I was struck by the sheer audacity of the paint job of this Ford Windstar I saw in Seattle. It looks like Grimace was squirted with grape soda while carrying lavender. And as I browsed through the Curbside Cohort the other day, I found more and more examples of cars from the 1990s with purple paint. Here I was thinking every car in the 1990s was turquoise or aqua…
I’m not convinced the Windstar’s paint is stock because I can’t find a matching shade in color swatches of the ’95-97 model. It also reminds me of a set of mugs my family had in the early ’00s which I was adamant were purple but my family swore were blue. Regardless of whether you think the Windstar is blue, purple or indigo, there were plenty of purple cars in the 1990s.
Why, just a street away I found this Mercury Sable. It’s a ’92-95 model, perhaps a ’92-93 in Medium Aubergine.
Let me just say for the record that I love the colour purple. It’s more shade-dependent than blue, however, so I can’t quite say it’s my absolute favourite colour (I’ll split the difference and put indigo at number one). And I also have my reservations about its use on cars. That Windstar? Pass. This ’97 Pontiac Firefly posted on the Cohort by canadiancatgreen? Not a fan.
“But wait,” you may be thinking, “Didn’t you have a purple car?” Yes, I sure did. It was a Phantom Purple Ford BA Falcon XR6 and I thought it was absolutely stunning. The BA/BF Falcon actually came in multiple different purple shades during its run. There were three others: Vibe (a dusky purple), Menace (a bright, almost fuchsia shade) and Fantasy (a trippy chromaflair affair).
Somehow, purple works, in my eyes, on cars that are a bit sportier and substantial than a Geo Metro. A Dodge Challenger or Charger, for example, can totally rock purple. If you think purple is a feminine colour, cars like my Falcon or a Plum Crazy Charger will challenge your preconceptions.
Ford Australia, like Holden, was always offering new and exciting paint colours on its sporty models. Meanwhile, all these purple cars of the 1990s seem to be following a trend that started in the late ’80s or early ’90s. Do you think Ford North America would’ve sold a purple Escort if Dodge hadn’t already been selling purple Shadows and Neons?
Speaking of which, this is one of three purple Dodge Shadow photos I found by canadiancatgreen. Either our Cohort friend has a taste for purple Shadows or this was a particularly ubiquitous colour.
I seem to recall seeing pink/purple Hyundai Excels (Accents) back in the day so there was an outbreak of purple-mania down under. It wasn’t to the same extent as the American and Canadian markets, however, and seemed to be confined mostly to cars of this Geo Metro’s size.
Meanwhile, in the US and Canada, Chrysler offered purple paint on their LH cars including this Eagle Vision. GM would sell you a purple Pontiac Bonneville or Grand Prix. The Mercury Grand Marquis was available in Light Medium Aubergine. Purple was everywhere! Peak Purple must’ve been around 1995 or so, after which it appeared to slowly recede.
It was even found on trucks, like this Toyota Tacoma I saw at Nairn Falls in British Columbia. Interesting choice for a truck, though it kind of works.
I may love the color but I can’t say I’m a fan of these purple Escorts and Shadows. This Pontiac Firebird, however, wears the color very well. In my eyes, purple needs to be on something a bit large and a bit aggressive. The Firebird fits the bill and, in fact, this may just be my favorite color on the final Firebird.
What did you think of the great purple period of the 1990s? Would you ever own a purple car?
That Windstar is a ‘98 or ‘99 judging from the full amber turn signals upfront.
Some other purple cars I can think of here in the US; not sure why I even know this:
-in the late 2000s the Hyundai Elantra could be had in a shade called ‘purple rain’
-the first generation of MB CLA here in the US also came in purple; the color was called ‘northern lights violet.’
-I really liked the Cadillac ATS in ‘majestic plum;’ actually maybe I just liked the name 🙂
Great topic and compilation of pics William. It’s not too often when a specific colour is tied to a decade. Like grunge music and unplugged musicians, purple (and teal) cars say 1990s. Electric blue and chrome yellow were big then too. To me the car that eventually ‘owned’ dark purple, given it was the exclusive colour offered initially, was the Plymouth Prowler.
