For as far back as the memory can go, just like jewelry on a person, chrome trim has signified a car’s prestige and prominence, whether it be among lower trim levels of that car or other vehicles in general. But in today’s automotive age where everything from a Toyota Corolla to a Dodge Durango to a Porsche 911 can be had with various “sport styling” packages and accessories for extra cost, does chrome have the same panache and desirability it did in decades past?
In fact, many automakers, whether they be mainstream or luxury, charge extra to delete standard chrome or chrome-look (as it is on many mainstream vehicles) trim and accents in the place of matte or gloss black, which tends to give off a more aggressive and sporty demeanor.
The two vehicles in the first photo, my own 2016 BMW 228i xDrive and my friend Maddox’s 2014 Audi A4 Quattro both have black accessory trim in the place of chrome, with the BMW having the “M Performance” black kidney grilles and the Audi having the “Black Optics” package, which includes gloss black grille and window surrounds along with 19″ wheels.
Vehicle trim is a matter of personal preference, but there’s no doubt that in the world of automotive styling, black is giving chrome a run for its money. What do you think? Is black the new chrome? And is sport the new luxury?
It’s just a poor taste of fashion like excessive vinyl inserts in the past and it will go away.
Ironically, for the first time the standard patrol cars look so luxurious just like top of the line models: it’s a big chunk of blackness.
Some Ford Explorers with Publicly Owned Plates (county, state government, etc.) around here in Tualatin have what appear to be hubcaps.
I think part of it may be due to cost/weight/economy concerns as well. The more plastichrome you use on a car, the tackier and cheaper the car usually looks. And fuel economy and weight targets prohibit the stylists from using large amounts of the real thing. At least to me, black plastic seems to me to be much easier for the stylists to use in larger amounts without cheapening the look of the car.
It’s funny when you realize back in the 1990s black was an indication of the lowest trim level on some cars, although that was as opposed to having those parts painted the same color as the rest of the body rather than an alternative to chrome. For example on Saturns the cheaper SL and SL1 had black bumpers and mirrors, while the SL2 had those parts painted. I think the same was true on the Escort.
Sadly it is replacing chrome…and sports has long replaced true luxury. Look at the popularity of flat faced cars with “blastic” inserts vs. cars with hood ornaments and chrome.
Not a fan of the black replacing what is one of the car’s defining elements, that being the front grille when it’s used as a major design element, as on the BMW and Audi in the lead pic. It’s less of a bother on cars where the grille just “is”, and isn’t meant to be particularly unique (such as older Audi’s before they went to the horsecollar thing for example).
I’m ambivalent about it on the rest of the chrome trim, but generally prefer less chrome than more, but do like stainless steel trim, or brushed chrome, i.e. not so bright. Blacking it out is fine, but not so is blacking out everything including the wheels. Black wheels don’t do anything for me really. Chrome wheels are even worse though, so I guess I prefer either machined aluminum, polished aluminum, or a painted finish, preferably silver. OK, black steelies can stay, but it depends on the car and the look that is desired. I know, I kind of sound like Sally with the apple pie a la mode thing if that reference makes sense to you.
Slightly aside the topic, the absolute worst thing I’ve seen is the lighted Mercedes star that is now a factory option on the new ones. My local dealer insists on stocking much of his inventory with those for some reason and it just completely ruins Mercedes for me. I can’t think of anything I find more tacky than actually paying money to light up the logo of a car you paid money for so others can see the logo at night.
Mercedes embraced the showoff crowd in such a way… The lighted star and the “diamond grill” look so damn tacky. The grill looks like they stuck on 500 chrome stickers to a stock grille.
You know… you’ve got to have something to sell to those who want to upgrade from a CLA180d….
That alone is enough reason as to why I would/will never buy a new/newish Mercedes. Not that I was going to before I knew of those…
My mother bought a new C300 that happened to include a “lighted star” last year. She didn’t especially want the lighted star (the car was otherwise exactly the one she wanted) and was going to have the dealer unplug it, but it actually looks really nice at night next to the LED headlights (one of the options she HAD to have).
I’m having trouble visualizing a C300 with a lighted star. . . . 🙂
The grill center did light up on the 300 L in ’65.
I was irritated enough by the size of the 3 pointed star in the grille, particularly when it is just inches from the other (real?) one in the badge at the leading edge of the hood. “Boy, ah say, Boy, it’s a Mercedes, ya know. A Mercedes.”
