Do you remember a couple of years back when BMW released a matte car finish that supposedly you couldn’t get wet? What was that all about? Car finishes have come a long way since having it in any color you want, as long as it’s black, and today you can choose from paint that fades from one color to another, looks like a different color in the daylight than it does at night, or might be white and gold or maybe blue and black. The world is truly your oyster.
Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if some car maker out there is testing a car finish that looks like an oyster. The odd ball finishes, as well as the materials and patterns used for landau roofs and convertible tops are the subject of today’s question. What we want to know is your opinion on what is the weirdest factory automotive finish that has ever been.
Image: iwantvelvet
Hooniverse Asks: What's the Weirdest Factory Automotive Finsh?
By Robert Emslie
Jun 26, 2015
Jeff Glucker
Brushed.
/discussion
Not so fast… How about brushed and gold plated? (There were two gold Deloreans, commissioned by Amex)
http://img10.deviantart.net/b223/i/2005/086/2/c/24k_gold_plated_delorean_by_uniquenudes.jpg
Three in total were built. They had *almost* enough parts for the third gold car; in the end, another door had to be plated and it has a slight mismatch.
Somehow that is just such an appropriate side note in the whole DeLorean epic.
Tangential: my dad’s Scout 80 was painted with a brush (by the prior owner.)
Some years back, I helped a friend of mine paint his F100 with white Rustoleum. Rollers, brushes, and a case of Miller Lite. Quality paint. The paint job? Maybe not so much.
Sure thing for me: Bugatti Veyron L’Or Blanc (The White Gold):
“Porcelain techniques” for the paint, whatever that means, and actual porcelain deatails. (The chassis and hoods are still carbon/aluminum/titan/something expensive of proven stability)
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/06/25/article-2164225-13C271FF000005DC-552_964x567.jpg
That’s fncking beautiful.
As late as 1981 you could get a Corvette in RPO 01 “Primer Gray”. Exactly one was delivered in this color in 1981.
The intention being that the new owner may choose a paint colour to his liking somewhere else? Strange.
Wasn’t it RPO 00? RPO 01 was a special-order non-Corvette color order.
Clearcoat.
http://www.carcomplaints.com/media/complaints/images/d4cf7c48-6ebe-1032-b743-4c3114d2dee3r.jpg
I can’t stand clearcoat paint.
Neither does Texas.
Neither does Australia and New Zealand.
Many european cars with metallic paint in the late seventies were resprayed under warranty as the clearcoat failed within a year of sale.(BMW etc)
I’m a bit surprised at how long my ’96 Thunderbird’s clearcoat has survived. Its last paint/body-shop visit was in 2000, it spent some time outside practically every day from then thru 2010, and since 2012 its default parking spot gets sunshine unless clouds / the Earth is in the way. The last time it actually got waxed (besides the car-wash spray-on wax mode), the White House was still the temporary residence of the Republican who came before the current Democrat.
Leather
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Velorex.jpg
The Velorex may look like leather, but it’s thick, luxurious vinyl…
But is it crushed Corinthian vinyl?
Is that car in San Francisco now?
Padded Naugahyde on the Mohs Safarikar.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/mohs-safarikar1.jpg
Because the Safarikar is the perfect platform for nauga hunting!
Come on (nauga) baby wait and see (nauga safari)
Yes I’m gonna (nauga) take you huntin’ (nauga safari) with me
http://www.iamchristinabot.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/5_naugaA.jpeg
Whoa, flashback. I remember when they used to give away those dolls.
Ah, at first I read that as: “Whoa, flashback. I remember when they used to give away those pills.”
Which would have made that flashback more of an acid flashback…
LOL – I love the SafariCar! I think I want to go visit it this weekend! I think there is only one and it is in a museum close to where I live. Isn’t it based on an International truck body?
Previous gen Focus RS in RS500 kit got a matte wrap from the factory for it’s effort.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FoXyvaPSnVk/S7C2ZdteZfI/AAAAAAACrzo/OaBwvyP7tEI/s800/Ford-Focus-RS500-001.jpg
I must say, that’s the first matte black vehicle I’ve ever found appealing.
Saw a matte royal blue Gallardo once that looked spectacular.
But it didn’t look as good as this.
Mismatched.
doped fabric.
Lycra?
Granted, neither of these are “production cars” (the top one is a 1926 Minerva Brooklands racer).
Earlier this month, I got spam e-mail from Spandex World promoting their Father’s Day Sale. It seemed like a hilarious non sequitur at the time, but suddenly it makes total sense.
It would make a nice lightweight body for a Lotus Se7en!
I hate to border on pontification and self-flagellation, but Ford’s Mystic paint used on the 1996 Cobra was pretty wild for its day, and pretty wild now, when you understand how it works. Effectively, there is no color coat, just microprisms (the “Mystic” paint) over a black basecoat, that shift color depending on the light source and viewing angle (this is my understanding of it). It was the first production car to use this technology, and now it’s used on the US $100 bill. They brought it back in 2004, but the paint was a little different.
I almost posted but wasn’t sure on the years it was used.
Mystic/Mystichrome and the Harlequin VW were the first things that popped into my head, but P161911’s Velorex post reminded me of the Mohs, so I went with that.
Didn’t they also inexplicably use this on Windstars? I know I’ve seen several with this finish.
