Why did you paint your car appleblueseagreen ...

[Wünderwolff]

Or what has influenced your choice of colour on your Cal-Look car?

I'm in the process of choosing the colour for my 66 looker/racer. This is probably the hardest task of the whole project. Every single spare minute is dedicated to weighing the pro's and cons of the colours in mind. Every hour spent in traffic is spent looking at the amount of cars in a certain colour and trying to see the trends in the go-fast market.

For example Bright White, especially with black wheels is very hot in Europe right now, with Beemers, Porsches, Chryslers 300 and all being painted in what basically is the most standard colour. I almost fell for that trap and had my car done in  Bright White. But then I read Cal-Look is about daring and the White would be to easy. Very nice and agressive, but too fashionable.

What I'm wondering about is what the history on the choice of colour is. Take the Gasser craze, it is easy to see where that came from. People trying to mimic the speed of the cars seen on the racetrack by copying the colourscheme's. I believe the Cal-Look scene was probably too small however at the time to have a actual impact on the colourchoices made. So it must have been influenced by something else, a fashion way bigger. Was every fast guy buying single toned cars, be it American Iron or fast exotics like Porsche, maybe even Italian stuff, and was early Cal-look influenced by that fashion of colors? Or was it just a underground reaction to candy colored, multi-toned average Joe get arounds?

Just wondering. And please, if you answer this, provide ample visual examples to prove your point 

[wolfswest]

When I needed to choose the color for my car I was still in my resto cal mood.  I saw a metallic green car on the net that I liked and I wanted something like that.  I went to the painter and flipped trough the colorcards and I found the color that is currently on my car:  Metallic green that was standard on an old maserati   So I guess the color is race-influenced. 

It’s not your standard Porsche or vw non metallic color that we all love, and I know metallic paints  aren’t 100% pure callook but I like it.  It’s something different.  No pictures of my car on my work computer, I will post a few later.

[wolfswest]

maserati color...

[j-f]

maserati color...

NICE 

[wolfswest]

maserati color...

NICE 

THX!  credits for the picture is for Fabs or Nicolas, can't remember, taken on the bugtour last year.  Car changed a bit the last month's, but only in a good way... 

[j-f]

maserati color...

NICE 

THX!  credits for the picture is for Fabs or Nicolas, can't remember, taken on the bugtour last year.  Car changed a bit the last month's, but only in a good way... 

Both are 2 photos freaks 
I'm not a big fan of metallic paint on a looker, but your change my mind 

[Jason Foster]

I chose Bahama Blue L519 if I remember correctly without looking it up. It was the original color of my car. Interior was still bahama when I got it exterior was a sad white. Looking back I really like my color it is still pretty uncommon but I really like shades of Tan and would like to see a warm chocolatey brown.

mines on the right

[Donny B.]

I like Bahama Blue as well.  It's the color of my car and it's original color as well.  I believe that in 1966 it was the most popular color for a Bug in the U.S.

[Jim Ratto]

maserati color...

I like that Maserati color from the picture. Is it a green? Looks like an emerald. Nice! More pictures?

I painted my Bug the blue it is after falling in love with a picture of an early Porsche 356 from an old hardcover book I had at the time it was painted (Dec 1989). There was a few nice color shots of an Adriatic Blue 356 coupe, and I was nuts about the color. The guy that painted my car, Reggie DeCoite, mixed the color based on the photo in the book. I remember driving the shell home from his shop, no moldings, no glass, no bumpers and being stoked about the color in the sun. Over the next few weeks, the paint seemed to take on a higher sheen and began to look better and better.
Now almost 20 years later I wish I had taken better care of the paint.

[bilboa2]

3rd on that bahama blue...no metalics for me.

[Sam K]

My car was originally L630 VW Blue and thats the color I repainted it the first time. I liked the color a lot but after the car got got wrecked I was going to repaint it again in the original color but a good friend who owns a body shop convinced me to use a color that had just come out for the 2000 Civic Si. It's a shade lighter than the original color but it has a little bit of amythest in the clear coat so under flourescent light at night it almost looks purple. If I remember correctly, it's called electron blue. As soon as it rolled out of the booth I knew that I had made the right choice even if it is a Honda Color. 

