BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Cars Favorite Car Color

I think to say any car must be in any given color is falling into their marketing commercials <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> A car is a piece of metal. A color is your own personal choice. If you say a "diamond is forever" it's because you've been watching too many jewelry commercials - diamonds are a recent invention. Any car can be any color. It's a personal choice.

A car should be the color you enjoy. A car should look the way you like. Rich people get cars they want in any color, in any shape. The choice is yours. As Henry V said of royalty "We are the makers of style and fashion" <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> To be able to choose your OWN favorite color and style is the mark of someone who has gone above the silliness of commercialism.

It all comes down to what you've been trained by commercials. I like Mustangs, I randomly choose colors based on what I enjoy. But I know very rich people who choose colors in every hue of the rainbow, and every shape known. The rest of us are "stuck" with what is commercially viable <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> So if anything, I look on the 'standards' as being pretty cheap. If I had my choice, I'd take a rainbowy racecar, to show I am a free chooser <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It's only those of us without money that have to say "I choose between A B and C" because that's what they think is "popular" ...

It all comes down to tastes, but has nothing to do with one being rich or not so rich. Some colors are good for some cars and awful for other. Having a red Mercedes S600 is a bad taste, having a red Ferrari is quite appropriate, both can cost the same. Exotic colors look good on exotic cars and look out of place on regular ones.

I wasn't saying that being rich or not rich had anything to do with taste <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I was saying that if you're rich, you have a giant selection of what suits YOUR taste. If you're poor, you can only go with what car makers have trained you to believe is a good color <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Most colors that we think are "proper" are only that way because it's what we've grown up to expect them to be. If cars were always bright orange, and then one came out in silver, we might think silver was ugly <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Here's an example of how tastes are influenced by the time and area you live in. This is a famous painting of a rich woman in Boston in the early 1900s:



The painting was the scandal of the town and couldn't be shown until after her death. Why? Because it was pornographic in the amount of skin it showed, and because it was grossly demonstrating her wealth, because of the ruby at her throat and waist. But to her, it was in quite fine taste. And I think most people today would agree.

How would you like your car look like? I mean, do you want it to be painted like a rally or a race car? With plenty of odd colors and patterns? By the way, what good is in having an orange car if everyone considers it ugly. We live in the so called society, and it is mainly for THEM things are done to look beautiful.

Art and design are all very relative, but you can N E V E R say that "Ah, you're too underdevelopped to be able to appreciate that!" ... or "You're not an expert, you don't understand anything!" ... if I see a painting by a famous artist and I don't like it and say it's a [censored], you can't tell me that I don't understand it. I just don't like it, very is nothing to understand, and what good is there in something that only "select" few can see beaty in? I'd say it is a sign of that the thing is real ugly and those select few are mad.

That painting you've posted. It is different, it is the question of rules and ethics society establishes. You can not break those and expect to be welcome. To change the rules, you must have great influence over people.

Let say you like a car. And you buy with an odd color. And lets say that everyone you ask about it consideres the car ugly and the color for it as well (they may not tell it directly if they are friends, but you'll see that). Will you be enjoying this car? Will you enjoy driving it around and knowing that everyone thinks it is ugly and what an awful taste the owner has? I know, I wouldn't, especially if the car is expensive.

Jessica here (under a different name right now) Sorry but I think that if you are going to be pressured by what "everyone else" thinks is the correct image, you are going to be miserable everytime a fad changes.

My current car has been a canvas for me, and is painted all over with .. .well pretty much whatever I want. yes people have told me that it's hideous.. others have loved it. I don't really care one way or the other, it makes me happy. I've lived my life "going against the flow" so to speak. No, I don't go out of my way to hate something jsut because everyone else likes it, but if I like something that is not considered by society as "pretty" well, I don't let that bother me. Just because you have peer pressure issues, does not mean that everyone else does.

I think what we are all trying to tell you is that, we do not share your opinion of the world, sorry, but each of us sees it a little differently. You keep your opinion and I'll keep mine <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Fine, here is a question, if you ever happened to own a car like Ferrari or similar, would you still indulge your artistic surges ON it? If you're an artist, it doesn't mean you have to do all the things the opposite from other people' way, that's a sick conception actually.

