Posted on: Friday, April 1, 2005
Vroom, vroom and vivid — real color wheels
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Papaya orange is the new black. Or maybe it's aqua blue. Or maybe it's still good old ebony.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser Plebian, everyday colors are out. Passionate, metallic colors with romantic-sounding names are in:
Midnight blue. Blazing copper. Hot orange metallic. Torch red. Black cherry mica. Cyber green. Yellow jacket.
"If it's not the right color, nothing else matters, especially with women," said Peter Bunn, an assistant manager at Cutter Ala Moana. "If it's the right color, then people will pay a little more to get it."
So while hundreds of people poured into the convention center during the first hours of the four-day show to compare gas mileage, styling and prices, it was still something as primary as color that first caught their eye and kept them hopping from one dealer's exhibit to the other.
Times: Today, noon to 10:30 p.m.; tomorrow, 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m to 7 p.m.
Site: Hawai'i Convention Center, 1801 Kalakaua Ave. Admission: $7 for those 13 and older; $5 for seniors 62 and older, for military and for students (with ID); $4 for children 7-12; free for children 6 and under. "I once had a blue car that my husband painted red for me. Wasn't that nice of him?" she said.
None of the cars at yesterday's show, though, was just red.
Cadillac's new XLR model could be had in raven black, light platinum and crimson pearl.
The new Corvette on display was, according to the literature, Daytona sunset orange metallic. Chevrolet's stylish SSR retro roadster came in aqua blue, red-line red, ricochet silver, sling-shot yellow and smokin' asphalt.
"It reminds me of the ocean back home," said Gayle Goldstone, a visitor from Bodega Bay, Calif., who sat in the aqua blue model and looked very much like she belonged there.
Greens are making a comeback, said Fred Geyser, a product consultant for Ford, which this year offers holly green, estate green, aspen green and dark green satin on some of its truck models.
"Check out the steel gray Audi down there," said talk-show host Rick Hamada, just before chasing after his son, Zachary, who was leaving fingerprints on a $60,000 silver-green Cadillac.
The brightest car at the show probably was the new Pontiac GTO in a color called yellow jacket that would put a fire truck to shame. The most interesting color, for those not afraid of attracting a police officer's attention, might have been the papaya orange Audi TT, which could also have been mistaken for apricot, pumpkin, tangerine, melon or mango.
"I'd love to drive it," said Jim Parker of Kailua, as wife Joanne shook her head — no! — in the background.
Still, many people, especially men, still think darker shades of blues, maroon and black — make that ebony — are the sportiest, said Kyle Shirakata, vice president of Waipahu Auto Co.
And the most popular color in Hawai'i?
"Maybe silver," Bunn said. "It's easiest to keep clean and the safest of all the colors."
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
At the First Hawaiian 2005 International Auto Show, which opened yesterday at the Hawai'i Convention Center, you could have your pick of autos in dozens of colors, as long as they weren't just red, white or blue.
Richard and Roberta Lytle, visitors from Alaska, check out the Mini Cooper convertible while at the auto show at the convention center.
"Oh, I'd love to drive around in this," said Roberta Lytle, a visitor from Anchorage, Alaska, checking out the cyber green Volkswagen Beetle convertible that others called lime, olive, avocado and pea green before checking the sticker.
Three more days