[Rennsurfer]

Some cool colors and stories. My first '66 was whatever (Lotus?) white that VW used from the factory. My friend and I painted it orange 'cause it's been my favorite color since I was a toddler. My second '66 was imported from Berlin and still had most of the factory Java Green (GREAT color!). My current '67 was originally Zenith Blue and came with an oxidized repaint of the same color. It's not exact but pretty gosh darned close. I'm on a shoe string budget so when I was shopping for a '67, '68, or '69... Savannah Beige was actually the color I was after. Another factor was the paint had to be decent enough for me to bring back to a presentable state. So when I bought this car, I was going to simply buff it out and down the road, switch it over to Savannah. Now that I've had the car for a year... I'm starting to really dig the Zenith color. So she's staying this way.

Here's a shot from my drive, today. I finished work early so I came home and took out the '67 to enjoy another frigid So Cal winter day.

Let's see/hear some more stories.

[Jason Foster]

Jim, Your muffler looks bad ass sir!!! haven't seen your car in awhile is that a recent shot? man that looks great!

[Sarge]

When it came time to paint the '67, Sharon and I were leaning towards Lotus White but after some friendly persuasion by the Becker clan, we went with Bright-Ass Red   Leonard Becker was firmly in the non-metallic camp and liked the way bright colors made the car "pop" in the sun.

[alex d]

my car was originally L360 seeblau, but sometime it got painted black, my plans are to bring it back to blue, but sometimes I am tempted to shave the trim and paint it india red or sepia brown! 

[speedwell]

maserati color...

I like that Maserati color from the picture. Is it a green? Looks like an emerald. Nice! More pictures?

jim here's a better picture to see what the color looks

[Neil Davies]

My first bug got painted bright white, as I'd just seen Bill Taormina's replica of the Aronson '63 and loved how the colour worked with the shape of the car. The race car nearly ended up green metalflake, but I saw a picture of Lee Leightons Oval and decided that I prefered the red! Even put gold pinstripes on it too. My Ghia was bought as a project, and although originally orange, it had previously been gunmetal grey, and all the interior, engine bay and underbonnet metal was still in that colour. It was something of a no brainer to do it like Roger Grago's as I wouldn't have to paint the inside again! My last project paint colour was decided by the interior colour - I knew I wanted a red interior so I had to pick a colour to go with that, hence the anthracite.

[Rennsurfer]

When it came time to paint the '67, Sharon and I were leaning towards Lotus White but after some friendly persuasion by the Becker clan, we went with Bright-Ass Red   Leonard Becker was firmly in the non-metallic camp and liked the way bright colors made the car "pop" in the sun.

Bright Ass Red indeed! First time I saw your car, I was blown away 'cause I'd never seen a red mixed in such a hue. You're right... it pops. Easily one of the most difficult cars to photograph to show the true color.

Keep the stories and pics flowing. For decades, I've always thought that the Beetle and 911 bodies could pull off any color and still look good. Not many cars can tout that.

[LuftsickTero]

For example Bright White, especially with black wheels is very hot in Europe right now, with Beemers, Porsches, Chryslers 300 and all being painted in what basically is the most standard colour. I almost fell for that trap and had my car done in  Bright White. But then I read Cal-Look is about daring and the White would be to easy. Very nice and agressive, but too fashionable.

White does look cool on right car, like in Brian Blummer's or this one:



Both of the cars that I've had painted have been original colours L390 Gulf Blue and L452 Paprika Red.

[wolfswest]

my car has changed a lot the last year!  More black parts, less chrome    the green pops out different now, difficult to explain.  I will post an up to date picture.

[Casey]

I wanted back, the car I never should have sold. 62' Beryl Green. What the hell is the blue thing next to me? Jason..... I almost went with your color. I still have the paint too. Maybe the 66' will have the shade of blue!

[vwcab]

When it came time to paint the '67, Sharon and I were leaning towards Lotus White but after some friendly persuasion by the Becker clan, we went with Bright-Ass Red   Leonard Becker was firmly in the non-metallic camp and liked the way bright colors made the car "pop" in the sun.