As for a fad, as you call it, it never changes for expensive things. An expensive car will never look like trash. The real test for a car is a test of time. So, point not taken. It is the cheap "artistic" things that get old the next day they are made. Classic things never get old.

Yes, I care how people would look at either my car or house or clothes or whatever. And I do not want to catch whose "This guy is a complete idiot." looks on me. You can NOT ignore the society or else it is you who will look miserable. And it is not some kind of complex or whatever, it is a coherent attitude to the world we live in.

It would never occur to me to paint a car in some weird pattern and not because I'm afraid of something or lack of imagination, belive me - no, it will be because in my eyes and fortunately in the eyes of the vast normal majority, a car must be artistic within certain limits. It still must have 4 wheels, at least one seat, an engine a bodywork from reasonable material and a reasonable design and paintwork. If you make a car out of wood, attach some wings to it, make it have 5 wheels and paint it with some Fantasy world themes, nobody will understand it, and not because everyone is dumb, it is because you're out of the line. It may be art, but it is not a car. :rolleyes:

Why do people buy things or cars with high image and prestige values? You think that it is only because they like those cars and things? Well I think that it is because they want to have it for others to look at it and be impressed and not to laugh at it. Some things are made to be liked not only by you, but by others as well, cars including as well as jewelry, clothes, personal items such as wrist-watch, a pen, glasses, etc. If you diagree, then it is you who lives in another world. Not good nor bad for me, good for you, I guess. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Maybe it is because women and cars are like 99.9% incompatible. No offence, this is back to that male-female thing, but don't tell me that women correlate with cars as much as men do. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Oooo I love this topic <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Your point of view (AINTD) is almost completely different than mine, and of the friends of mine that I am polling. If we buy something, we buy something *we like*. We pay for it the money *we* wish to pay. It has nothing to do with "showing off to other people". It has to do with "loving what we have". So when for example I buy a Mustang, it's because I love Mustangs. If other Mustang lovers are impressed, that's fine! If some Jeep lovers think it's a stupid car, I'm not going to change for them! There are always going to be people who agree with your decision, and always people who disagree with it. I would NEVER change how I live my own life or the things I own just because "some people out there think it's ugly" - how could you then do anything but curl up in a corner of a room if you had that opinion? You can never please everyone, and why would you even want to try? They have their own lives.

You seem pretty intent on the "expense" of things. You would paint a cheap car but not an expensive one. They're both just cars! What you think is expensive, someone else thinks is cheap. That's a meaningless line to draw. I buy Mustangs because I like them, not because they're cheap *or* expensive. I could buy a different car that costs more, but I don't want to. Some people think my cars are expensive. Others think they're cheap. But I don't care, it has no bearing on what I choose to drive.

My boyfriend plays bass guitar. He buys bass guitars that he *likes*. And he gets them in colors / finishes that he *likes*. He never considers what other people are going to think of his guitar!! It's his instrument, to bring him pleasure by making music. No matter what he buys, some people will think it looks cool and others will think it looks stupid. He wouldn't get far if he obsessed over what some other people thought. Some of his guitars cost $100. Others cost $1999. He enjoys them all for different reasons.

I did ask many men about this and it's not a male-female thing. The men were even MORE adamant that they would NEVER buy a car just because they thought others would like it. They buy cars because THEY like them. Some guys I talked to buy big trucks, others by fast sports cars, others buy elegant type of cars. But they do it to make THEM happy. Since those groups of guys are pretty much mutually exclusive, it would be logistically impossible for them to even attempt to please everyone <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> The truck guys laugh at the sports car guys, the sports car guys laugh at the truck guys etc.

Maybe try rephrasing what you're saying? Do you really go out car shopping and think about what others will think when they see you driving by in it? Do you look at the color choices and think, "Which color will my friends like the best"? When I talk to guys about this, they say that sounds like a very "female" trait, to care so much about what others think. If anything, they say that Real Men Do What They Want <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Okay, let's try this again. I do NOT do somethign just because everyone else does nto like it. What I SAID was that I don't care what other people think of my work. I will paint what I like. I do NOT allow society to pressure me into thinking that I have to like something. Remember the fad for flames on cars? That has come and gone, and then come back again.

