This E9 sat patiently for me the other day as I pulled out my phone for CC posterity. I love this shape, but more particularly I love this color combination. While silver on its own has become so ubiquitous it generates more than a modicum of scorn, when orange striping is added it takes on a whole new character.
Here in Australia, we saw the same combination available on the Holden HQ Monaro GTS, as well as the slightly earlier Ford XW and XY Falcon GT – albeit with minor variations in hue. I can think of many, many colors I would prefer instead of silver, but when topped with orange striping I can think of no better combo. What about you?
I’ve always been partial to “Shelby Stripes”, especially in the original Wimbledon White with Guardsman Blue stripes…
Of course the reverse looks nice too, like on my generation of Mustang in Shelby form…
Sky Blue with Orange Stripe “Gulf” GT40 Racing Livery
The Bimmer looks great! The blue and white on the Shelby GT350 is a great combo, as are red cars with white stripes and vice versa. Dark green with gold stripes also works well.
Right you are: I was just going to suggest a nice British Racing Green with gold stripe myself.
The black with gold of the Hertz version of the GT350 looked awfully nice.
Another application I like…
John Player Special, Bandit Trans Am, anniversary 280ZX, etc. Can’t go wrong with black and gold.
Absolutely! My favorite! Black and Gold, or Navy Blue and Gold. It even made the much maligned Mustang II look good. Can’t pull up a pic, as I am at a work computer, but check it out. Next would be that BMW in the opening photo. That looks pretty sharp too.
Porsche in Gulf livery.
I like the Gulf livery enough but Martini is my favorite Porsche racing livery by far!
When talking Gulf stripes, many would consider the gold standard the Gulf Ford GT40.
Got told by friends and strangers that my solid silver 2000 Mustang Coupe looked sharp with the “retro” black rocker stripe on it. Even had the M U S T A N G lettering on it that mimicked the original 1965 / 66 chrome lettering. Would have bought a gold drop top with a black top and matching rocker stripe if it wasn’t a couple K more than the coupe I bought.
Speaking of Mustangs, I always liked the stripe package on the 1971 Ford Mustang Boss package. I always thought it broke up the massiveness of the car. Maybe Ford should do a retro version for the current body style (2015 – )
Yes, like you I liked it back in the day and I still like it very much. Never drove or even rode in that generation of Mustang, but I sure liked the looks of them ever since they first came out.
A very dark solid blue ink color with a thin double line of dark red pinstripe always worked for me.
I always liked this combo…
That Monaro is stunning!
I’m fairly biased towards European racing colors, especially the Team Lotus green/yellow livery. It isn’t exactly British Racing Green which is usually much darker, this green has a yellow tint in it that goes extremely well to the yellow stripes. I’ve always wanted that combo.
Nothing beats the John Player Special black/gold combo, though….
+1 from me. The Capri looked stunning.
Red with black stripes and roof is a big hit at our house.
There are obvious ones like white/blue black/gold but the weird obscure ones like that Monaro are my favorite to see. A favorite of mine is Panther pink/ Magenta stripe on the 70 Challengers and Cudas
How about the “laser” stripes on ’70-’71 Torinos?
+1 – and I like it even better on Bill Mitchell aka Vince C’s beautiful red ’72 Torino, although the contrast with the cream looks nice.
+2 An extra plus of these Ford stripes is that they were reflective. To catch a flash of one of these going by in the dark is remarkable. Oh yeah, there’s also the extra visibility/safety thing.
Thanks for the compliment on the car again Rick! I may be a bit biased, but I agree that the ’72 Torino, red with the laser stripe is one of the best strip jobs. I like the 70-71 too, but the full length stripe worked better in my eyes. They kind of ruined in in 1973 when the moved the stripe too high on the body IMO. I also agree with your earlier post on the Mustangs, two of my favourite colour/strip combos.
Leif Spring,
All the Torino laser stripe were reflective from 1970-73. While maybe some might see it as a bit of a frivilous feature, they do actually light up very well at night and make the car much more visible from the side.
And, yes, I’ve always liked those stripes, too. Never saw many with those stripes back in the day.
Also, The Renault 8 Gordini. I think it was the first striped car I ever saw, and the connection to the rally cars was crystal clear to my five year old mind. The car I Saw in front of us waiting eagerly for the lights to turn green was a street legal version of a rally car, that thought was clear to me, and it was a genius thought, and I’ve lusted for one ever since. And it is beautiful with its French national racing color and that assymmetrical white stripe that shows just the right amount of carelessness and arrogance.
