Classic car paint colours

Over the course of automotive history, certain colours and shades have become indelibly linked with certain cars. Whether it's a fierce red evoking white-knuckle motorsport success, or a suave 1960s silver that instantly conjures up evildoers defeated and Martinis shaken, not stirred, some of those classic motors just need to be seen in a certain colour.

Here at Lancaster, we know how important it is to find your favourite classic in just the right shade. And we will be delighted to provide insurance for classic cars for your beloved auto, whatever colour it comes in. We'd just recommend checking with your insurance provider before making any changes to your classic car colour, as modified paint jobs can affect your premiums.

Without further ado, here are some of the most iconic car-and-colour combos throughout the years.

Volvo 850 T-5R: cream yellow

The sporting estate may seem like a contradiction to some… but clearly not to Volvo. The Swedish manufacturer famously brought out a hot version of its sensible, boxy 1990s family estate – and gave it a distinctive colour into the bargain.

Based on the already brisk 850 Turbo, the T-5R pushed out no fewer than 243 horsepower and, despite its oh-so-functional appearance, could get from 0 to 60 mph in just six seconds, Engine tuning, plus transmission and a few other parts of the powertrain, was a joint project with Porsche.

Yes, if you wanted a sleeper car – something hiding its rip-roaring performance under sensible everyday clothes – then the 850 T-5R was the car for you.

The T-5R came in three colours – Cream Yellow, Stone Black and Olive Green – but it was the first of these that seemed to show it at its best, and any mental image of a sporting '90s Volvo will probably be wearing pale yellow.

Ingeniously, for the Australian market, Volvo rebranded the colour option as 'Faded Yellow', as a clever acknowledgment that, before long, the merciless Australian sunshine would have its way with the paint job.

Ferrari: Rosso Corsa

We can't fail to include perhaps the most iconic marriage of car marque and colour. Rosso Corsa, or racing red, has been the obligatory colour for every racing Ferrari for decades – and for a fair few of their production models, too.

When you picture a Testa Rossa, a 308 GTB or a F40, what colour are you seeing it in? Why, vivid red, of course. Anyone lucky enough to acquire a Ferrari of any stripe will be ticking 'red' on the colours list, as just about the first thing they do (shortly before they sort out some classic car insurance).

Red seems a strong choice for perhaps the most iconic designer of fast cars. It's the colour of blood, of passion – of all the qualities you'd want when lining up on the race grid.

Interestingly, although Ferrari's home colour seems such an unchanging icon, it has been subject to one or two modifications down the years.

For example, as colour TV coverage of motorsport grew more widespread, Ferrari wanted their cars to stand out a little more, so the time-honoured Rosso Corsa got a little brighter and more orange. By the time the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix rolled around, however, Ferrari had decided to revert to their iconic scarlet. Long may it continue.

Aston Martin: Silver Birch

It's hard to imagine an Aston Martin DB5 (as piloted by James Bond, or not) in any other colour, isn't it? When it comes to the DB5 and that shade of silver, car and colour somehow seem made for each other – elegant, restrained, sophisticated.

The DB5 was also available in a range of other shades including Sierra Blue, Oyster Shell, Caribbean Pearl and, splendidly, Dubonnet – a lovely period piece, referencing the herb-based aperitif that, like the Aston, had its heyday in the 1960s. We can imagine Sean Connery's Bond lounging suavely with a Dubonnet after dispatching some misanthropic, island-dwelling supervillain.

Porsche 911: Guards Red

We mentioned above that red tends to be a confident, aggressive colour when applied to a car: and, in the mid-1980s, few status symbols marked you down as a cocky, alpha-male City trader better than a Porsche 911 Turbo in Guards Red. Don your loud striped shirt, grab the Filofax and brick-sized mobile phone, and it's off in the 911 down the King's Road for drinks with some fellow yuppies and Sloane Rangers.

The 'tea tray' rear spoiler was an integral part of the look. All 1970s / 1980s 911s are now cast-iron classics, and – given Porsche's legendary build quality – should yield up many more years of happy ownership. Just remember to protect them with some classic car cover.

BMW: Estoril Blue

This vivid, cobalt blue has been seen on a fair few BMWs over the past few decades, and it always seems to complement the marque's looks perfectly. The E36 generation of the M3 looked brilliant in it, as did every successive generation of 3 Series.

It works well because it shows up the various intricacies of BMW's design – in particular, on the M2, M3 and M5 sporting variants, those sharp creases, large grilles, enhanced air intakes and more. We'll have an E36 Touring in Estoril Blue, please, and then we'll never ask for anything else again. Ever.

Ford Focus Mk2 RS: Ultimate Green

As seen on the Mk2 Ford Focus RS, this vivid lime is almost an assault on the eyes, but just about carries it off. It does so because a bit of in-your-face aggression is just what you want from a Focus RS, isn't it? After all, the second-generation model was tuned up to a lairy 301 brake horsepower, through its 2.5-litre, five-cylinder turbocharged engine.

It could get from 0-60mph in around 5.9 seconds, and thrash onwards to a top speed of 163mph – and it had an engine noise to die for, a series of pops and bangs sending out the message, loud and clear, that this was a performance machine. A machine that needed a bright, look-at-me paint job to complement all that sound and fury. And Ford's Day-Glo Ultimate Green fitted the bill perfectly.

Alan Mann Racing

Racing Fords of the mid to late 1960s sported a very distinctive, and quite lovely livery – an unmistakable shade of gold over a vivid scarlet. These cars were competing under the Alan Mann Racing umbrella, and from 1964 to 1969 they were an instantly recognisable competitor on starting line-ups.