@ Sarge are your "bright-ass red (your words    ) looker" and the ex Doug Mische "Wocket" the same color?
Peter 

[Sarge]

Sarge are your "bright-ass red (your words    ) looker" and the ex Doug Mische "Wocket" the same color?
Peter 

It's about a half shade different, Peter.  Mine's better, of course.... j/k

[Brian Silva]

Great topic! Well when I was in the process of picking a color for my car i just really started paying attention to the colors of the cal-lookers I had seen both in magazines and in person. My car came from the factory Lotus White but when i purchased the car, it was painted primer white so i never got a chance to see the car in its original color. During my research I really fell in love with the black with red interior combo. I was going to go ahead and paint my car black and so fourth until I had seen a stocker 67 in lotus white. I fell in love with the color and new it would be a bitchin' color for a cal-looker. I had never seen a lotus white cal-looker with red interior but I had seen plenty of Pearl white lookers running around and figured the color was close enough to Lotus white to make a judgement. Once the car was painted i noticed Lotus white was more of a cream color versus the more white hue of pearl white. I was extremely happy with the way it turned out. I debated removing the chrome but with the lotus white, the chrome just made the car pop and i dug the early cal-look treatment. Once I bolted the brms to the car, I knew I had made the right decision.



Sun shot from the rear 

[Rennsurfer]

Good lookin' car, Brian. Always dug that color.

[jhicken]

Back in the day I think it was Porsche that the cal look scene most wanted to exemplify. Simple colors, minimal trim. Mostly subtle in appearance, but all business below the accelerator. You had the traditional blacks, grays, whites, blues, greens and seipa browns, but you also had the bright reds, oranges, blues, yellows and lime greens.

-jeffrey

[TexasTom]

My '69 was originally my brothers. He bought it back in '71 and it was his first car. I was 6 at the time and I used to ride to school in it, 1st grade!
I've known the car my whole life and it is the reason we have our VW business today ... started back in '84. I remember the night we got his 2007cc going with the new 40DCNF Webers ...
Back in '77 he wanted to change the color of the car after seeing a new Porsche 911 Turbo at the local dealership. I remember it coming back from the painter ... beautiful. I know now it was Manurva Blue. Yes, the same as Gary Berg's '67.
I redid the paint back in '03 after a small argument with a guardrail on the intercity highway ... it won. Took out the left front of the sheetmetal only. DOTs don't really work to well in torrential rainfall!!!
I thought about another color change, but after all these years, I just couldn't do it. I still love it.

If I had to choose today, I might go for a softer brown/orange color ... I really like some I've seen on this sight occasionally.

[Jim Ratto]

Colors I think would fit a cal look Type 1 really well, but have yet to see...

Alfa "Giallo Ocra", a goldish-ochre yellow used by Alfa in late 1960's

Porsche "Ice Blue" an almost white, very cool pale blue, used in late 1970's on 911Sc and 930

[Wünderwolff]

...Back in '77 he wanted to change the color of the car after seeing a new Porsche 911 Turbo at the local dealership. I remember it coming back from the painter ... beautiful. I know now it was Manurva Blue. Yes, the same as Gary Berg's '67...

I love that color, was on the top of my mind as well for my '66, maybe a shade brighter, more electric blue like. And though Blue is my favourite colour and you don't see to many blue cars (well at least not that sort of blue  ), it doesn't tickle me enough to take it for my own car.

I'll probably go the Porsche Route as well.

There was a 914 in Oud Turnhout. Rustfree, but rotten in and out. Ravenna Green, a sight to be seen. The sight of the hole of death kicked me out.

So ravenna green it could be. They also call it Tennis ball Yellow which kind of gives you a feeling about the classiness of the colour  . I might have a spraycan made up of the colour to test it first, but something tells me I should just go ahead and walk on the wild side.

[jhicken]

Ravenna green rocks! I say hold yer nose and jump in! No spray bomb tests, just push it into the booth and go for it.

-jeffrey