It's never enough to sell a car with a unique color. Automakers also have to give the colors a matching unique name. From an "Assuan"-colored van to a "Wicked Merlot" convertible, here's ten cars with seriously bizarre color names.
How To Play
Click on the color and you'll get the name and a swatch of that color. Click the next button at the top to reveal the corresponding vehicle and some information about the strangely-named color. Let's begin.
Wicked Merlot Jewel Metallic
2009 Pontiac Solstice GXP
We're not sure how "wicked" merlot truly is unless you're coming from the perspective of a judgmental oenophile. Despite the strange name it accents the car quite well.
Bronzit Beige Metallic
1988 BMW 6-Series
Found on numerous BMW models, Bronzit Beige Metallic will always be remembered by us for its time spent adorning the long 6-Series from the 1980s. It's not just color, it's a command: Bronze-it!
Photo Credit: Bimmer Forums
Burnt Orange
1973 Ford Pinto
Burnt Orange is the official color of The University of Texas and therefore has some level of accept as a name. However, It doesn't get anymore ironic than giving a car with a history of fires a color called "burnt."
Anti-Establish Mint
1970 Ford Maverick
In the 1970s, as the Vietnam War began to wane, Ford and Chrysler battle over who could come up with the silliest name. Credit goes to Ford for Anti-Establish Mint, which captured the sentiment of the day with a really stupid pun.
Root Beer Metallic
2008 Honda Element SC
There's something unappealing about the idea of metallic-flavored Root Beer and in the realm of soft drink-named colors it doesn't quite match up to Cherry Red or Orange Julius. Still, what better place for a strange color than on a strange car like the Element SC.
Assuan Brown
1983 VW Vanagon
Assuan Brown isn't a color name you can say out loud in mixed company. When you hear, or read, the word Assuan it already sounds dirty. Couple it with the word "brown" and there's only one thing we're thinking. The name of the Egyptian city the color is named for changed it's name to Aswan for a reason.
Photo Credit: The Samba
Egg Yolk Yellow
2005 Ford Focus
Car companies have gotten in the habit of naming car colors after food and we have to credit Ford for correctly matching the name closely with the way the color looks. The Focus truly makes us think of egg yolks, which don't make us think of anything about driving.
Photo Credit: Eyermonkey @ flickr
Plum Crazy
1970 Dodge Challenger
Plum Crazy is a strange name, but it's appropriate for the vehicle. Ford had its Anti-Establish Mint Mavericks, but the Dodge Challenger was — well, Plum Crazy.
Photo Credit: Classic Muscle NJ
Scorched Penny
2006 Scion xB Series 4.0
This is another one of those cases where the car color name is just a little too on-the-nose. Yes, the Scion does look like what we imagine a scorched penny would look like but we're not in the habit of burning currency.
Squeeze Green
2010 Ford Fiesta
Automakers have gotten in the habit of reserving green for the color of choice for strange names and we almost went with the Kia Soul special green color Alien. But whereas Alien reminds you of animated aliens, Squeeze Green doesn't remind us of a color at all. It reminds us of trying to squeeze into a tiny European car.