It is like the way Cadillac in the 70s used to put a crest on the leading edge of the hood and another one right over it as a hood ornament. Yes, we know you have a Cadillac, already.
Yeah, but at least they never illuminated them. Not even the dealers would stoop that low. Probably because they never thought of it.
It all goes back to the illuminated Wolseley badge, dating back to the thirties IIRC. But that was much more discreet. British, y’know, old chap!
Lots of cars had illuminated hood ornaments in the past. To me Pontiac, De Soto and Plymouth come to mind
My very first car was a 1972 Wolseley Six with exactly that lighted badge. A small defining feature that did not look out of place
I could honestly care less about the illuminated star option on most new Mercedes, but regarding the large center grille badge, I do much prefer the old-style hood ornament with split chrome vertical bar grille.
It’s funny how even Mercedes, arguably the most traditional of the German luxury brands, features the “sport styling” as standard and on higher engined models, with the “luxury styling” only available on base engine specs of most vehicles, and as an option.
Former commenter Jason would have said it’s an unforgivable shame and for probably the first time I would have agreed with him.
You’re just mad that BMW didn’t think of the illumination first 🙂 Perhaps a little angel-eye action around the roundel?
I don’t know what the hell M-B is doing these days. They are AMG-ing everything and just whoring out that name/badge and while the interiors in general are extremely nice on most of the range, the outside styling could just as easily pass for a Hyundai in many if not most cases. The vehicles should look solid, strong, and durable, instead they just look sort of like river rocks. (I guess those are solid, strong, and durable too but I think you know what I mean.)
HA! That reference to Jason!
Indeed. Mercedes became the go-to brand for the badge whores. I see frequently A-Classes with 110 hp 1.5 liter Renault diesel engines, dressed up with 18″ wheels and AMG body kits! Really? A Clio-engined “sporty” (insert mocking Homer picture here) Mercedes?
It became the brand for the CLA crowd. People here might know my hatred for the CLA. Looks like a clay model of an A-Class wagon fell to the floor. And why the heck are they calling “shooting brake” to the wagon version of the CLA? It has 4 doors, not 2! And a comparison showed that for little more than the price of a loaded CLA, you could get an Audi A5.
Actually, Audi is not doing that wrong. The S-line package is discreet enough. And Volvo is actually advertising the Inscription (luxury) versions more, and their sales are climbing.
Haha, by “care less” I actually meant I’m indifferent. Not sure how BMW could pull that off though 🙂
I’m with you on MB’s current design language. All their vehicles look alike from the outside, and other than judging by size, it’s near impossible to tell a C from an E from an S. The design language was intriguing at first, but now it does just kind of look melted down and state. I’ve always been a firm supporter of the previous generation E-Class’ pontoon fenders and quad headlights.
And “whoring out the AMG badge” – quote of the day!
It is interesting how Mercedes has trying to exude a sportier image with styling in recent years, when they always looked best with a chrome grille and stand-up hood ornament. On the contrary, most of the new 5 Series I see have the standard chrome trim or even upgraded 19″ “Luxury Line” wheels, probably because M-Sport package is $3,200.
I always look at the door handles and DRL lights to tell a C from an S. The coupes are even worse.
The E has always been differentiated, and now…
My favourite is the C and the S. The E somehow looks awkward with that taillights “sitting low” if you look at the rear.
Modern BMW’s have always looked better with M package, and most of them in my country have them installed, even the 19x hp 520d. (No, it’s not the base engine!)
Somebody I knew had an `80 Buick Park Ave. Not only did the hood ornament light up,the ‘Park Ave’ script on the passenger`s side of the dashboard lit up as well.
All these replies of illuminated badges and no mention of the Mercury Sable? The light bar equipped models silhouetted the logo on the later years and the 1996 model had a small, attractive lit logo.
Re the illuminated M-B “Star”, Roger Smith, Irvin Rybicki, and GM’s Brougham Brigade must be having a long posthumous laugh watching the M-B transition and slide from taste to tasteless. As L.J.K. Setright, born in Australia, the late English motoring journalist, said of Cadillac, and now becoming applicable to M-B, quote, ” As much class as a rat with a gold tooth”
That rat be gettin’ a whole grille these days, if you know what I’m sayin’….
Chrome certainly hasn’t fallen out of favor with light truck buyers here. I think they’re at late-’50s levels now.