This is the one that came to my mind.
+1
I am not a fan of the “flat paint” fad that is so prevalent these days, but I once saw a modern Shelby Mustang (I forget which year now) that was an all shiny black car with flat black “Shelby Stripes” and the car looked stunning this way. Having an all-black Mustang myself (with no stripes at all), I really appreciated the subtleness of this car’s striping.
Speaking of Mustangs, the striping on the 1969 & 70 Boss Mustangs (and their recreation in 2012 & 2013, respectively) are also a favorite of mine. The “C” stripes on the ’69 & the ’12 are ok, but I prefer the up and over the hood stripes on the ’70 and ’13 better. Since I prefer the look of the 1969 to the ’70, and the 2013 to the 2012, if I could afford a Boss, I guess I’d have to go for the 2013. ;o)
I did the Holden matte-black hood stripe on my Nightfall Grey Metallic Chev SS, which was just subtle enough for my tastes.
Yep! That’s the effect! A tasteful mod indeed, Ed.
I have a few favorites!.
My favorite is probably the Olds Cutlass 442s from the 80s.
71-72 Road Runners with the strobe stripes
340 Dusters especially with the hood blackout package
any red-blooded American male that grew up in the late 70s into the 80s loved these
I was thinking about that earlier today. Our eyes today may immediately see mullets and gold chains, but when this came out (and got screen time with BR behind the wheel), it was really pretty sharp and exciting.
Camaro…gold chains…mullet…
I had a 1975 Duster 360 that looked like the picture except mine was baby blue with the white half-roof and white “feather” side stripe. Pretty striking looking.
LTDan, can’t disagreee with any of your selections.
For all of GMs faults in the 80s, they could still produce a stunning two-tone paint job that looked equally as good on a sporty 442 or Broughamy Eldorado.
True that… think about the Caprice Classic or Impala B-Body done up in black and silver two-tone… add the red interior and matching red pin striping and you had quite the looker…
My dad had one almost exactly like this when I was young, just replace the red pinstripe with electric blue, with a matching blue crushed velvet interior. First car we ever had with a tape deck and power windows/seats. Loved it.
finally the late model Challenger in black with a red stripe and retro Cragar wheels make me drool
Another racing inspired fad was the blacked out hood, to reduce glare, obviously. The only car I know that came so equipped from the factory was the Simca 1000 Rallye package. Was there any more?
Viva GT Mk.1 too.
Avenger Tiger as well?
Oh yes! Though I haven’t made an Avenger yet….
That was quite an early example of a factory fitted spoiler too. And it had pretty bold stripes.
Not a factory production car, but factory prepared race cars:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datsun_510#/media/File:Datsun_Bluebird_510_003.JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_S30#/media/File:Datsun_Fairlady_240Z_001.JPG
This is one of favorites. They offered it in several different color combinations.
Does a 1929 Ruxton count?
Pre-psychedelic, psychedelic.
Had to look this up and was shocked to see these were factory paint jobs. The Wikipedia article has a beautiful multi-toned brown example.
Ruxton were famous for those multi-color jobs. If the paint technology had existed in the 1920s for those gradual-change two-toned cars, doubtless Ruxton would have used it. Probably also pearlescent paint, and the paints that change color depending on the angle one viewed the car from.
Obviously, the best combination is the one which adds the most horsepower.
So a red car with an even redder stripe…And a sticker.
So many to choose from. This is probably my favorite. Today.
’70 AMX Big Bad Green with shadow mask.
That Rambler 2DR wagon, behind the Hornet hatchback off to the left…reminds me of a raccoon!
I can’t comment on favorite color combos (I like too many of them), but Don, you’ve a knack for beautifully photographing cars that make me want to drool. Both the CS and the Monaro are knockouts.
I drooled over it when it was new.
And I still do 60 years later.
More of a two tone than a stripe, but back then, stripes were not yet invented.
And like 1957, the price for one of these is still beyond my means.
Black and gold was a popular combination in 1957 for high end models.
The hockey sticks on the front fender of the 1969 Camaro have long been a favorite. I really like the blue/white as seen here:
No comment necessary.
I’m a fan of the MK1 Lotus Cortina. The green stripe works well with the vestigial fins, and those wild tail lights!
