Local Color: Unusual Paint Hues at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show

Tom Appel

5 years ago

Check out our gallery of eye-catching colors seen at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show.

Local Color: Unusual Paint Hues at the 2018 Chicago Auto Show — Check out our gallery of eye-catching colors seen at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show.

Traditional auto shows are facing plenty of challenges these days, as manufacturer priorities shift and the new-vehicle marketplace evolves. One thing has stayed the same, though: an auto show offers an unparalleled opportunity to compare competitive cars back-to-back, and to “tire-kick” a broad range of vehicles in a short amount of time. For an auto journalist, these shows are also a great way to spot industry trends large and small.

One of our favorite Chicago Auto Show traditions is to walk the show floor with an eye out for out-of-the-ordinary factory colors, and we did just that once again this year. (You can check out last year’s batch here.) This is not a comprehensive list… it’s simply a gallery of quick snapshots of colors that stood out from the norm and made us look twice. Several of these hues are extra-cost options, and a couple are special limited-production models (and at least one—the MX-5 Miata 30th Anniversary—is already sold out). We’ve arranged the photos below in roughly “rainbow” order, with a couple of muted-but-interesting outliers at the end. Can you pick a favorite?

Local Color: Unusual Paint Hues at the 2018 Chicago Auto Show

Local Color: Unusual Paint Hues at the 2017 Chicago Auto Show