Silver. I hate silver. "Oh... but this is 'Sterling' silver...." Look, I can put an exotic word in front of anything, and make it sound better. How about... 'Reflective Poo' -- or -- 'Illuminating Mold'... It sounds wonderful, so it must be...
So what is the fascination with this color that so many people have made it vogue?
Do you not realize that it is one of the most difficult colors to work with? It fades quickly. It oxidizes rapidly. It is hard to match. It does not play well with others.
Did I mention it is ugly and it sucks?
I go to a new auto show. Oh... there is the new Sky, replete with silver rotating dias. silver. And look! the new Cobra ' Stang. Silver. Buick's new Lucerne... my doesn't that silver blend into the wall nicely? HHR. silver. Wait, maybe the SSR will be... silver. Check out that awesome 95K Caddiliac XLR... silver. Z-convertible. sexy silver? gag. I glanced around at the the towering SUV's from the the H2 to the Colorado... silver... and promptly threw up. I felt better. The puke at least added a little contrast.
So I've got this thread in OT, discussing Vibe vs. Matrix. Checking a website I trust for gas mileage estimates: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ Maybe I shouldn't trust them, the first 3 cars on the banner page are silver, silver, and pearl silver. The 4th is a bug... that is a different rant entirely. Put in the Vibe. The dealer photo shows me a silver Vibe. Matrix. same thing. One poster says, "I love my Mazda 3..." photo = silver. Blech. Put in your car. I will lay Vegas odds you will get a silver file photo.
I check Yahoo's 360 degree auto tours... can you guess the color of the cars?! All of them! I go to the manufacturer home pages. Dominate color = silver. And then to top that... many offered several shades of the same frackin' color. "You can have Silver. Silvery Silver. Grey Mettalic Silver. Pale Silver. or Silver with Silver shades of Silver silver."
Silver gives me hives.
I am beginning to believe it is a major conspiracy theory. It is so big even Snopes.com has been supressed. The Aliens are not changing our atmosphere to be more hospitable, they are changing our color palates to match theirs. Well I for one have my 'They Live' sunglasses on and see the ugly charade for what it is... An ocean of silver painted plastic and sheet metal forcing us all into a lack of identity.
What is the deal. I don't understand.
<rant mode off>
I do however like silver trim or accents, like on 85-86 GT's & SE's. (Hope the rant doesn't get Madcurl or Tina riled up!) ((They are deep cahoots with the aliens!)) (((Look at the similarities! Both v8's... Both Lambo doors... both Best in Show's)))
I like silver too. I think you were just on silver overload. You noticed that there were a wee bit of silver cars in one area n freaked out. I would have too. Just think they all could have been highlighter yellow (Talk about a eyesore)
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07:27 PM
rogergarrison Member
Posts: 49601 From: A Western Caribbean Island/ Columbus, Ohio Registered: Apr 99
Silver has taken over as the most sold new car color. Its middle of the road conservative. Not boring or exciting. You have to like it. A silver car (or a gold one) HAS to be maintained to look good. Most silver cars I see over 2 years old are completely flat. Theres so much metallic in it that the sun cooks it quick. 2 colors I wont own are black or silver myself.
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07:36 PM
kwagner Member
Posts: 4258 From: Pittsburgh, PA Registered: Apr 2005
I gotta agree on this one. Silver looks good when it stands alone, really grabs you (if the paint was maintained, as previously mentioned). But when there's a sea of silver, it just looks like a "me too" fad. Boo silver!
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07:42 PM
Raydar Member
Posts: 40962 From: Carrollton GA. Out in the... country. Registered: Oct 1999
Edit - Actually, my first color preferences for a Fiero would have been silver or white (especially white for an 85 GT or aero notchie), and medium red for most anything. Consequently, I ended up with bright red, and black.
Silver looks really good in bright sunlight, but under artificial lights (like a parking lot at night) it goes completely flat.
[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 09-27-2006).]
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08:10 PM
Jax184 Member
Posts: 3524 From: Vancouver, Canada Registered: Jun 2005
I'm a big fan of silver myself. Silver Fieros are beautiful things. And they seem to age a little more gracefully than the other colors. A faded silver car is still a silver car.
Now what I want to know is why the new cars are all white with a hint of.
White with a hint of blue.
White with a hint of brown. What happened to just making a car colorful? I can't complain too much though, as I think graphite is even better than silver. Both could be called White with a hint of black...
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08:49 PM
Racingman24 Member
Posts: 2304 From: Land of 10,000 Idiots Registered: Apr 2003
Eric [and for those of you hiding under a rock latley, yes, that is my car. ]
------------------
Used is such a harsh term. . . I perfer "Previously obsessed over" ;) 88 base coupe: Busted again Wait. . . Did I just say I can't wait to do more work on my Fiero?. . .what, am I retarded?
quote
Said by Crazy Dave "You can take Steve out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of Steve."
