One automotive paint color seems to be more polarizing than any other. You either love brown cars or you hate them. Which camp do you fall in?
I’ll often message Brendan Saur photos of cars I see (and vice versa), unless I’ve put it on my automotive Instagram. This photo was hardly Instagram-worthy but I had to share with someone just how much I love the color combination: a rich, chocolate brown (“Mahogany”) with a cream interior. Well, Brendan told me he liked the interior color but had some choice words about the paint color and, indeed, brown cars in general.
Well, count me as someone firmly in the “Yes” camp for the color brown. That’s probably not surprising, considering I wear brown leather shoes and belts much more than black, and one of my favorite pieces of clothing is my brown leather jacket. Heck, a lot of things in my life seem to be a shade of brown. Unlike black, though, brown has many different shades and not all are equally pleasing.
The Cocoa Metallic that was the Buick Enclave’s “hero” color at launch? Appealing.
Ditto the Dark Mocha Metallic on the LaCrosse and Lucerne.
Kodiak Brown Metallic on the 2013-14 Lincoln MKS? I love it.
The brown used on the DS 4? Very nice.
The crème de la crème of brown paint jobs would have to be the two-tone brown on the Lancia Thesis. Absolutely stunning!
But some aren’t quite as nice, like the Marrakesh Brown used on the first BMW X1. In the metal, this brown looks much like a glass of fountain cola sitting in the sun.
And some older cars came with brown paintjobs that weren’t exactly flattering, either. Like my parents’ old VC Commodore, which looked like this.
On a related note, while I may wear tan (or camel) chinos almost every day, I find tan, beige and other similar colors look terrible on cars. When was the last time you saw an exciting car painted beige? The only beige-adjacent shades I like are the sandy “Gobi” paint color available on the Jeep Wrangler…
…and the striking Desert Khaki on the Subaru XV Crosstrek.
Overall, I seem to like shades of brown on cars with few exceptions, and I loathe tan/khaki/beige shades with even fewer exceptions. Tell me: does brown do it for you, or aren’t you down with brown? And are you a fan of tan?
Bought a new Toyota Celica GT in 1983. The salesman said, “I have two that are identical to what you want, one is blue and the other is brown, which one do you want?” I said, “What are you nuts, the blue one!”
I always thought 1969 full size Chevys looked especially nice in Burnished Brown with a Champagne roof…
1963 Full size Chevys also looked good in Cordovan Brown. 63 and 69 were the only years in the 60’s brown was offered. It made a comeback in 72 at Chevy.
That does look good.
My step-grandpa had a 63 Bel Air sedan this color. Except that by the time I saw it around 1968 or so it had turned into a chalky gray. I had no idea that the car was actually brown until he opened the trunk one day and I could see the actual color on the underside of the lid.
My HS chem teacher had a very handsome 63 Impala four-door hardtop in that brown with a cream roof – good times.
Nothing wrong with brown. Had a brown ’71 Fury I liked. Now, yellow on the other hand…The dealership where I work services a Porsche 911 that the owner inherited from his Dad. It came in yellow. He primered it just to cover up the color. I totally understand.
Brown can be problematic, but I did like my ‘Brazil Brown Metallic’ Scirocco in 1981 (CC-sourced pic attached). It was a lively brown, if that makes sense, and seemed to go well with the sharpness of the design and the tinted glass.
I see VW currently offers the Jetta in brown, but it’s a much heavier shade. Jettas are everywhere these days, but I’ve yet to see a brown one on the street.
This reminds me more of the burnt orange Chevy and Dodge offered on their mid sized pickups last decade. Always liked that color.
I like brown. Beige or Tan are fine interior colors, but I’m not a fan of those lighter shades on the exterior.
When I was a kid in the ‘70s there was a 1960 Buick in my neighborhood driven by an elderly couple in a memorable shade of dark brown (I wished the car was a ‘59). Buick called the color Cordovan, it was carried over into ‘61 models and it’s the best looking color on a big 4 door Electra.
Talk about CC connections. The actual car used in the real French connection case was a 1960 Buick Electra, the celebrity coming back and forth to France, they kept checking items until they found the car was several hundred pounds too heavy. The drugs were actually found inside the frame rails. Then the next item is the Mark III from the movie
It looks great on this one:
That car looks like it’s from THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971). I remember a scene where Gene Hackman & Co. take a brown Mark completely apart looking for a hidden drug stash.
That is funny. It must be a long ting ago I watched this movie, because I had no recollection that it was brown.
We have a car just like it a few streets from where I live.
Some people can not tell the difference between a Mark III and a Mark IV, why we
both are hearing stories like: “I saw your car downtown yesterday.”
He doesn’t drive his a lot, so usually it is me they have seen.
Is brown a good color? Oh, yes it is. It beats many other colors – not to mention color combinations – they came in.
The only other color I really like these cars in is black, but as there are way too many black cars driving around these days, I enjoy my triple brown car a lot and feel like giving thumbs up, when I see new cars in brown as well.
PS: It is not me in the picture.
I’m a Cleveland Browns fan, does that count? 😉
On a more serious note, I used to love that bronze color that was on many 90’s Pontiac Grands Prix. A former co-worker had a GTP sedan in that color with a lighter brown leather interior. A very nice car, made me wish I’d bought one. The pic is not the actual car, just a reminder of what they looked like…
Brown is good. I like those two Chevys that Jim posted. For the 1962 model year, Plymouth used a very dark brown that I think was called Cordovan. I remember paging through the ’62 brochure as a kid and seeing a Belvedere in that color with whitewalls and full wheel covers. Sharp! Also, Mercedes used a tobacco brown shade in the Sixties on the W108 sedans and the SLs that was handsome. Later, in the Eighties, I remember seeing Series 3 XJ6 Jaguars in a very similar color. They looked great with biscuit hide.