Back in the early ’80s, my friend and I concluded that super-cool, Modernist Europeans (unlike us bourgeois American yahoos) knew that black trim makes a car go faster. In Colonial Complex fashion, Ford and Chevy tried to imitate their betters with wannabe “Euro” trim packages.
I have since learned it also is more vulnerable to long-term solar degradation than chrome or stainless; but that’s punishment for owning a car longer than manufacturers, dealers, or banks want.
????.
It appears that it is across the board, though there was a brief period 1980-82 that Volvo had blacked out trim on one model: From Wikipedia; GLT (1980–82): Standing for “Grand Luxe Touring,” these models shared the uprated suspension, blacked-out exterior trim, and 15″ Virgo alloy wheels of the GLT-Turbo model, but with a naturally aspirated powertrain. Though I’m pretty sure the alloys were not painted. I remember a few in my area of NH, even a few amateur after market attempts on the more common DL and a few other non-Volvos. I don’t remember any other brands doing it other than maybe Saab.
It’s a was to hide some of these rather obnoxious grill openings.
Doesn’t do a very good job hiding Lexus grilles 😀 !
Choice: let those who want no brightwork have that and let those who want chrome have it too. To be less diplomatic, no-chrome works in a negative way. An all black or chromeless car might stand out in relation to cars with brightwork. But in isolation it leaves little to look at. The DLO is a vital part of the car’s identity. In a dark environment or with dark paint, the chromed sideglass silhouette announces the car.
To answer the other question: sporty is the new conservative. At one point a sporty style had some value and merit but it is everywhere now, even on grown-up cars that should know better.
For a lengthier exegesis on the topic I would like to politely ask permission to offer this link:
https://driventowrite.com/2014/07/18/chrome-trim/
Even minivans are offered in sport trim, although Toyota proved with the Sienna R that they can be tuned up for lap times more than one might think. If even heavy trucks can be raced, why not minivans?
Black has been a popular styling trim color for decades, and reappears regularly. It’s nothing “new”.
In the late 1960’s it appeared to designate high performance variants of regular cars.
The Broughamization of America put this on the backburner until 1979 or so, where it reappeared for a few years.
By the late 80’s a colored “monochromatic” theme was all the rage, instead of black or chrome trims. . But soon enough, black trim reappeared again, in the 90’s, only to disappear a few years later as auto makers plastered their look-alike cars with shiny chrome/stainless trims for differentiation.
So I am not surprised it’s back again. It’s just a marketing/fashion cycle.
What goes around comes around. Black trim/bumpers was the hot thing in 1967. But it hadn’t spread to the wheels yet.
What bumpers? lol
But yeah, nothing new. Most performance oriented cars from the late 60s on eschewed chrome for black like the Miura.
I definitely prefer black trim. Chrome somehow looks out of place on a lot of modern cars.
I’m much the same way. Chrome just doesn’t look good on most modern cars, and the fake plastic-chrome that’s used nowadays just ends up looking cheap and tacky. The worst offender seems to be Buick, which seems to have bits of plastic chrome randomly slapped all over the car with no rhyme or reason. Black that stuff out and the car ends up looking a lot better.
I think this is just another cyclical fad that you will shake your head about in ten or fifteen years, saying “woah, that black trim really dates this car” just the way hunter green paint does now.
I remember in the early and mid 80s matte black trim was all the rage. Ford and GM were particularly bad about it by painting the stainless or aluminum bright pieces of window trim with flat black paint. It looked awful when it started flaking off a few years later. And I absolutely hated that look. Today’s gloss black is so much better than the flat black of that era.
Then we went to “monochrome” and then the chrome wheel fad came with the added bling of chrome elsewhere. Now its the gloss black.
I am a fan of the restrained use of chrome trim as in the way US cars used it in the mid 60s or the way German cars did into the 70s. There is a sweet spot between too much and not enough.
I agree; shiny trim is like women’s make-up: best used in moderation.
+1
Oh yes, forgot about those… did not work for me either.
I know this will be a minority report, but the Moar Chrome the better for me. Monochromatic and black trim vehicles bore me, yeah yeah, dulls, then BAM, bling bling car goes by and I’m happy again.
I know, I’m tacky.
I have to fight the inner urge to have my pickup chrome wrapped like something Justin Bieber would roll in down Vine street.
I’m always resisting the urge to stick on every chrome doo-dad that Pep Boys lines their shelves with, lest all the cool kids at Cars and Coffee shun me when I show up with 12 chrome portholes plastered on my hood.