(\__/) (='.'=) <<<< Cute Bunny. (")_(")
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08:53 PM
banditbalz Member
Posts: 2070 From: Barrie Ontario Canada Registered: May 2000
The deal with silver is that a lot of people like it. You don't, which is totally fine. People have individual tastes, and yours runs differently. Unfortunately for you, A LOT of people like silver cars. So it is in your face A LOT. Sorry, bud. But silver cars are going to be around for a LONG time!
I have a similar rant. I can't stand the "sandstone" type color. That sort of goldish, light brownish color. And that color was VERY popular. I got so sick of seeing them. That color is still around in abundance, but not quite the extreme it was.
Hey, we all have our things. Good luck dealing with yours...for the next, oh, lifetime.
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09:17 PM
wicked93gs Member
Posts: 208 From: Franklin, TN USA Registered: Apr 2003
I'm a big fan of silver myself. Silver Fieros are beautiful things. And they seem to age a little more gracefully than the other colors. A faded silver car is still a silver car. .
Everyone's got an opinion, and you're entitled to it, but, the reason they continue to build cars and paint them silver is that people continue to buy cars in that color, including my 86 Silver 2M6 SE. Been in my family since brand new, and, while it has faded a little, it still looks better than 90% of the silver cars on the road in my area that are 10 years old or more.
I understand the point though...lots of car's are silver. Infact, i'd say over 50% of the cars I see here in Toronto are Silver. I don't mind silver at all, however, i feel that it's been used so much that now its the "norm". Insurance rates are lower on silver cars, collision's cost less to repair if your vehicle is silver...etc.
Would i own a silver vehicle...I haven't yet - but I would if it were the right vehicle.
The VW (reflex) silver is a great shade
The Dodge Pickup's have an incredible silver shade on them.
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09:28 AM
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
Originally posted by blakeinspace: Do you not realize that it is one of the most difficult colors to work with? It fades quickly. It oxidizes rapidly. It is hard to match. It does not play well with others.
and this is why. when you see a good looking silver car, you KNOW its new, or at least freshly painted and, being it was such a tough color in the past, people arent so sick of it yet. like red, blue, black, etc.... and same goes for that stupid silver/brown y'all were mentioning above. its a new color, even tho its ugly, its NEW. for most people NEW is the important part - not the actual color.
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09:50 AM
rogergarrison Member
Posts: 49601 From: A Western Caribbean Island/ Columbus, Ohio Registered: Apr 99
Technically, silver is more expensive insurance wise. Silver and light golds are the hardest if not impossible to get matches with. A lot of cars I do say a fender repair on, I can paint just the fender and be done. On a silver car you usually have to paint the adjoining door and hood too even if their in perfect condition to blend to color in. Most insurance companies also figure in time to remove interior panels, mirrors, locks, handles, moldings, etc, to paint. So just an idea would be say $250 to paint a fender alone. To do what the insurance pays to match it with doing all the above, painting 3 panels now runs you $1,000. A black car would have got you out the door for $250.
Also something else to point out, silver cars are more likely to 'disappear' into the background to other cars. Ohio Highway Patrol recently did a study and are replacing all their silver patrol cars with white ones for that reason. They figured that too many cruisers were being hit by other cars when pulled over or stopped.
And talking about so many variations of one color. Cadillac for one year had at least 12 different whites to pick from...........LOL. Thats a hard choice? To me 2 whites are plenty, a cream or eggshell white, and a pure brite white. I couldnt keep a straight face if I heard a car buyer in a dealership trying to decide which shade of white (or silver) she wanted. I recently had a guy spend 2 hours trying to decide which black he liked out of the chip book and none were even metallic. duhhhhhh.
[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 09-28-2006).]
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10:28 AM
PFF
System Bot
blakeinspace Member
Posts: 5923 From: Fort Worth, Texas Registered: Dec 2001
<---------- (in the throes of great distress and suffering)
Pity me. Pity my sobs and bleeding heart. Pity my quivering shoulders. My trembling lower lip. My red, moist, glazed eyes....
PFF'ers I know, or trust... Bandit, Jax, Rich...
Instead of having sympathy for my pain... what do they do? They post pictures of silver cars!
Like you were going to be the one that convinced me that maybe silver wasn't sooo bad!? Like showing me examples of your silver car(s), was going to calm my quesy stomach??
I once counted you as friends. You are dead to me.
Et 'tu Racingman24? Et 'tu indeed, Eric?