That was a really good job, and one of the few instances a stripe job really improved on the car. Another is the Triumph Vitesse, and I’m really talking the application of graphics more than the color/stripe combo iself. The graphics really makes it a sharp looking car.
There can be only one…
With a hood ornament like that, who is looking at the stripes?
Ed, does the wheel on the white Camaro have a name ? It’s a GM part, I know; was it used by police and highway patrol as well as certain muscle cars in the portfolio ? Was it sometimes dressed with that very deep trim ring ?
Thanks — and pardon my ignorance. Better late to the ball than never . . .
Rallye wheels?
Another interesting form of striping is the peculiar trademarked Alpina striping. And it has grown on me. It’s an option delete, but I think it’s such an ingrained part of the Alpina branding, together with wheels, the colors, the interior, and the engine tweaks. If you’re buying an Alpina, why not go for the whole experience? They have two color combos unique to them, I guess the shades are trademarked, a green/gold and blue/silver combo, and I think the green with gold striping is especially beautiful.
+1
I’m partial to the 79 Mustang Pace Car.
So much so, that I patterned my 81 Imperial ’24 Hours of LeMons’ race car after it!
This absolutely made my day. That is brilliant.
+1!
Amazing. That looks too nice to be a LeMons car.
Thanks guys. We actually won the IOE award ( crappiest car that does the most laps ) at our last race with this theme, and finished 30th out of 93 cars with a basically stock Imperial. Paint job with a foam roller and Rustoleum, and the car had been sitting in a field for six years when I bought it. Too much fun……
SWEET! Did you lose the Imperial EFI computers in the process?
Bonus points for most wild card use of stripes goes to Volvo who didn’t only use them on the outside but on the inside as well. The 242GT had a pretty wild interior with black courderoy upholstery with bright orange stripes over the seats, dash, and door panels. The 70’s was Wild…
How about an award for the largest stripes?
If you want to go really retro, go primal, without stripes…..
Go ahead and laugh, but I have always loved EVERY color combination on the old Shelby Chargers!
Deep red.
I’ll agree. They always looked cool to me.
Blue.
Black
And silver.
And honorable mention to the 35th Anniversary Super Coupe…
“While silver on its own has become so ubiquitous it generates more than a modicum of scorn”…
Don, I understand your point, but given the “right shape”, plain silver doesn’t need embellishment. Bill Mitchell, with the help of Peter Brock and Larry Shinoda, understood that and gave us a superb example of this alternative point with the 1963 Corvette C2 and earlier with the XP87.
Notice the non-production side scoop and the little vents just forward of the taillights.
Agree, here is the production 1963 split window Corvette.
Silver contrasted excellently with the modest use of chrome 60s cars had, even more so when the interior was a color like red or blue.
I don’t think silver has looked good on any car made since at least 1980. Black plastic trim and grey/black interiors just look dreary with it.
The XP 87 Stingray Racer as another possible example of the adequacy of “plain silver”.
How about an Opel Kadett. Further reading here: http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/kurbside-klassiker-1968-opel-kadett-rallye-1900-the-european-gto-which-up-ended-the-old-world-order/
The red and white with gold band separating them on the Gold Leaf Lotuses is perhaps my favourite, along with they red and white roof BMC rally colours
1969-80 Cougar Eliminator.
Also 1969-70 Cougar Cat hood powerdome stripe.
IMHO, Nobody did stripes better than Mopar in the 70’s!
Scrolled through them all, and I haven’t yet seen it posted. I’m probably one of the few that like this color combination, but I am a sucker for a white with gold stripe combo…. the Hurst color combination.
My 2006 Mustang GT was done up to look like the 2010 Hurst Mustang pace car.
The Hurst pace car I modeled mine after.
The colors go great with Oldsmobiles, like this 69 Hurst….
… or this 1972 Pace Car (which happens to be my dream muscle car)…
…the Colonnades got some interesting stripe options, I like this 74….
…and it even followed to the downsized A-bodies as well.
Looks good on a big body Fuselage 300.
It’s even making a modern day come back with the modern Hurst cars. You saw the Pace car above, here’s a current generation Mustang….
…. or a Challenger….
…or even a Ram. yeah, I probably went a little overboard in my enthusiasm for this color combo, but I love it. ?
I’ve always been partial to a particular Kenworth K100 Aerodyne that was in the TV show “BJ and the Bear”. That paint scheme just looks good.