More vibrant colors on cars a bright idea

Has anyone noticed how much easier washing a car is nowadays? Used to be you’d scrub your arms off at bugs and tar and bird poop that stuck like it had been welded on. Now all the crud just seems to slide right off.

Besides that, automobiles can sit out in the elements season after season and, for the most part, retain their original color. My compliments to Bayer and DuPont and all the other chemical companies responsible for these wonderful new finishes.

I have one complaint, and it relates to the current color palette. Henry Ford reportedly said of the Model T, “you can paint it any color, so long as it’s black.” Sometimes I wonder if things have changed much. Automobiles painted white, gray (pardon me, silver) and a peculiar cross between tan and gray are everywhere.

I read an online news story touting these colors as the ones bringing the resale value. Three of the most uninspiring colors imaginable, and yet they are the most common hues you’ll see on the road. Black now seems exotic.

What is the matter with all these people? Are they all trying to disappear? It’s enough to make someone like me go gaga!

OK, I don’t like the colors – or uncolors, as I call them. That much must be obvious. In my opinion, gray and tan should be outlawed entirely since they render vehicles almost invisible. I almost drove into the side of a gray car that pulled in front of me one foggy day. To make matters worse, I was guilty of driving a gray car, too.

Put two gray cars together and there you are – invisible cars headed for a collision.

I, for one, appreciate the automobile buyer who opts for something more vibrant. For instance, bright blue or red – vivid, knock-your-socks-off fire engine red. Now there’s something I can see.

Some years ago there was a study that said flame orange, bright yellow and chartreuse green are the safest colors for automobiles, visible under almost any roadway conditions. I know these aren’t universally beloved colors, but really, I’m surprised our government hasn’t taken the lead in making this spectrum of colors a mandatory safety feature. (I can just see the shudders from the fashionable.) I’ll bet it would be as effective as anti-lock brakes or air bags since you’d see the other vehicle coming soon enough to hit your brakes.

I do see a few signs of sense. Recently, on the weekly grocery trip, I saw two – count ‘em, two – of those vivid yellow cars, a Mustang and something else. Somebody out there is getting the message.

Now if only we could get all the drunk drivers and cell phone addicts off the road.