Dull Camouflaged Cars

When I was a kid and when I was a teenager and when I was a young mother, cars came in Real Colors. Like tans, greens, blues and yellows, sometimes bright, sometimes pastel and sometimes dark. Two-tones were popular, too. And the early station wagons featured real wood paneling.


Today, what do we have? Aside from Arrest-Me Red, car colors are either white or some shade of Can't-See-Me. Makes for a dull parking lot or street scene. Oh, yes, I have noticed that every year or so, the auto styling gurus allow one (1--count-em--1) Real Color to reach the showrooms. Usually it's a dark shade. And metallized. Blue. Green. The colors of scarab beetles.

Occasionally one of those wonderful fiesta-colored VW bugs made in Mexico shows up on our streets. Curious -- I couldn't find any good pictures of lime green or lavender or pink Mexican VWs when I went a-googling. Though cars from a vintage VW show at this site certainly come a variety of colors.

Things are a bit different in Japan, (thank you, Google) where the two-tone vehicle is preferred. And I learned tonight that an Italian firm has a two-tone luxury model on display. But it is, again, in colors dark enough to merit the Can't-See-Me tag.

Funny thing, in a Murphy's law sort of way: while I was riding home from the supermarket, I saw both a taxicab-yellow sports sedan and an incredibly BRIGHT orange family SUV. That's what comes of riding rather than walking -- I wasn't able to get a picture of either!