I find purple, like a number of bold and unconventional colours, has the advantage of looking fresh and unique in the right application. However, it’s a colour that can look contrived, looking too cute and forced, often on small cars. Almost further cheapening their appearance.
My wife’s favorite color is purple, and Chrysler made PT Cruisers in something close; however, buying ours used, I settled for blue (the purple one we looked at was two years older and had a lot more miles on it, and wasn’t turbocharged, for only $1000 less; not as nice looking as the privately-owned, well-loved one in the photo).
When I was purchasing my minivan last year, I had a good time checking out Kia’s websites from different countries. I was surprised to see that the Carnival (Sedona) is sold in purple in many parts of the world — below is an image from Kia Motors South Africa.
I assume Kia’s not alone in this color offering.
Most use of purple in cars leans towards the blue spectrum. This example has more magenta than usual. Interesting colour. Like some of the butterscotch and green shades, I’m not sure I could live with it.
I would most emphatically own a purple car!
Seeing all the various shades of plum sure makes one melancholy for the nineties, and all the vibrant hues that have since fallen out of favor. There was a confidence and optimism projected that is sadly lacking in today’s palette.
I can’t help but wonder if the dark and sober colors currently favored are somehow related to broader geopolitical trends. In comparison with today, the nineties were a relatively carefree time.
Hey, I’m all for more colourful car colours. Just not purple.
Purple happens to be a very popular color for cars in Baltimore due to our NFL Team’s colors (Baltimore Ravens). I’ve seen more Plum Crazy Chargers and Challengers here than anywhere else.
Then there’s this guy, whose model year of Buick matches that of a rather famous hall of fame linebacker….
I’ve even seen a Ravens purple, white, and black camouflage Deuce and a Half rolling around town that’s presumably used for tailgating, but sadly can’t find any pictures of it right now.
“I seem to recall seeing pink/purple Hyundai Excels (Accents) back in the day so there was an outbreak of purple-mania down under.”
I remember quite well reading an article (I can’t point to the magazine, though), probably in ’93, about the upcoming Accent as the Excel successor. Besides its new, curvaceous deisgn, it would have several uncommon colors, like purple, pink, and light green. Sure enough, when ’94 rolled in and our local Hyundai importer began bringing them over, my 65 years old uncle got a metallic pink sedan, losing all the family’s respect :). He said that was the only color they had in stock with AC and power steering for immediate delivery …
I remember the purple craze around that time – there were a number of companies offering it.
The Mercury Sable you show has to be a 92-94 and Ford called that color Dark Cranberry. I know because my 93 Crown Vic was that color. In some light it was a really really deep burgundy, but in direct sun it had a definited purple to it. It was more purple when it needed washed and waxed. Picture below.
The two Chrysler vehicles were like that Ford Cranberry, a cross between burgundy and purple. They also offered one called Wildberry on mid 90s Diamond Star cars and Sebring/Avenger as well as one called Deep Amethyst from 97-2000 that wound up on its share of minivans.
The Chrysler Deep Amethyst.
Ford went somewhat purplish with interiors, too. My 1998 Contour SVT had a Midnight Blue interior, which was actually a very deep purple/blue color.
Ford went a little, um, aggressive on a lot of colors in the 90s. For a couple of years you could not get a straight red/burgundy. In addition to the dark cranberry they had medium cranberry that was like a metallic red with a little pink tinge to it.
I had that color on my 92 CV and really liked it.
I think purple looks grand on this ’59 Imperial…
Sure does!
…but I’m not as enthusiastic about it on this ’61 Dodge Dart, especially as a single-tone. It’s actually a factory color called “Rose Mist”.
I’d like to meet the guy who walked into a Dodge dealer in ’61 and said, “I want THIS!”
The second sentence. I’m still laughing.
Great (grape?) piece, Will. I will agree with you that the purple hue offered on the last Pontiac Firebird was an appealing one.
I did own a purple car. 1996 Ford Escort LX wagon with a 5 speed. Almost the same shade as the 97/98 in the junkyard photo.