I love how chrome plays with light, both in the day and at night. How it echoes the viewer, the terrain, the sky, bouncing colors and shapes here and fro. The throwback industrialness of chrome, an artificial man-made shiny that is rarely duplicated in mother nature. Chromes ease of maintenance, especially the modern stuff plated over ABS banishing rust creeping in on the underlying steel to ruin the effect. Chrome is the past, the bold land yachts of our brazen ancestors are bedecked with it. Chrome is the future, the sleek minimal polished surfaces of a Star Trekian iSpace Age where we place our finger on a certain spot on the chrome finish and magic unfolds.
Ah chrome, how do I love thee, let me count the ways…
I couldn’t disagree with you more, but I certainly enjoyed reading this!
The more chrome the better, no doubt, an Apostle of Harley Earl.
Chrome, in my opinion, is best used as make-up and jewelry for a woman, best in moderation to highlight and accent basic beauty, to increase intrigue, and not applied with a trowel.
Think of the fresh beauty of the young actress Betty Davis shockingly contrasted with the heavily cosmetic covered older Betty Davis in the end of her career.
Harley Earl lead designs in the 1920’s and 1930’s, when he was younger, were fresh, then as he aged, following the trajectory of Betty Davis, he applied more and more chrome to GM’s designs, like an older woman using more and more cosmetics–to her detriment.
Think how refreshing the 1961 Lincoln Continental was compared to Harley Earl’s mid to late 1950’s chrome laden inspirations. Moderation, clever use of chrome accents, and in our current discussion, clever use of black accents keeps visual interest, not overwhelming interest or intrigue.
JP Cavanaugh is likely to be correct that in 10 or so years the current overuse of automotive black will be a cliche for the age, and we will laugh, just like we now laugh at shag carpeting, vinyl car tops, and bell-bottom pants of earlier eras.. Kitchen granite tops may fall into a similar smile inducing cliche.
Haha, love the Bette Davis analogy. Whatever Happened To Baby Roadmaster? 🙂
I don’t get the hate for granite countertops. I do, however, think we’ll be laughing at McMansions with brick fronts but vinyl sides (the bad toupee…or dealer-installed landau roof…of houses).
I thought granite countertops were an useless extravagance until I bought a house with them almost 2 years ago. After living with them I don’t think I would ever go back to laminate or tile countertops again.
I also laugh at houses with a fancy front and the rest of the house sided with the cheapest possible siding. The joke is that the people living in a house like this spend almost all their time outdoors looking at cheap part.
I think stainless steel appliances is a better kitchen fad to slam, personally.
Imagine a 1958 Olds 98, or Buick Roadmaster with all trim blacked out, but then, they actually had not much chrome on them, it was mostly stainless steel.
Back in the early 70’s had a Fiat 124 Spyder with a turbo (not a good idea) Ferrari Fly yellow paint, and custom black chrome grille (looked like a Ferrari grille) that looked incredible, but it was a small item overall, plus it really was chrome. Car looked nice but after 8 engine explosions in one year the play time was over.
BTW Had 14 1958 Buicks, 6 ’58 Olds 98’s, a dozen ’58 Cadillacs and a ”57 Hudson Hornet ollywood in hot pink bottom black middle and white top and LOVED all of them
And my Daily driver’s, ’55 and ’58 Century’s
Some are better than others. Of the examples above, all look good except for the Hyundai’s wheels and Mercedes’s grille. What were they thinking? The Hyundai wheels look like some Pep Boys special that some vape-bro Plasti-Dipped and threw on a 2003 Jetta (rear window covered in stickers with “Illest” and crude jokes, of course).
The Mercedes’s grille looks like a cheese grater.
Blackout trim was all the rage in the Eighties and Nineties, has everyone forgotten all the Celebrity Eurosports, Omni GLHs,etc?
And the 79 Mustang Pace Car Edition
I’ve got a lil’ bit of chrome on my cheapo ’64 Ford. The windshield wipers are chrome; so is the horn. There is chrome trim around the windshield as well. There ~might~ be chrome around the back window — it looks like chrome but I really don’t know for sure.
It could be illegal now to have chrome wipers; I’ve read where they allegedly ‘blind’ the driver. I dunno . . . I’ve not had an issue with them. They’re not large windshield wipers and there isn’t a mountain of chrome so it’s no big deal. The bumpers are chrome, too.
I do find the appearance of certain 1950s cars to be Chrome Overdose.