The Ford GT40, Escort and Cortina all raced in AMR gold and red. Ford triumphs under Alan Mann included the 1967 and 1968 British Saloon Car Championships, both with Frank Gardner at the wheel, and the 1964 Tour de France Automobile. Some iconic 1960s drivers including Graham Hill and Sir Jackie Stewart also raced for the team, which achieved substantial successes in many different forms of the sport.

Interestingly, Alan Mann Racing also provided cars for various films of the era, including six eponymous vehicles for 1968's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Gulf Racing

The US company Gulf Oil was quick to understand the value of brand recognition. Its orange and sky-blue livery was instantly recognisable – all the more so once it became associated with motor racing success. Le Mans was a happy hunting ground for Gulf Racing, with both the Ford GT40 (1966-69) and Porsche 917 (1970-71) triumphing in Gulf blue and orange.

Interestingly, that beautiful sky blue and orange combo came in almost through the back door. Previously, Gulf's in-house livery was a darker blue paired with orange – and was deemed too dull to make an impression on the racetrack.

When Gulf took over the Wilshire Oil Company in 1960, however, the parent company took over the smaller outfit's more attractive pale blue and orange. The rest is motorsport history.

British Racing Green

Motorsport grew in popularity in the very first years of the 20th Century, and annual races would see various European countries pitted against each other. Each nation adopted a colour: by 1903, red, white, and blue had been nabbed by America, Germany and France respectively, so Great Britain went for green.

This decision also came out of an international race, the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup, staged in Ireland (as motor racing on public roads was illegal in Great Britain at the time). As a mark of respect for their hosts, the GB team went for a shamrock green livery for the Napier cars they raced.

What was a relatively pale green going through various modifications over the next two decades, depending on the manufacturer providing the cars. By the time Bentley were racing in the 1920s, it had morphed into the darker green that, to this day, we label British Racing Green.

Mercedes 300SL: Silver

This is an interesting case: silver was the base colour for the iconic 'gullwing' Mercedes, and if you wanted your 50s style icon in any other colour (strawberry red; fire engine red; anthracite; a gorgeous light blue) you had to pay extra.

The effect of that was to make the default, plain-Jane silver by far the most popular colour and, to this day, when we think of this ground-breaking and heart-stopping beautiful car, we visualise it in the bog-standard silver. It just looks right, somehow. It's as if there is already enough amazing about the car, that it doesn't need topping up with any adventurous colour scheme.

Lamborghini Miura: Arancio orange

For many observers the most beautiful car ever produced, the stunning, sinuous Miura also got lucky when it came to its colour palette. As well as the standard blue, white, silver, and black, you could order your Miura in a vivid yellow, orange, green or red.

Our pick of these – just for how well it moulds to the Lambo's gorgeous contours, and for how it summons up the wild, anything-goes spirit of the late 1960s – is the bright orange.

Ford Cortina Mk3: Copper Brown

The 1970s are often given the slightly dismissive shorthand of the 'brown' decade. Lots of brown (and orange, and yellow and avocado) on the walls; a general brown (read: slightly dull) feeling to a decade plagued by strikes, three-day weeks, industrial disputes, and decline. All that, and a general feeling of malaise, of Britain falling from its early 20th Century perch.

In certain cases, though, a 1970s brown can look quite the thing – and we'd cite the beautiful Mk3 Cortina as a prime example of the power of brown. With its near-American proportions and Coke-bottle styling, this rich chocolate brown seemed to suit it well.

Ford Sierra XR4 and Cosworth: Diamond White

White is usually synonymous with innocence, though in the case of the Sierra's fastest and lairiest variants, the warm XR4 and hot Cosworth, the brilliant white these models were produced in signalled anything but. This was a white for polishing to within an inch of its life, before you noisily thrashed your XR4 or 'Cossie' around the nearby housing estates.

Lexus LS400: Mystic Gold

As the 1980s drew to a close, Toyota unveiled the car with which it hoped to break into the luxury sector, still dominated at the time by Jaguar and Mercedes. The Lexis LS400 was a bold attempt to steal some thunder from the Jaguar XJ8 and Mercedes S-Class: it came armed with a potent, yet deliciously smooth 4.0-litre V8 engine, plus a battery of features and options including air suspension.

The LS400 was a bigger hit in the US than here in the UK – and one of its most popular colours, this eye-catching gold, might have something to do with that. We Brits tend to be a bit more restrained in our colour choices. But it has to be said that the statement gold looked just right on this bold new pretender in the luxury sector.

Renault Megane Mk1 convertible: Sunflower yellow

There's nothing that says, 'English summer' (with all the uncertainty that that implies) quite like a soft-top. And if you're going to be brashly optimistic about the weather, why not do it in a quirky French cabriolet, painted bright yellow?

Yellow was a popular option for the Mk1 Megane soft-top: by the time the second-generation car came around, in 2002, the yellow paint option had gone – as had the soft roof, replaced by a hard top. But we love this irrepressibly cheerful, sunshine-yellow first-gen car the most. It just says 'picnic hamper, strawberries and Pimm's' to us – and for that we love it.

Classic car insurance from Lancaster

Whatever classic you own, in whatever shade, we'll be proud to provide insurance for your classic car.

Make sure you tell the team the exact colour of your motor so we can give you an accurate premium and two-year agreed valuation.

Contact us today for a classic car insurance quote.

Policy benefits, features and discounts offered may very between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. Information contained within this article is accurate at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.