want if all they offer is black and beige, the occasional shimmery silver.
Bring back the Corinthian Whites, the Crescendo Greens, the Imperial Champagnes. Offer us the choice of two tone, metallic, or matte. Let the consumers decide between De Luxe Maroon Deep, Gunmetal Grey, and Bombardier Blue. Fill the streets and garages and school parking lots with cars that come in Frosty White, Dusty Orange or Adventure Gold. Throw parades in cars painted Bittersweet, Autumn Haze and Velasquez Silver, and people will cheer them on from the streets. Honestly, we’re ready for it.