Black, Silver, Black, Silver...

[poliphilo]

All cars look alike. 

Our car is having trouble with its cat converter, so we took it to Carcraft.  While they were dealing  with it, we walked up and down the gleaming lines of merchandise on their vast forecourt.

They sell all sorts, all makes. And a Ford  looks like a Mercedes looks like a Dhaitsu.

Yes, I know there are fiddly little differences of detail and trim, but basically they all have the same smoothly rounded aerodynamic shape. 

And a very nice shape it is too. Like a baked bean on wheels. 

But wouldn't it be nice if there was a bit more variety?

And a greater range of colours.  Gosh, what serious, sober  people we are!  

Black, silver, black, silver, silver, silver, burgundy....

How much better for our souls if all cars came in girly, day-glo colours with daisies and Ban the Bomb logos.

Comments

[jfs.livejournal.com]

The only car I have ever wanted is the Chrysler PT Cruiser, for exactly that reason.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My car of choice would be a 1920s racing Bentley- as driven by John Steed in The Avengers.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

If you could see me I am nodding and smiling and frowning all at once.

Just before summer we ordered a new Toyota Corolla Wagon in a beautiful girly (but not day-glo) metallic light blue. It was supposed to take two months to arrive and that was perfect because we´d be gone for two months during the summer on our annual visit to the States.

Come early September the car had still not arrived so we enquired after the progress of the order and the salesman said that we would most likely be waiting at least another 6 months because there was no demand for that colour and it would have to be an on demand production just for us BUT that he could get us a black, silver or burgundy car rather quickly.

After thinking it over we went to the local Peugeot dealer and ended up buying a new 307 wagon...in a kind of dark silver with champagne overtones (don´t you love catalogue descriptions?) simply because they gave us a very good deal on one they had in stock. When I enquired after a metallic light blue car they said there would be at least a 3 month wait for that odd colour.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

How sad.

Our car is dark blue.

Why are people so afraid of bright, cheerful colours?

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Why are people so afraid of bright, cheerful colours?

Well, I'm not. My Astra is bright red! On the other hand, it's now 5 years old.

It seems to be a fashion thing. My daughter's car is silver, as is our son-in-law's. Our son's car is black; his fiancee's is silver. Also my husband recently traded in his bright red Daihatsu 4-track and had to buy -- you guessed! -- a grey one.

I'm not sure what my ideal car would be, but if I had the money, I'd be sorely tempted by a yellow VW Beetle convertible. *g*

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh yes- I love the yellow Beetle. The world would be a better place if we all drove one of those.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I don´t know but it made me mad that I ended up without my shiny sparkly powder blue that shone like diamonds car!

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

my car is "tornado red", which i think is the best color name ever (although i hear it's pronounced differently from the weather phenomenon).

ford mustangs come in lime green. i think it's mainly the sedans and such that are limited to safe, sensible colors--because sedans are safe, sensible cars.

why do bright colors have to be described as "girly"?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

What's a tornado when it's not a twister?

There should be more lime-green cars. And yellow ones. My world brightens whenever I see a yellow car.

"Girly"? I'm thinking My Little Pony here- powder blue, shocking pink; those sort of colours.

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

i don't know any other meaning of tornado besides the twister, but i've heard from VW people that the "tornado" in "tornado red" is actually pronounced "tor NAH do" (as opposed to tor NAY do), leading me to believe that it refers to something other than a twister.

ok, ok, i know what you mean by "girly" colors. i just wish we lived in a world where those colors (and all colors, really) weren't gendered.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So it's a made-up word- or at least a made-up pronunciation. I'm afraid it makes me think of "tom-AH-to".

I agree about colours. It's interesting how there has been a complete turn around over the past three hundred years. Before dyes became chemical and cheap the powerful expressed their power by dressing like peacocks. Now that colour is available to everyone the powerful have become drab- and gaudiness has become a mark of marginality.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I heard that Bush is going to talk with the Big Three auto manufacturers next week about finding fuel alternatives, etc.

It seems to me that the failing Big Three would do well to scrap their entire line and come up with a truly efficient vehicle that uses either less gas or an alternative. Maybe that would save them from their slide into bankruptcy. But they aren't far-thinking, which is why their big cars are not selling.

Anyway, what's the point of having a mighty engine when you're stuck in gridlock on the Interstate?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It seems to me it's a human trait to leave things till the very last moment. We could have been developing new and energy-efficient cars decades ago (it's not as if we didn't know that the oil would run out) but, no, we're lazy and we don't do a thing about it until we're in crisis