A&Q about Lotus
Q:
Ferrar's are red, Cobras blue and white (or white and blue), STi's Blue with gold wheels, etc. I'm sure we can all think of a lot of great examples, but what do you think the signature color for the Elise is? Not the best color, or you favorite color, but the color that best represents the example of the breed.
A:
I always thought it was british racing green with a bit of yellow stripe or trim. Dunno.
A:
Going by Elise numbers in the U.S., it's SY.
A:
I'd have to say that SY is as close as there is to a "classic" color on the Elise in the US. Most of the time when there is a classic color for a specific car it is derived from their racing color, the color of the concept car, or the primarily marketed color. There are so many colors and no one color was used on the Elise in the marketing and/or racing, so there isn't really a strong tie like you would have with Ferrari, Porsche, etc. Kind of like Lamborghini where there isn't really a specific classic color.
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I think that most Ferrari road cars are red because there is a tradition for Italian race cars to be painted red. However, the 'Ferrari color' is yellow, taken from the badge.
I guess according to that the Lotus color is also yellow; just the race cars used to run in British Racing Green.
A:
And the 'proper' yellow for the Elise is "Norfolk Mustard"! No pearl, no metallic, just plain old mustard!
A:
Originally Posted by JWA
Kind of like Lamborghini where there isn't really a specific classic color.
I think you could make an argument that countach signature color is white. That wasn't defined by a racing heritage, or direct marketing, but I think white is it's signature color.
A:
British race cars are traditionally british racing green BRG with white numbers
I would say pretty much any British sports car from Jaguar to Aston Martin to Lotus to Triumph would classically be portrayed in BRG
not that wikipedia is any kind of reliable source, but sometimes its right
That being said I think most of the early US marketing shots and display models of the Elise seemed to be SY so to us in the states the SY is what we are used to seeing on it.
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For me growing up it had to be black and gold from the JPS F1 cars.
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Someone here will have more specific knowlege, but at one time in racing each country used a specific color. Italy-red, England-British racing green, USA-white, I think?
Who can help us out?
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Back in the 60's it was the flourescent red/orange of the 56.
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Lotus' "traditional" primary colors are Lotus (British) Racing Green and Norfolk Mustard (SY is similar, but more saturated and less orange). These are the colors used in their logo, and most commonly used on Lotus race cars.
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Originally Posted by 2ndCS
I think you could make an argument that countach signature color is white. That wasn't defined by a racing heritage, or direct marketing, but I think white is it's signature color.
I would agree with that, and it most definitely comes from the Alpine posters in the '80s. Didn't everyone have one of those on their walls growing up?
A:
Regarding the ORIGINAL question as to which is the " signature Elise color" I'd have to answer CO.
Every single magazine ad, brochure, even a Canon EOS catalog have the Elise in Chrome Orange.
So, CO is not the Lotus signature color but it's definitely the Fed Elise signature color.
A:
Originally Posted by Moto44
Someone here will have more specific knowlege, but at one time in racing each country used a specific color. Italy-red, England-British racing green, USA-white, I think?
Who can help us out?
Japan was andstill is white. I dunno what USA's colors are. Maybe Jeff Gordon's Rainbow Warrior DuPont color scheme should be America's color.
John
A:
Originally Posted by Moto44
Someone here will have more specific knowlege, but at one time in racing each country used a specific color. Italy-red, England-British racing green, USA-white, I think?
Who can help us out?
It is listed here
dunno how accurate it is, wikipedia and all
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not a big fan of SY, but it does seem to be THE LOOK of the federal Elise. It's the most common color, so that makes sense to me.
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Originally Posted by Surferjer
not a big fan of SY, but it does seem to be THE LOOK of the federal Elise. It's the most common color, so that makes sense to me.
Clearly the Elise looks best in red. Yet, the Esprit looks best in yellow.
A:
Originally Posted by Adam
For me growing up it had to be black and gold from the JPS F1 cars.
Yes, this was tobacco livery already. As far as I know, Colin Chapman was the inventor of that kind of sponsorship when the BRG/yellow stripe painted Lotus race cars turned red-white-gold in the beginning of 1968. In the '68 South African GP, the first race of that season, Jim Clark took his 25th and last Formula 1 victory - in a BRG coloured type 49. I belive that one of his next races was the one at Hockenheim where he lost his life in a Gold Leaf coloured type 48 Formula 2 car.
A:
BRG - since that is what I have and ahve had in the past