(Blake slumps over desk after being stabbed by a silver dagger) ((Please do not drive your silver cars to my funeral))
(And I hope y'all know I am just joking with all this... if your rating went up... it was me pos'ing you ) ((if not... you were already green)) (well, mostly joking, I still don't like silver, but I'd never dis someone or their car for being a certain color... or would I )
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10:50 AM
blakeinspace Member
Posts: 5923 From: Fort Worth, Texas Registered: Dec 2001
I don't mind Silver Fieros one bit. Certain other cars look good in Silver... but many just look soooo boring in sliver. Makes my Formula "pop" when I park in between 'em, though!
Kinda like Black, come cars look great..others..well... "blech!"
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02:14 PM
Wolfhound Member
Posts: 5317 From: Opelika , Alabama, USA Registered: Oct 1999
I hate silver cars, I'd never own 1. It seems like everyone is into getting some stupid appliance that blends in with everything else. I'm tired of seeing Infiniti G35's, BMW's, Mercedes, VW's, Hondas, etc, they're pretty much always in silver.Even the best, cleanest silver paint job does nothing for me. It just looks generic. I like to stand out, and I like paints that stand out. Like blue, red, yellow, green, etc. Especially metallic forms of those colors. BTW, you can see my favorite paint color right here :
I'd never want silver for a sporty car, or a weekend driver. I'd want something a little flashier. I'd also never want it for a daily driver or beater, its too hard to keep good looking. I'd much rather have white, it hardly ever looks dirty, you can't tell when it fades, and most scratches don't show up.
Kinda funny the car from the vid of your profile space is silver............ It is a pretty good 360 though!!! That car should fade.... (into the junk yard any time now!!!) wish I had a silver car I could treat like that!!!!! G.
quote
Originally posted by Tinton:
I hate silver cars, I'd never own 1. It seems like everyone is into getting some stupid appliance that blends in with everything else. I'm tired of seeing Infiniti G35's, BMW's, Mercedes, VW's, Hondas, etc, they're pretty much always in silver.Even the best, cleanest silver paint job does nothing for me. It just looks generic. I like to stand out, and I like paints that stand out. Like blue, red, yellow, green, etc. Especially metallic forms of those colors. BTW, you can see my favorite paint color right here :
I'd never want silver for a sporty car, or a weekend driver. I'd want something a little flashier. I'd also never want it for a daily driver or beater, its too hard to keep good looking. I'd much rather have white, it hardly ever looks dirty, you can't tell when it fades, and most scratches don't show up.
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05:17 AM
84fiero123 Member
Posts: 29950 From: farmington, maine usa Registered: Oct 2004
Hater of silver?? Glad I have charcol gray Let's all start hating old boring black!! Like the black car with black windows and black wheels. Oh and with yellow accents
Look at all the black... dirt space pens shirts tires old moldy food Blake's car steam trains nighttime the bottom of my shoes
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01:24 PM
iced_theater Member
Posts: 1755 From: Green River, Wyoming, United States Registered: Jun 2003
So I've got this thread in OT, discussing Vibe vs. Matrix. Checking a website I trust for gas mileage estimates: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ Maybe I shouldn't trust them, the first 3 cars on the banner page are silver, silver, and pearl silver.
What is the deal. I don't understand.
Haven't you heard...It is more aerodynamic!!!!
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05:08 PM
blakeinspace Member
Posts: 5923 From: Fort Worth, Texas Registered: Dec 2001
'they' (and NO ONE can dispute the accuracy of Wikipedia!)... say this about "Gray"... ergo, Silver, for the sake of argument.
"Listed below are some common cultural (symbolic) connotations attached to colors in Western cultures, particularly in the United States:" "Anachronism, boredom, decay, decrepitude, dullness, dust, pollution, urban sprawl"
OK silver is not the same as gray but for this argument Wikipedia also says.... "Elegance, humility, respect, reverence, stability, subtlety, timelessness, wisdom"
Oh and for Black..."Evil, death, fear, anonymity, anger, sadness, remorse, mourning, unhappiness, mystery"
[This message has been edited by green87 (edited 10-04-2006).]
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12:01 AM
rogergarrison Member
Posts: 49601 From: A Western Caribbean Island/ Columbus, Ohio Registered: Apr 99
OK silver is not the same as gray but for this argument Wikipedia also says.... "Elegance, humility, respect, reverence, stability, subtlety, timelessness, wisdom"
Oh and for Black..."Evil, death, fear, anonymity, anger, sadness, remorse, mourning, unhappiness, mystery"
ahh. so thats why an X girlfriend freaked out when I sent her black roses..........LOL