No, and I doubt you have – at least not the exact same finish.
I definitely have seen that purple green colorshift on more than one Windstar, which means either they did a very limited run (that somehow showed up in Saskatchewan), or more than one person got complicated custom paint on their then-new Windstar that tried to replicate it.
It’s actually purple-blue shift, called Venetian blue, it is the same color code as the Chameleon Blue for the MN12 I posted.
And that paint was insanely expensive. A retired friend has a very nice home shop with one bay that’s a paint booth with draw down exhaust system. He bought just a pint of the stuff, and it was over $100, IIRC. He had a white Dodge Caravan as one of his DDs, and painted the lower body with the stuff. It looked pretty good when it was finished.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/Leo-Nardo/Thunderbird/WestVirginia027.jpg
Not quite Mystichrome, but the Chameleon Blue Thunderbird was a weird choice. I hear it was very, very expensive per quart if you very had to repaint the car.
Also, if you want a no-accidents MN-12, find this color because no shop will get it right without repainting the entire car, haha.
WHY WEREN’T THESE MORE POPULAR GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Also. See TVR later models. Or the film, ‘Swordfish’.
https://joelstrick.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/image93987_b.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n272/delkron97/09%20pontiac%20vibe/vibe3.jpg
It’s nearly impossible to find a picture that does justice to this color. It’s called Mystic Blue. It is a teal/aqua blue base with gold flake over it. So in some light it’s your standard teal and then the light hits it and it turns yellow. It’s very strange. My wife and I could have gotten our Vibe in this color, the Dealer had the exact package we wanted, sunroof, manual, etc. We got a black one without the sunroof instead.
Here’s another angle
How about varnished wood? Yes, I know about woody wagons, but how many cars are there where the entire body is finished in wood?
Like this Alfa Romeo RL SS, whose body looks loke the underside of a boat.
http://www.museoauto.it/website/images/stories/collezione/alfa_romeo_rlss_1926.jpg
http://www.zmphoto.it/forum/foto/30222/900/b1f781980aebdd26110694dd198b6b8c_new-york-street-auto-alfa-romeo-sport-italia-legno-motori-nikon-torino-macchina-tecnologia-motore-car-d7000-alluminio.jpg
My ’99 Jeep Cherokee had the most impressive coat of factory-applied orange peel I’ve ever seen.
If you want to properly restore a 1960s or 1970s Corvette to the highest possible standard, then you have to replicate the factory orange peel in the paint. https://books.google.com/books?id=gkHsOIfSuKYC&pg=PA63&lpg=PA63&dq=ncrs+orange+peel+paint&source=bl&ots=jlkT0vGL4U&sig=OxD9nrZn06G5nW526L77TpxmqqY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yWyNVar7F8vIsAXziabAAQ&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=ncrs%20orange%20peel%20paint&f=false
Appliance enamel
http://automotivegallery.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/white-Toyota-Camry-wallpaper-hd.jpg
I want it in Avocado or Harvest Gold, with the dark edges.
http://www.allaboutprops.com/images/inventory/inventoryph-resid/Refrigerator%20-%20Westinghouse%20harvest%20gold_md.jpg
In guitar lingo it would be called a sunburst finish.
Mopar’s Mod Tops
http://www.thehogring.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-Hog-Ring-Auto-Upholstery-News-MOPAR-Mod-Top-2.jpg
http://image.hotrod.com/f/71806236+w660+h495+q80+re0+cr1+ar0+st0/1970-plymouth-barracuda-hemi-top.jpg
http://www.thehogring.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-Hog-Ring-Auto-Upholstery-News-MOPAR-Mod-Top-5.jpg
http://www.thehogring.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-Hog-Ring-Auto-Upholstery-News-MOPAR-Mod-Top-6.jpg
more info :
http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/1405-1970-plymouth-barracuda-hemi-petal-powered/
Excellent.
Who DOESN”T want their muscle car with a pretty flower motif?
Manliness ? 🙂
http://blog.jeep.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/1976-Jp-Honcho-Ad_2080x1930.jpg
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/1312902740564605076.jpg
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/1312902740116146836.jpg
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/1312902740699136660.jpg
No doubt the last pic was scanned from Playboy.
Polished aluminium as seen on the Caterham 21 prototype,from which the moulds were taken for the others, (and many high quality Cobra replicas), but possibly devalued a little bit now-a-days by the use of mirror shine vinyl wrap seen on some sort of blingmobile near you.
https://ranwhenparkeddotnet.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/caterham21front1.jpg
http://static.messynessychic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/basketcar1.jpg
Wicker.
(Hanomag 2/10 PS “Kommissbrot” Korbwagen, from the mid-1920s)
Think your unpainted metal is cool?
Donkervoort has one upped you with the D8 GTO Bare Naked Carbon Edition.
Think you Adult Toys Dodge has Playboy inspired name?
Donkervoort has one upped you with the D8 GTO Bare Naked Carbon Edition.
Think matte black makes your car look racy?
Donkervoort has one upped you with the D8 GTO Bare Naked Carbon Edition.
http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/donkervoort_d8-1-626×382.jpg
http://blog.caranddriver.com/gran-turismo-omg-donkervoort-d8-gto-bare-naked-carbon-edition/