Orphan Car Colours . . . . .

[Velocette]

In the UK car dealers use this term 'Orphan Colours' to describe cars that are very hard to sell, because people find the colour of the car unappealing or just downright ugly.

In the 70's there was a popular colour for furniture, fabrics and cars, a sort of yellow mixed with green, I called it 'Baby Shit' cos to me that's what it looked like, yet all over London I saw baby shit coloured cars.

I've passed on buying a few cars and pick ups here because of their colours, some might say, mmm maybe I'm a little too gay, I don't care, colour is important. Actually whats really important is the SHADE of the colour, I had a Landrover Safari many years ago, it was two tone, a light blue body and a cream roof, and it was one handsome vehicle, but normally I would never buy a blue car.

Probably the one of the worst is Maroon, or chestnut, followed by Green (I know BRG can look good, but getting the right shade is not easy)

Just remembered another pet hate, the dreaded Gold paint, in all it's horrendous shades, I know it's a cultural thing here to make things look like Temples, or gold bars, it's an Asian and Arab thing, also rich Africans love it. I know in London many wealthy people put Gold trimmings on their Rollers or whatever . . .aaarrrgghhh. Probably got gold plated taps in the lav too.

I can live with White, which comes in many shades, although it can look cheap, but in this climate it's a winner, but I prefer a good shade of cream, with either Black or Red leather seats.

Black is fine, again many shades, some with lots of blue, hard to keep looking clean, and again maybe too hot for Thailand.

Many shades of Grey available too, looks ok, but again holds the heat like Black.

Silver is always acceptable, common place but a good compromise .

Maybe it's better to be colour blind, many car owners are, and seem quite happy driving around in their 'Orphan Colour' cars. Lucky people.

[WarpSpeed]

Yep, Purple doesn't do it for me nor does cream interiors ...Love black or dark blue with a nice burled walnut interior and black leather, rich as hell looking, a sun roof takes care of the heat issue especially if it's a venting one, like white interior with a nice black burled walnut and chrome trim too but too hard to keep nice, and white outside to bland, boring and common..

I know the 'baby doo' color you're talking about, that's exactly how I described it too they also painted the inside of a lot of hospitals that color too so if you weren't sick when you went in you would be when you got there ..

Edited February 27, 2011 by WarpSpeed

[crazyswede]

If ppl. who buy those cars are colourblind what´s wrong with the designers in the car industry?

I remember 3 awful colours by Mercedes Benz , late 1970 to mid 1980´s , the colour was ORANGE , my father had a 300D and i hated it , then the 190 serie came , MACHINE GRAY was one and OLD CHOCOLAT was another .. my gues is they gave huge discount on those cars or they would never been sold!

Edited February 27, 2011 by metisdead
Removed bold font.

[transam]

Must admit that Silver is a no-no.

Most Mercs, and here in LOS trucks are Silver. When l bought my ride here, there were rows of Silver trucks, they did their best to sell me a BLOODY silver ride but failed. What is it about Silver, if you have a prang and repaired it sticks out a mile cos the painter can't colour match..

[beano2274]

Mitsubishi had that Baby blue colour years ago, it was horrendous.

During my time in the forces, one guy painted his old Mercedes, green and black to camouflage it, all it did was make it stand out more.

[krading]

" What is it about Silver, if you have a prang and repaired it sticks out a mile cos the painter can't colour match."

Good if your buying second hand.

As for green, my MIL in Oz told me she hated green so I bought a green car just to piss her off.

It worked too.

[transam]

" What is it about Silver, if you have a prang and repaired it sticks out a mile cos the painter can't colour match."

Good if your buying second hand.

As for green, my MIL in Oz told me she hated green so I bought a green car just to piss her off.

It worked too.

And a green motor is meant to be unlucky, in your case not so.

[Flatouthruthefog]

<br />Must admit that Silver is a no-no.<br /> Most Mercs, and here in LOS trucks are Silver. When l bought my ride here, there were rows of Silver trucks, they did their best to sell me a BLOODY silver ride but failed. What is it about Silver, if you have a prang and repaired it sticks out a mile cos the painter can't colour match.<img src='http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/huh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />.<br />

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A long term Thai motoring friend (or he was, until I showed no interest in marrying his divorced sister in law - and he dropped me like a stone!) revealed to me that:

"Thai men think of their cars as their ancestors thought of their elephants. It is a prestigious possesion and therefore should be gray or silver."

Well, they are welcome to all that. But I welcome this debate on colour.

Most of we Brits dislike green on a car and DO feel it's unlucky. Fewer green cars are sold in UK than any other comparable market.

The French knew this pre WW2 when they began to rule world motorsport and dictated (not suggested!) that every nation in Grand Prix racing MUST have a national colour. They chose blue for themselves, red for Italy, gave Germany the choice of silver or white (??) and, knowing the British superstition, gave us green!!

By the time of the 50's, British drivers disliked this so strongly they insisted on other colours (notably white and yellow) to 'break up the bad luck of the green.' There is a theory that this is how racing 'stripes' came into being.

But, back to Thailand. Is black associated with power and aggression, as well as evil? Some of the most aggressive and dangerous driving I see on the Thai roads these days is perpetrated in black SUVs and pick-ups.

Anyone noticed this?

Personally, I am patriotic to UK as well as Thailand. I like red, white and blue.

[mca]

There's a couple of CLS Benzes I regularly see around Khon Kaen. One is the "basic" 350 but in black with a set of nice Brabus rims on and the other is the hot rod AMG55 version in that sort of burgundy colour. Now I know each to their own but the cheaper model looks a million times better then the AMG.

[WarpSpeed]

I have to say that this team has taken ownership of the "bad luck" green and discarded it's effects......

With help from Ford .......

Hmmmmm no green for this Astin though ??

[Sakeopete]

Mitsubishi had that Baby blue colour years ago, it was horrendous.

During my time in the forces, one guy painted his old Mercedes, green and black to camouflage it, all it did was make it stand out more.

True but I would kill to find a nice red Triton 4wd that hasn't been trashed by a Thai owner.