The Allure of Period Colours

by James Kraus

Lord Brett Sinclair’s Bahama Yellow Aston Martin DBS in The Persuaders!, 1971

Ancient wisdom once held that in the vintage car market, red, white and black were the best colours for resale. However, as Bob Dylan once declared; The times they are a-changin’.

Early Porsche 911 collectors for example often seek out and pay a premium for the colours that made those cars unique to their time period: Signal Orange, Viper Green, Aubergine, Tangerine; even the more esoteric shades of Olive and Golden Green.

It takes a certain amount of self-confidence to choose out-of-the-mainstream colours. In the 60s, men had that self-confidence. Today, not so much. Nearly everyone buys contemporary automobiles in white, silver, grey, black, or if they are bit daring, dark blue. Of course, it does not help matters that few manufacturers offer much beyond this limited palette except for the ubiquitous red and the occasional highly saturated yellow. On a positive note, after an absence of nearly forty years, Porsche has just reintroduced Ivory to their roster, and the Fiat 500 and Mini occasionally exhibit interesting colouration.

The three decades from the 1950s through the 1970s each featured distinct automotive colours that succinctly captured the zeitgeist of their era. Sometimes the association occurred after the fact. I doubt that anyone in the 1950s for example would have suspected that pink cars (rare, even in-period) would come to be emblematic of the decade; nevertheless, that is what occurred. If a Hollywood director wants to evoke 1950s America, he invariably calls for a pink Cadillac or Edsel to grace the screen.

In the early 1950s, clear, crisp pastel colours were the order of the day. Pale green in particular was widely popular, being a favourite on Fiat 500’s and 600’s and the single most popular color in the U.S. in the early 1950s. Toward the later part of the decade, customers gravitated to more deeply saturated mid-tone colours including aqua, turquoise, salmon and coral red. These three shades, along with the aforementioned pink, became signature colours of the era.

Fiat 1100 103 in Verde Chiaro

1955 Ford Sunliner in Aquatone Blue

57 Dodge Custom Royal in Tropical Coral and Glacier White

Renault Dauphine in Vert Claire

Citroën ID 19 in Bleu Turquoise. Nuancier DS photo.

Volkswagen 1200 in Coral Red

The 1960s were a multifaceted decade with the early years representing a fairly abrupt (particularly in the U.S) renunciation of the automotive excesses of the late fifties. Not only did tailfins quickly retreat, so did the brighter mid-tonal colours. Pale and medium shades of turquoise, blue and green maintained their popularity, joined by pale beiges and cool yellows.

1962 Ford Thunderbird in Chalfonte Blue. Aqua blue was the defining colour of the late-50’s to mid-60′s period, frequently appearing in architecture, interior furnishings, apparel, automobiles and appliances. In a novel automotive application, the instrument panel of the Volvo P1800 featured aqua gauge faces from its inception in 1961 through 1969.

Porsche 912 in Champagne Yellow

1963 Studebaker Avanti R-1 in Green Mist Metallic

Volkswagen 1300 in Panama Beige. Beige was a popular perennial with BMW, Mercedes-Benz and VW buyers.

Volkswagen Type 34 Karmann Ghia in Pacific Blue. Note two-tone wheel with body-colour center used only on 1962-1963 models.

Lancia Fulvia Coupé in Azzurro Ponsacco. This jewel-tone teal blue perfectly captures the flavor of the mid-1960’s

In the middle of the decade, rich jewel-like blues and greens grew in prominence, while greys and beiges remained strong, particularly in Europe. In the latter years, yellows, ochres and oranges became ascendant and metallic gold became a popular choice for the first time.

One colour associated with the late 1960s in the U.S. was a golden reddish-bronze metallic. It began with Ford’s Chestnut of 1962-1963 and subsequently appeared on the Chrysler Turbine car, all production models of which were painted Turbine Bronze (Ford styling chief Elwood Engle had just moved to Chrysler.)

This was followed by Ford’s mid-year 1965 introduction of Emberglo, followed a few months later by Oldsmobile’s Autumn Bronze for the new Toronado, and Cadillac’s Ember Firemist. In the spring of 1966, Chrysler began offering Turbine Bronze on standard production models.