Well, I for one detest the look, on wheels and trim, unless its part of the cheap seats trim spec, as in F350 XL Commercial black bumpers and grilles. On a related note, “alloy” wheels nowadays are the steelies and poverty hubcaps of the modern era. In fact, some are so cheesy to be beyond belief ( Prius ). No self respecting BroDozer driver goes rolling coal without some Rimz that are usually painted black and sport dubious “styling”, which complete the rest of the trucks and owners “customizing” along with with skulls and Mulisha decals, tossing the factory alloys and tires in the craigslist bin. Which is fine for me, as they are usually WAY cheaper than a new set of tires alone come replacement time!
As an older curbivore, I came of age just as chrome was going into hibernation for a period in the late ’60s, but the child in me was dazzled by the brightwork on mid ’50s cars. I’ve been through several layers of optimistic and sobering social cycles, and seen what they do to automotive fashion. I had a brand new Pontiac in 1980, and I painted out all the chrome and added black wherever I could, because it looked purposeful and anti-Lido. Everywhere but inside the tires. That’s the one place I still can’t get used to monchrome black. It’s a tone that’s ill equipped to revel in the motion of the wheel… effectively a spinning void. I realize that what bothers me may be just the point for those who love the look, but I wonder what exactly is it about stealth and agression that we seem to need in our presentation so much nowadays. What made us gravitate toward Darth Vader Helmets on wheels? Black can be just as effective as chrome, if not more so when used well. Citroen is good at it, and they may have inspired the coming Hyundai Kona, which, despite its angry eyes and Darthy maw, I find pretty satisfying.
A very good description, “a spinning void”. Always looks to me as if someone lost the hubcap.
Your sentence “I realize what bothers me…” are my thoughts exactly, though I don’t know the answer. There’s probably some complex psychology to do with advanced capitalism and the competitive aggression that underlies it, inevitably breaking through to the actual commodities in that system. I dunno. But I cannot understand (and perhaps don’t want to understand) why the word “aggression” has anything to do with a transportation device for use on a public road, yet it’s often celebrated in reviews and ads.
I also agree that Citroen does a pretty good job with black, and finally, to prove this is all subjective opinion – it’s almost as if Brendan Saur asked if we all like something or not – I cannot find a redeeming thing to say that Hyundai, ‘cept that it’s Kona have to be fixed up coz it’s awful. And deeply unsatisfying.
In my country, Portugal, the name “Kona” was vetoed, because it’s pronounced the same way as if it had a C instead of the K, and that way, it means “p*ssy”… So the car will be called Kauai in my neck of the woods.
Teehee!
My personal preference is for chrome, but I also prefer older cars where it was once prevalent. I don’t care much for chrome on new cars as it looks tacky in my opinion. However, blacked out everything on non luxury marques, especially wheels screams cheap.
So the takeaway I guess is that I will stick to my old cars with chrome and continue ignoring the newer models.
Black wheels suck. It looks like someone stole the hub caps! Luckily, they’re a passing fad!
I couldn’t agree more. I guess with police or fleet cars it’s a way to cut costs, but I always think the painted black wheels look like a spare tire. Not to mention on better aluminum wheels, a black finish just seems to hide any sort of interesting detail. It’s almost as bad as having body-colored wheel covers like some cars did in the 70s. Now THAT was hideous!
I always thought the body-coloured hubcaps on MBs from the ’60s/’70s looked good, personally. But on other cars, it did look pretty bad, yes.
Chevy Nova LN/Concours, ugh. Same but with Rally II wheels, sweet!
Black is the new chrome? Goodness, I hope not. I love chrome, and a car just isn’t right without chrome properly trimmed in the right amount. Chrome adds a touch of class and makes one proud of their ride.
I also hate black cars and will never own one.
Yes to that. I drive a chromeless black 406 (not by choice). It happens to be an excellent driving tool but it kills me it looks so dull. The sideglass needs a subtle frame of proper chrome or stainless steel. With one or two little touches the vehicle would have a look that signalled the car’s inherent quality and competence. My Citroen XM is also in need of brightwork. It is an excellent car undersold by what appears to be penny pinching.
Things come into and go out of style. With that, I just don’t get the thing for blacked-out trim and wheels. It becomes, for me, too much of a muchness, especially if the car is painted black. Then it looks like a monstrous hulk. And when I see black wheels, I think, “What happened to your hubcaps?”
Another thing about black cars: black is a terrible, terrible color for hot desert climates. The only thing that could possibly be worse would be a black car with black upholstery.