You are laboring under the misconception that my artwork is not very good or acceptable to other people. I usually paint a car every other week... other people's cars. They pay me a lot of money (since you seem to think that money is the deciding factor of importance) to paint on their cars. I do not just throw paint on them. I do a very professional job.

Since about half the population likes my work, and the other half does not, how do you decide which group is going to make your decisions for you?

I'm sorry that you think not bowing to peer pressure is sick, but I think it's a very healthy attitude. People who bow to peer pressure are the same people who end up doing drugs so they don't look "stupid" to everyone else.

I also don't let it affect me in reverse. If everyone likes the new red dress... and I like it too, then I will get it. If I hate it, I wont get it. Simple as that (and I am only using this one example to get my point across, so please don't limit it to just that example)

Actually Jessica brings up another good point, if we're going to focus on car painting (which is really just one example of the whole issue). Lots of people DO paint their cars. I had my car striped. Lots of people put stripes on their cars, or detailing. Some put eagles or birds on their hoods. Some do put flames on the side. And TONS of people put bumper stickers or decals on the back, which is sort of like a 'removable tattoo' or even a 'permanent tattoo' <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> So people do customize the appearance of their cars in tons of ways. Some people just don't have a lot of imagination, or are happy with its default look. I find 'creative' people spend more time customizing than 'non creative' people, but every person does what makes them happy.

First of all, cars and guitars are different. Cars are made to impress other people as well ... take your Viper or Corvette ... take Ferrari's and Lamborghini's ... take the M and AMG cars ... and "look factor" is decisive when you pay money for some expensive car. It must be a case of mentality, really, because I haven't seen a single weird-painted car here.

It is not about creativity, it is about sanity and adequate conception of surroundings. According to you, all famous designers should have been living in some kind of FF world.

Flames and eagles will come and go and look stupid the next day, classic metallic paintwork will always look good no matter what. Some weird bodywork can come and look "refreshing" one day and look so out of place the next one.

Why do women like jewelry? Answer me that to close the circle. If you answer what I think you may answer, then we may just close this topic as we did the other one.

Show me a guy who would come and ask you to paint his S600 or Porsche in that special way. YES, I'm heavy on price moment. You take a cheap car and redo it anyway you like it, not a big deal. But you will think twice or thrice before doing something to an expensive car. I just do not understand how a thing so obvious can not be perceived by you.

Do you really think that people are so boring and not creative? You think that you know how cars would look better than the designers and other artists that work on the cars? There are cars, where the bill is not the issue, but they still put the "normal" paint on it.

To Lisa:

You didn't get the whole picture. What you said about cars is absolutely rigth and I agree, you cannot please anyone. BUT ... I'm talking about every single person thinking you're an idiot. Truck drivers, sports cars drivers, elegant cars drivers, executive cars drivers, classic cars drivers, bus drivers, eny other drivers ... if everyone thinks you're out of your mind with a car like that, then it's most certainly the truth.

And another thing, Lisa, cars are not piece of metal. If they were then domestic animals would have been some piece of meat, wine would be some "fruity" water, meal would be "something to not let you die", house you live in would be a box ... a shelter from the winds, cold and rains ... you're out of the line here, I think. It is a very female approach by the way - to think that a car is a piece of metal.

And I still think that sports cars and other expensive cars are in some degree to show off. And there is nothing bad about it. If you've been so successfull in your life and can afford buying such a car, why not be proud of it and let the others know this? I'm not telling you that the ones who are around will make my decision, I'm telling you that, when I buy a car, I look at it's exterior because at this price range it is a decisive factor. If I don't like the exterior, I won't buy it, no matter how good the car is. Fortunately for me, what I like is liked by majority and what I dislike is disliked by majority (no matter what you say about the "halves" that like your work and that don't, I find it har to believe, they may like it, but will never want it for themselves ... they like it from the point of view of art, not a car they would like to drive daily) ...

Then again, everyone does whatever pleases his/her heart.