18 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY august 17-23, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com Car Week | 2023 Color Wheel When it comes to automotive paint, modern tastes are rather bland. But we weren’t always so reserved. By Dave Faries One option is a warm, luminous yellow, another might require sunglasses, a third is relaxed and soothing— and these are just three shades from the palette of yellows available on 2023 model year Chevrolets. Yet in the current market there are few customers willing to risk such daring hues. A few years into the 2020s and the automotive color wheel is dominated by routine shades. Black, white and especially gray or silver adorn close to 80 percent of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. according to a survey by iSeeCars, the automotive locator and research firm. Call it inconspicuous consumption. It’s a fixation that—at least to those in the collector car world—makes little sense. “In the malaise period of the ’70s the palette was more interesting than today,” observes Aaron Robinson, an editor with the insurance and lifestyle firm Hagerty. And it’s not a new phenomenon. The three unremarkable colors began to take hold of the car-buying public’s imagination (or lack thereof) in the 1990s. But even rolling the survey clock back and including data from 1971 on, only red and blue join the three at the top of the popularity scale. “A lot of people see white or gray as practical,” reasons Ken Gross, an automotive historian and longtime Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance judge, who also served as executive director of the Petersen Museum. At least in terms of what they drive, he adds, “I think people are less expressive today.” Full schedule of 2023 Car Week events Plus links to sites providing traffic information: mcweekly.com/carweek Clockwise from above: In previous decades, red often spilled into the interior. Top right: Wayne Carini shows Concours judges his 1954 Studebaker Starliner, dressed in Chadron Red, in 2018. Middle: The striped green 1930 Ruxton C— the end of a flashy decade. Bottom row, from left to right: Maroon was a favorite in the 1930s. Blue and turquoise became wildly popular by the ’50s. Daniel Dreifuss Dave Faries Daniel Dreifuss Daniel Dreifuss Daniel Dreifuss Daniel Dreifuss Dave Faries Dave Faries
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==