Speaking of hot desert climates and black cars, David, you might like the 1977 movie ‘THE CAR’ (if you’ve not seen it already). In its black and chrome lil’ driving heart pulses the beat of age-old evil come to the Modern Era. If an ill wind blows in the desert BEWARE! THE CAR has come out to play! 😀
Plasti-chrome looks so awful they might as well replace it with black, or just about anything else. The thing I like about real chrome is that even if it’s pitted or scratched up it still looks good when it’s cleaned and polished.
I think you need some chrome, otherwise, with modern shapes, the car comes off as looking like a particularly unhealthy turd!
Seriously though, you need some visual accent, and dark trim on dark cars just disappears into the visual mass of darkness – it may as well not be there, for what the eye registers at a glance. Conversely, on a light-coloured car, dark trim can look very effective.
Also, frontal chrome is a great help to visibility on the highway, particularly with the prevalence of dark, asphalt-coloured cars.
To me these black cars with blacked out trim give off a Buick GNX vibe. I sort of like this look.
Yes and I don’t care for it. Ok black trim is fine, that’s nothing new, but I hate the black wheels fad. Certain cars in certain colours can pull them off – I liked the black wheels on my purple Falcon XR6 – but I’ve seen them on, for example, on the Land Rover LR3/Discovery and it looks like a tragic fad. And if they ever look half decent, eg on a Mustang or a QX70, the car will always look better without them.
I’ll be happy if black wheels go out of fashion soon.
I hate it too Will. It just reminds me of guys who rattle can their wheels black to give that “bombed out” look and its got the same level of tackiness. It also doesn’t help when I see black wheels on a black car with black trim. How much blacker do you want it? Would a little contrast in color kill you? Are you trying to fool yourself into thinking your piloting an SR-71? What gives?
Black wheels are the modern day equivalent of those aftermarket chrome door inserts. Taking a good idea or style choice and stretching it to the point of ridiculous.
“t’s like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.”
I specifically wanted the black wheels on my Mini. I think they look pretty good with a light colored body. If you disagree, I won’t be offended. 🙂
One thing I noticed when pulling this picture up is how Mini’s designers got some bright work into the design without making it look cheap. In my opinion, a trim piece the size of the license plate “eyebrow” completely in plastichrome would look cheap, whereas the chrome around the belt line and taillights is thin enough to remain tasteful. Mini made the larger pieces like the eyebrow and front grille in a more tasteful (IMO) satin finish, which gives the appearance of bright work.
Is it just me, or when you see a relatively large chunk of plastichrome on a car, do you want to tap it with a fingernail to see if it’s real or not?
“Is it just me, or when you see a relatively large chunk of plastichrome on a car, do you want to tap it with a fingernail to see if it’s real or not?”
I do have that urge. I’m just not sure if it might scratch badly from people testing its authenticity.
Also, I do think your Mini’s black wheels do look nice, I will admit. But I also think that’s because they’re smaller in diameter, and often those black rims are applied to luxury cars that have tires with the thickness of a piece of bacon, so it highlights the design flaws much more clearly than on a smaller rim.
Thanks Joseph! I agree that black wheels and blacked out trim would NOT look good on an Eldorado. 🙂
I too was a hater of black rims, until I started working for MINI and saw them on various MINI models. With the right exterior color combination, they actually work really well! White top is the way to go when getting Moonwalk Grey, and the 16″ black Victory spoke wheels give it a sporty touch! I love it!
Of course you would know it’s Moonwalk Gray. 🙂 Brendan really is the Mini Whisperer.
BTW Brendan that pic was from the day we took delivery from Mini of Chicago. They always recognize my car from the license plates 🙂
See, I think WHITE wheels would look fantastic on that car. The first generation new MINI’s had that option (maybe they still do) and I always liked it, especially with the white roof. But I’ll freely acknowledge it’s your car and whatever makes you happy is what’s important, my opinion is completely irrelevant and inconsequential.
Jim, thanks. I think white wheels (which normally I would hate) would work well. I think I like the black because the Mini has black plastic trim above the wheel wells to begin with. So you have black trim, black tires, black wheels.
I was a fan of the white wheels, but unfortunately the F56s no longer offer white wheels, at least in the U.S. I did, however see a pair of white 17″s on a 4-door S hardtop at the BMW Welt in Munich. I’m not sure if it’s an E.U.-specific option, or just something special on display there. I even told my service manager we should plasti-dip a set of wheels white and stick them on a car in the showroom; someone would definitely buy that car fast!.
