My friend paulvaranasi sent this tonight, with this comment: “here is a serendipitous picture I took today- leaning out the window, of a moving car, praying I could capture these two together, and I did! What a garish Mercedes,with contrasting gas tank doors. Oy!”
As one who (almost) never leaves the house without a camera, all I can say is amazing. And even the height bar on that parking garage is color-coordinated. The combination of living in the gray NW and my wife’s love of bright colors has given me a new-found appreciation for intense combinations to challenge my eyes. This one manages to do that.
Whoa! Looks like one of those false color images. Seriously, look at the cart wheels and the shadows around there. Is this what a Mercedes and its owner look like to a bee? Or to an alien?
I could do an *Awesome* piece on the Scraper Phenom that’s corrupted every 1991-2004 Buick Regal owned by African Americans in Alameda County and select other parts of the Bay Area. I’d just have to get over my own internal judgements of it and look at it as an outgrowth of car customization that has existed since the dawn of the Automobile.
Although this is in (obvious) poor taste, it’s no different that T-Bucket Roadsters or Chopped ’49 Mercuries, or Low Rider ’64 Impalas. And it appears there’s always been individuals that want to set their cars apart from the crowd, despite how much we complain how plain our cars are today. I just hope whoever owns this Mercedes works at Ikea. Or manages a Church’s Chicken. Because that’s an awful color combination.
Laurence, maybe the owner is a University of Michigan or an Indiana Pacers fan:)
This reminds me of the fleet of Rolls Royces bought by the Bhagwan Rajneesh in the early 80s, IIRC. He had flamboyant tastes and they were painted the most horrendous colors. Some were bright metal flake (like a 70s bass boat) while others had murals on them. I saw them at a Kruse collector car auction in Auburn, IN back in the 80s after the Bhagwan got deported.
Over the last 15 years or so I have had to change the way I look at “customs” such as the one above. It has always been about personal taste and sometimes the execution and quality are pretty impressive even if I disagree with the style or taste.
Plus who am I to judge? When I was younger I was responsible for some curious customizations myself. (Sidepipes, airshocks and N-50/15 tires, flame jobs on cars that should have never been messed with, etc…)
PARAMATTA EELS colours so I wont complain go the blue n gold
Urrkkk…. the goggles, they did nothing.
“Challenge” my eyes? More like one-sided curbstomp. Where did I put that bottle of Advil?