1967 Pontiac GTO in Signet Gold Metallic

Fiat 124 Spider in Giallo Colorado

NSU 1000 TT in Targa Orange

1966 Mustang GT Fastback in Emberglo Metallic

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado in Autumn Bronze Metallic

In the 1970s, enthusiasm for saturated colours remained, and earth-toned colours became ascendant: apple greens, browns, burnt oranges, and intense warm ochre yellows. In contrast to the pure tones popular in the 1950s and early 1960s, many of these shades increasingly contained additions of ochre, sienna or umber adding a burnt, earthy or muddy effect.

Browns became quite pervasive in the mid-70s and remained so for the rest of the decade. While attempts have periodically been made to bring back brown, to date they have not succeeded.

Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti in Verde Matese

Peugeot 504 Coupé in Brun Métalisée

Renault 5 TL in Orange. This was a typical 70’s warm “burnt” orange. Notice how it differs from the clear, cool orange of the NSU above.

Volkswagen Passat LS in Panama Brown

Audi 100 Coupé S in Corona Yellow. Note that this warm yellow contains a strong orangish brown component, marking it as a typical 70’s yellow in comparison to the cool 60’s yellows of the Porsche and Fiat shown above.

Buying a vintage car in a period-specific colour greatly heightens the nostalgic appeal of driving a piece of history. Below is a table of selected colours that are particularly evocative of their period, and often quite rare. It is by no means exhaustive.

Manufacturer	Decade	Model	Colour
Alfa Romeo	1950s-60s	Giulietta	Celeste Blue
BMC	1960s	Various	Fiesta Yellow
Chrysler (U.S.)	1967	Various	Medium Copper
	1967-68	Various	Turbine Bronze
	1969	Various	Bahama Yellow
	1970s	Various	Sub Lime
			Butterscotch/Bahama Yellow
			Panther Pink/Moulin Rouge
			Plum Crazy
Citroën	1950s	DS	Capucine
			Ecaille Blonde
			Bleu Turquoise
Fiat	1960s-70s	Various	Positano Yellow
Ford (U.S.)	1950s	Various	Coral Sand
	1962-63	Various	Peacock Blue
	1963	Various	Heritage Burgundy
	1964	Various	Samoan Coral
	1965-66	Various	Emberglo
	1967	Various	Burnt Amber
	1970s	Various	Grabber Blue
General Motors	1964	Buick	Coral Mist
	1964	Pontiac	Sunfire Red
	1965	Cadillac	Samoan Bronze
	1965-69	Various	WA3313 Yellow
	1965-70	Various	WA3307 Burgundy
	1966-67	Cadillac	Ember Firemist
	1968	Chevrolet	Corvette Bronze
Lamborghini	1960s-70s	Miura	Miura Green
			Miura Orange
			Miura Blue
Lincoln	1965-66	All	Russet
	1967	All	Aegean Bronze
Mercedes-Benz	1960s	All	DB270 Blue Green
			DB304 Horizon Blue
			DB140 Silver Grey
			DB463 Copper Metallic
			DB226 Moss Green
	1970s	All	DB504 English Red
			DB581 Inca Red
			DB406 Cayenne Orange
Porsche	1957-59	All	Glacier White (pale green)
	1960s	911-912	Bahama Yellow
			Golden Green
	1960s-70s	911-912	Burgundy
		911-912	Signal Yellow
		911-912-914	Tangerine
	1970s	911	Aubergine
		911-912	Lilac
		911-912-914	Signal Orange
		911	Rose Red
		911	Viper Green
		911	Leaf Green
		911	Jade Green
Saab	1970s	All	Amber Yellow
			Burnt Orange
Volkswagen	1960s	Beetle	Beryl Green
			Bahama Blue
			Sea Blue
			Java Green
		Beetle Cabrio	Yukon Yellow
	1968 1/2	Microbus	Arizona Yellow
	1970s	Beetle	Yukon Yellow
	1970s	Various	Clementine