BTW, here’s what that car looks like with silver wheels. They both look great IMO.
Funny enough, mine has the black stripes on the hood to go with the wheels. (Also not an S so no mesh black grille.) As much as people decry all the shades of silver/black/gray cars have these days, I really like the Moonwalk- it seems like a very unique shade of gray, if such a thing is possible.
When I bought my first MINI Cooper S back in 2003, white wheels were an option and were on the demo car. They looked great. I also knew that the OEM brake pads (sourced by BMW) would produce a lot of dust, making those white wheels look dirty very quickly. Unlike the dealer I did not have staff to keep them clean. I opted for silver.
/2018-chrysler-pacifica-s-package-murders-out-the-minivan
http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/news/2018-chrysler-pacifica-s-appearance-package-article-article-1.3558546
Deleting all the brightwork just saves the manufacturers money. If they can convince their lemming customers that black is the height of fashion, and even get them to pay extra, that’s just a bonus!
Happy Motoring, Mark
I always liked the aluminum upper door frames of the Rambler sedans. It was ingenious of engineering. It was 1 piece of aluminum that slid down into the lower door that had the glass channel the glass rode in. The aluminum looked class, the frames covered up the B pillar and saved some weight. It was very easy to replace a broken window, just unbolt the upper door frame, install new glass and put the frame back .
I never have liked plastic chrome, always looked too shiney and when it wears it looks like h**l.
Yep. It looks fake from 10 yards away and if you try to scrub the painted “plating” it just scratches. Body color, contrasting color, black, nickel/satin finish, bright orange, give me anything but plastic chrome.
I used to like Chrome and still do. But the problem I have had the last few years with replacement parts is it doesn’t seem to last like the originals. Maybe it is my mistake for getting parts from Asia or other 2nd-3rd world countries but it is hard to find new old stock parts without paying an arm and a leg. I put a new muffler on the old vanagon it had a nice Chrome tip for about 2 weeks, I guess I should have went for the black one.
That’s been a problem with aftermarket Asian chrome for decades. Buy a chrome rim, hubcap, air-cleaner or tailpipe and it’s turned brown after six months. At least for tailpipe-tips, there’s a variety of relatively-inexpensive stainless aftermarket replacements available today. I stuck one from WalMart on my Altima when I bought it. Today, 12 years later, it’s a bit dirty, sooty & dull. But it has never rusted.
Happy Motoring, Mark
Black, especially glossy “piano black” looks better in pictures than chrome, so I credit the current fad in part to social media.
In person it’s less clear cut. Black tends to only look good on sunny days, especially on wheels. Also, chrome isn’t sensititive abrasion like painted glossy black is. There are actually quite a few cars I like the black look on, the Jeep Grand Cherokee Altitude being my favorite, but just after being a few years old in a climate with salted roads, and messy trees during the fall spring that glossy black takes a beating and the early examples of this trend are showing it. Every car I see now I just picture the streaks spiderwebbing and haze that happens to black over time. For the same reason, I don’t ever want black exterior paint, even though I like it.
Also, chrome isn’t some finish that should be celebrated either. I truly hate it on wheels, lest we forget the bling bling era of the 2000s. Chrome at it’s core was durable yet attractive finish for rugged parts like bumpers, window frames/gutters, as well as wheel well trim, which all kept a much weaker painted on finish from chipping in these areas. It was logical, even on excessive 50s examples. But by the mid 80s most automakers lost all of this for safety reasons, efficiency reasons, and aerodynamic reasons. From that point on the use of chrome became purely about accenting at best (simply surrounding the side glass, and emblems) and being gaudy at worst(spinner wheels, stick on fender trim, wraps).
My 300M has chrome wheels. Not my favorite. But they look good on the car and so far are easier to clean the most of the alloys I’ve had.
The new 2018 Chevrolet Traverse has a “Redline Edition” package that adds a black grille, door handles, wheels, and badges. It looks stupid.
I just see it as yet another sign of The Impending Doom, all caused by The Next Generation.
Let’s all hunker in our bunker behind the tints in our blacked-out angried-up cross-eyed crossover. No, this is MINE. My lane, my road, me. Don’t even look at me. (But DO note my illuminated 10-point 2-foot high medallion out front. Please? Please?).