I had a turd brown XB falcon sedan for a while, cheap with rego was the buying criteria nothing else really mattered at least it ran ok for a while even if it looked terrible.
William, you can count me firmly as a brown car appreciator. As you’ve stated (and as with many colors), certain shades don’t do it for me. But in the right, warm, rich brown with a very slight reddish cast, I find that shade darned near irresistible.
About that Lancia, though… that paint scheme is making me hungry for a Milky Way candy bar.
You mean like this one Joe? 🙂
I’m right there with you. But when you move to browns that are more to the green/yellow side of the spectrum I start to lose enthusiasm.
Also, it occurs to me that brown cars really need a little chrome/bright trim to set them off. The black plastic looks awful on brown cars.
Exactly this! Great memory, JPC!
Probably the most colorful and interesting use of brown on a car – the 1930 Ruxton. Looks almost good enough to eat.
The world needs more brown cars. Heck, I prefer lime green and purple over the sea of gray, silver and black cars that roam our streets today. I would love to see some real color choices when buying a new car.
I want to say a thousand times yes! Besides lime green and purple, I’d take yellow or orange or bright red. Even a bright blue or a navy blue.
My Personal Favorite in Brown… the ’72 Olds 442 Convertible:
I am not sure that was a real 72 Olds color, it looks later to me. They had a brown called Nutmeg that didn’t have all of the red in the formula that this one seems to. There was also Baroque Gold that was too gold to really be a brown. I am betting that whoever restored this one either liked the brown paint from some other car in his life or this was one of those instances where someone tries to match an old color with modern paints and ends up way off (which is not uncommon these days). It does look good in that color, however.
I detailed all the cars for the Buick-Olds dealer from late 60’s to late 70’s (did most all the dealers cars) and it looks very close to a color I remember from a few during the time frame, There could be several shades of variation in one color. Even color sanding would change the color
Retro-Stang Rick, that is an absolutely beautiful Olds 442 convertible! That looks absolutely fantastic! Brown seems to suit that car just fine.
Tan or chocolate brown works best, and I find it’s a color that’s popping up again after it seemed to have disappeared during the 1990s. Once again, it depends on the car and the shade – to me it works better on SUVs including crossovers, some personal use pick ups, and bigger executive cars – definitely not a supermini or sports car.
The Toyota Venza was the first of the recent spate of brown cars. That color looked very nice – a rich hue and not washed-out looking. The Buick Enclave looks best in brown, and is the color I would have to have if ever I would own one. Ford has a nice brown as well, especially on the F-150.
Yes, I like brown, as long as the hue is rich.
My 1972 Nova was a lighter shade of brown, but nice. One of the few cars I wish I’d kept longer.
The new Toyotas Pirite is as close as I’ve seen to my original ’57 Plymouth gold. Alot of people say it’s brown, but the word means “fool’s gold”
I love brown on the right older car. My Parisienne is brown.
Only brown car I’ve had was a Peugeot 504, and I didn’t care for the color. Even without my two other 504s (burgundy and dark blue) for contrast, I wouldn’t have.
As a previous owner of a Toffee Brown metallic Jetta TDI count me as an admirer of brown cars. If I never see another grey or white car, I’ll be a happy man!
Yes, Brown definitely does it for me. I’m contemplating doing a brown wrap on my Magnum SRT8.
This AMG E63 is just gorgeous in brown.
…as is this Volvo V90
…and this Chrysler 300
…this A7
… and this Lincoln Continental. They all look good in gorgeous brown metallic.
I will make the caveat, i love a good brown *metallic* color. Solid brown doesn’t really do it for me.
Yeah brown is a tough color and a little goes a long way.
If the car has really interesting lines and some bright work it can work. I always thought the Porsche 928 looked great in a deep brown. And as a kid remember seeing a brown Jaguar XKE convertible with a tan interior, stunning. Of course the Jag looked pretty good in just about any color.
Was never really a fan of brown color until someone complimented me how good I looked in a dark brown suit or tan sportcoat. So I thought I’d extend this to cars.
My mother’s 2003 Buick Century is light metallic beige, almost a gold color with a light tan interior. She likes it.
My 2009 Toyota Venza is “Golden Mica Umber”, which is really a dark brown. Interior is a black & tan with light tan seats, black dash, black floor and faux wood door and dash trim. Interesting combination.
I like brown as an alternative to the monotonous white, dark grey or silver.
I don’t know whether I’d get another brown for my next car. To satisfy my post midlife crisis, I’m contemplating either a dark green pickup or a red convertible roadster. LOL.
Was slow to weigh in on this topic. My reply is a definite YES to brown, especially a metallic brown as in the example of the BMW X1. And, as an interior color, I much prefer it over the various shades of gray and black.
And I can confirm that the mythical BROWN station wagon with a diesel and manual transmission very much appeals to me. Providing it is at an affordable price.
Brown is one of the “Oh hell no!” colors. The darker it is the better, but any brown, tan. beige, “Mocha”, etc. is “Oh hell no!”. Same goes for almost any green or white. I like bright colors the best. My mother’s first husband’s last car was a Grand Marquis that was “Mocha over Mocha”. Yuck. He really loved that car.
I am a fan of brown if done in the cocoa or root beer varieties.
My second car was a 1971 Castillian Bronze GTO similar to this.
Later on, a 2001 Ford Ranger in Chestnut Brown Metallic.
Count me in. Bronze, Bronzemist, Mocha, etc., I’ve had them on several Chevrolets and Buicks. I wish such a color had been available for the 2017 LaCrosse. Instead, I went with “Pepperdust” (which I like too!)
What do you think of my Brown 1979 Alfa Spider ?