My sister still owns a purple 95 Camaro she bought in 99.
I currently drive a 2004 purple-ish car. I saw ish because it is quite blue.
Cars used to have interesting colors. Now its any color you want as long as its some shade of grey.
I miss the 90s colors greatly. Purple was never my thing (I’m more a yellow guy) but the color lineup of the Geo Storm was pretty much perfect in my view. At least there was variety out there.
Rover in the UK did a beautiful purple called “Amaranth” in the 1990s, it was a “flip” style paint which was purple in some lights, blue in others, but this was a standard paint colour on the Rover 100, 200, Mini and MGF. I had a Rover 100 (updated Metro) in Amaranth like the one pictured. Google Rover Amaranth and you will see it looks stunning on the sportier cars.
Even Honda offered a Purple Accord in the 98-02 Body Style. I think it was only offered up to 2000 as the 01-02s were the “freshened” version of that body style.
I’m all for purple!!! Here’s a flashback to a Chrysler LHS I wrote about five years ago.
My father owned an LHS in this very color. He received many compliments in it. I recently purchased a 2000 DeVille. It is amazing to me that Cadillac pretty much benchmarked the LHS interior considering the LHS debuted as a 1994 model and the new DeVille debuted in 2000 but most everything from the speaker layout, the stubby plastic door locks on the door panels. The two tone gray dashboard. The single wood strip that cuts across the dash and continues into the door panels. The logos placed on the far right side of the glove box. The “idiot lights” on the instrument panel are all pretty much copied from the LHS design. Driving the DeVille it occurs to me that either the LHS was cutting-edge in 1994 or the DeVille was behind the times in 2000. If I was Chrysler I would have been impressed to think the mighty Cadillac copied my seven year old design. Everyone always says now a days that the marriage of Daimler Chrysler was a cash grab. Those people were either too young or to stubborn to admit that Chrysler in the mid-1990’s for a very brief period, was the domestic trend-setter. Especially in 1997 when GM cancelled the B-Body sedan and the Lumina was promoted to top-of-the line sedan at Chevrolet and Ford designed a large blob called Taurus, a medium blob called Contour, and a small blob called Escort. Yeah they still had the Crown Victoria but even in 1997 it was a 20 year old chassis. I suppose you could make the same case with the Renault derived LH but most of the public does not associate the LH with Renault.
My ex had a purple ’95 Prizm. Darker than these cars, almost black. Classy IMO.
William Stopford, funny that you mention aqua in the opening paragraph, ’cause I remember purple & aqua as a color combination that got all kinds of play in sports/casual wear back then.
Straying from the 1990s, like a few posts above, I love-love-love the 1950s Lincoln’s “Wisteria”:
The white roof makes it work. If the car were painted SOLID Wisteria, I’d be like…
Poindexter, I would agree…and your comment set me to Googling. I don’t know if Lincoln mandated two-tone, but every (Wisteria) car I could find online is either a hardtop like this (white above) or a convertible with white/black roof. Who knew?
From the looks of those window gratings, I’d wager the Windstar is a surplus – and now fabulous- former USPS vehicle.
I owned an offending car – for about four years. It was a 1998 Mercedes CLK320 in the Mercedes color “quartz blue”. You can look it up but I would be close if I called it “metallic violet” – very close to that 1961 Dodge. I bought it used and later traded it on a new white 2004 CLK320.
I loved having it. Nobody else here had any car in any color anything like it. This was in a town full of F-250s and Suburbans and the lesser wanna be’s. Screw ’em; I liked the car and didn’t care what they thought. I like a Mercedes; I like a coupe; I like a unique color. I just plain liked the car. It drove great but now I know I prefer the earlier straight six engines from C124s just before my CLK was the current MB middle line coupe. I fixed that eventually – thanks Paul N. for a bit of the information that led me the right way (124) on MB coupes.
Mercedes “quartz blue” was the introductory color on the then new ’98 CLK class cars and was the limited special edition color on the ’97 SL320 “Anniversary Editon”
My first new car was a purple 94 cavalier RS V6 coupe. Hawaiian Orchid Metallic was the official name but it was indeed Purple. Great color. I picked it out special. I think you could get the same color on Camaros in the early to mid 90s. Purple was very hot in the 90s.