As we all sit boredly peak-hour entombed thus, our sub five second 0-60 irrelevant since purchase day, supping vat sized portions of McMorePlease from one of the five cupholders, our ever obesing butts massaged by the vibro option, we certainly may believe sport is the new luxury even though reality says most of us don’t commit any exercise. “Sport” and “car” are oxymorons when conjoined, not any sort of reality, never was, but a whizzo marketing panacea. It’s all luxury, all indulgence.
The blacked-out look won’t last any longer than the rise and shrinkage of the fin, but won’t age with any of the grace that the optimistic silliness the fin has come to have.
I am clearly gonna have to put up signs for you about my lawn, apparently.
I really like ’58 Buicks, so don’t really need to say more do I? 😉
One example of cheap happened sometime in the late-70s to early -80s, When OE manufacturers and the aftermarket switched wiper-blades from stainless to black.
They also eliminated the wiper refills. I really irritates me to see some vintage vehicle with stainless wiper arms and black blades.
I’m also not a big fan of the silver-painted plastic hubcaps and silver-painted alloy rims – though some do look better than others
Two years ago, I bought a ’96 Tacoma. It came with a set of beautiful original stainless-steel Toyota hubcaps. I lost one a year after I bought the truck and found out they were only available for the first two years of Tacoma production. Good-condition used OE stainless replacements on eBay now bring up to $100 apiece!
I installed a half decent-looking inexpensive set of painted plastic Toyota hubcaps from a salvage-yard.
Later, I was happy to pay $60 for a pair of decent original stainless Tacoma hubcaps from craigslist. But I need to inspect and repair loose retainer-clips on most of them (the reason I lost the first one). So the plastic ones will be staying for awhile.
Happy Motoring, Mark
The shiny black “grille” of the original Tesla S was a weak point in the design, for me. Now the car has the uber-simple front end shared with the X — a big improvement.
I didn’t like the fake gaping maw of the early Model S either, the newer grilleless look should go down as one of the better mid cycle face lifts of all time, it positively changed my opinion of the design entirely.
Back in the ’80s or ’90s(?) I noticed the police cars, e.g. Ford Crown Victoria or Chevy Impalas with the blacked out trim, black grilles, black wheels and black hubcaps. Also noticed it on military light vehicles.
Then I noticed it applied to the civilian market. For some reason, this blackout “para-military” look has become fashionable to supplement the “bad boy” attitude, I suppose.
I don’t like the blatant black grille, black bumpers, black door handles and mirrors on the base trim pickup models. I remember when they used to be an argent silver, which seems to to fit almost every color.
If I ever get a pickup, like a Chevy Colorado, Toyota Tacoma, I’m going to a body shop and have that black grille and bumper painted argent silver to match the base argent wheels. Or opt for the chrome grille and bumper trim.
We’ve come a long way from that quote from Henry Ford “you can have any color as long as it’s black”. 😉
It went from a company telling customers that, to the customers proclaiming “you can give us any color as long as it’s black”
#Sheep
Black, unless polished, is merely dull.
My Holden Commodore SS-V Redline (nee Chevrolet SS) was quite overloaded with chrome accents inside and out. They offer a “Black” package option in Oz and the parts can be sourced here in the States, and it’s common to see SSs ‘murdered out’ with every bit of chrome removed.
Having drawn countless cars in my youth and while studying industrial design, I understand that chrome can be applied in moderation to draw the eye to certain styling features or enhance the lines of the vehicle.
So when I converted by car back to its native branding, I did swap out some, but not all, of the chrome bits for their piano black alternates. I left the trim around the upper grille in chrome, which helps to visually draw the eye away from the fussy lower grille and detailing around the DRLs.
I also bought aftermarket wheels with a chrome lip, which if you think about it, sort of replaces what whitewalls used to do back in the day – it emphasizes the circular shape of the tire. And if you really think hard about it, that’s the whole raison d’être for the vehicle in the first place.
I have a foot in both camps, I absolutely love chrome on old cars, it disappeared for a good while then came back in more subtle forms as highlights
The downside is Chrome looks awful when its pitted and rusty; and costs an absolute fortune to re plate
However black trim has its place on other cars, especially the more sleek and sporty ones.
Black has one great advantage, its so cheap and easy to restore
My Peugeot 406 Pininfarina coupe has a fair bit of black trim, the window surrounds, wipers and the body sills. The black started to fade and generally looked shabby against the shiny light blue paintwork
Two spray cans of satin black, and a roll of masking tape costing less than £5 and they looked like new, anyone can do that, I also sprayed the dark gray door mirrors to match and it really lifted the look the car