On my way home this afternoon across from me at a stop light was a purple Escort Wagon which of course I immediately thought of when I click on the article. So I wasn’t overly surprised to see one pictured in the body of the article, CC effect and all.
“It’s not Purple! It’s Black Cherry!”
My Father bought himself a used 1994 Chrsyler New Yorker when I was about 20 to replace his aging 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis. He had been eyeing the car for a couple years and had spent the better part of a decade digging himself out of tax debt to finally treat himself to what was his dream car at the time. I came home from work one day to find it in the driveway parked in my spot. I opened the door and shouted “Whose purple car is in my spot?” to find him sitting like a kid in the middle of the living room floor surrounded by the various owners manuals and brochures reading avidly about his new prize. He forcefully corrected me, “It’s not Purple, It’s Black Cherry”. Was a running joke in the family for years. After seeing several Mopars in the same color in the photos, it seems the jury is out. It was purple. Miss you, Dad.
A lovely story there.
I once had a (faded) musk-pink Peugeot 404 – these things happen, alright, it’s a long story – and saw it advertised for sale again some years after I’d got rid of it. The advertised colour?
“Moulin Rouge”.
To which I gave them ten points for creativity, though none for truthiness!
Seen a number of my pictures used here Thanks. Yes purple is one of my favourite colours it is also a colour I photograph as it is rather uncommon or less common than many others. Saw a purple Volkswagen Golf at the Auto Show a couple yrs ago thought it looked great.
Ever since I was a kid I’ve disliked purple so much it positively makes me itchy. There’s just something grim about it, though I agree that if it is must be there, it needs be on a slightly angry machine and not an Accent or Mazda 121, where the cutsey curves really do make it look as if the owner is rolling in a mouldy grape.
Purple was also a big colour in the early to mid-’70’s too, conjuring for me a sparkly violet XY Falcon GT which was indeed an angular and wild beast. Then as now though, it looked pretty stupid on a cutesy Mini Clubman: “I’m small and angry, I shall bite your tires.”
I have it somewhere inaccessible in the memory bank (which increasingly resembles a frozen snow bank) that ’60’s- ’70’s purple had some nasty chemicals in it which meant that it became effectively banned, and it wasn’t until the ’90’s that it could be adequately reproduced safely. Any thoughts?
“that ’60’s- ’70’s purple had some nasty chemicals in it which meant that it became effectively banned, and it wasn’t until the ’90’s that it could be adequately reproduced safely.”
I have never heard this one. The fact that neither the red nor the blue (that mix together to make purple) had such nasty chemicals would suggest that this might be an urban legend? I think purple was one of those flash-in-the-pan style things of 1968-71 and went away just as quickly as it came. It was sure well represented in the Hot Wheels cars I was buying in those years.
I’d say you’re right. All I can find is that it had lead, as they all did then. Here, btw, the purple craze lasted into about ’76.
As for HotWheels, mine weren’t necessarily new, but I do recall that my Mercedes Pagoda was disappointingly purpled. (And its wheels were too big, like every HotWheels. Matchboxes they were not, oh cheapskate relatives of Christmas!!)
Purple is one of the very few colours I havent had on a car Ive owned it was a popular colour of the 70s a mate had a purple HQ Kingswood sedan that oxidised into some fantastic shades.
Now, BMW is offering three special colours for its new 2020 BMW M4 EDITION ///M HERITAGE®, commemorating the M’s three-stripe colours.
One of them is called Velvet Blue metallic®. Methinks it’s really a very obvious shade of purple despite the word, Blue, in the name.
I had a Trek mountain bike with this color in the mid-nineties; it was combined with forest green which looked better than it sounds!
I’m more interested in that J30 Maxima behind the Sable wagon.
Coming home today and what do I see a purple xB, a custom paint job I’m thinking.
After reading this I started noticing…. violet cars aren’t so rare after all. On this morning’s walk, 6 purple cars and pickups were visible in one block.