Author: Antony Ingram
Photography: Antony Ingram
Samba Green, Amalfi Blue, Fiji Green, Turkish Blue… just some of the exotic names for the colours you’d find on the cars pepping up the lawn at Grimsthorpe Castle during this year’s Festival of the Unexceptional.
As an increasing number of cars from the 1990s in particular turn up each year, the decade’s penchant for teal, turquoise, and light greens makes them a familiar sight at FOTU, and fits nicely in with cars from the 1970s, when similar hues were in vogue. The difference is mostly that the later cars really turned on the metallic and pearl finishes, popping as vividly in the city as they do by the coast.
The cars below were some of our favourites this year, competing with yellow for the most eyecatching cars at the show. Whether you like your cars painted Emerald Green, Rialto Blue, or True Green, continue reading…
BMW Z3
Fiji Green – or Fidschigruen as it’s written on BMW’s familiar underbonnet label – is the colour that really caught our attention at this year’s FOTU, specifically when applied to this 2.8-litre BMW Z3. BMW still offers some vivid options in today’s range, especially if you dip into the Individual programme, but the brand seems a long way from when it offered its MX-5 rival in this most 90s of hues. On this car the look was further enhanced by a dark blue hood and chrome side vents. Pushing the boundaries of “unexceptional” perhaps, especially with six cylinders, but this is one car that’d look right at home at RADwood later this month…
Reliant Regal
Reliant did offer a couple of greens that would sit nicely on this page, but if you’ve watched Steph’s idriveaclassic video on exactly this Reliant Regal, you’ll know the owner of this car actually painted it in a colour found at their local B&Q – there’s definitely a hint of 1960s and 1970s bathroom to it. The hue makes its way inside too where it’s in vivid contrast with the red door cards, coral seat trim and wood-effect dash trim. Not a natural combo granted, but charm by the bucketload. We’re big fans.
SEAT Marbella
“Charmingly well-used” is how we’d describe the SEAT Marbella at FOTU. The Emerald Green paintwork was struggling to hold back the rust (and rust inhibitor) in numerous places and the brown-painted wheels aren’t quite as cheery as the original white of this Fun special edition. But in overcast weather and positioned between a red Mondeo and a maroon Volvo, the Marbella might as well have been glowing in the Andalusian sunshine. Small cars need cheerful colours, and this boxy car definitely ticked that box.
Volvo 144
Regular readers may already be familiar with this Volvo 144, since we wrote about it two years ago during another FOTU appearance. Hailing from 1971, the Volvo’s painted a hue known as Turkish Blue, and while the colour undoubtedly popped more in the bright sunshine a few years back, it was still eyecatching this year under overcast skies – clearly Volvo picked a colour that would look good in the deepest Swedish winters as well as during brighter summers.
Ford Escort XR3i
The Ford Escort XR3i, and the convertible especially, is one of those cars primarily associated with crisp white paintwork – several years before white cars became cool (read into that what you will). This one though is (we think) in a colour called Amalfi Blue, though without a brochure handy or the owner to quiz, we’ll defer to the Ford experts if we’ve misidentified it. It looks fantastic though, paired here with a few details (like the wheels and bonnet vents) from the RS Turbo, both popular period modifications to fourth-generation Escorts.
Datsun 120Y
‘Its main appeal lies in its performance and economy, together with its undeniable ease of driving which will commend it especially to the novice and the nervous’ is how Autocar summed up the Datsun 120Y in its 21st September 1974 road test. The magazine’s test car was orange rather than this car’s turquoise (either Asian Blue Turquoise – code 562 – or just Turquoise, code 568; let us know Datsun fans), but otherwise it was similar, with the same four-door layout and 1171cc four-cylinder. The magazine wasn’t known for its praise of cars from the far east, so the positive review was a sign that Datsun’s Escort rival was well above average for its day.
Fiat Multipla
Fiat’s 1990s people-mover is not a car that needs help standing out, but Turquoise Blue might be about the best colour for highlighting its unusual Centro Stile lines. This one marked the car’s first appearance on the Concours lawn, and while its ELX trim wasn’t the lowest available when new (the range started with SX), MPVs like the Multipla will surely become an increasingly common sight at the Festival – they’re the heartland family cars of the 1990s, no matter how brightly painted they might be…
Fiat Punto
Fiat offered a pair of bluey-greens on the original Giugiaro-designed Punto, a green-leaning colour called Metallic Turquoise, and this car’s more imaginatively-named Metallic Rialto Blue. To our eyes it looks very similar in hue to the Multipla above, but it is indeed a different colour – paint code 467 in the brochure, to the Multipla’s 431. Here it’s contrasted against unpainted bumpers, while the ’55’ on the front wing refers to the 1.1-litre, 53bhp ‘FIRE’ engine.
Subaru Justy
The second-generation Subaru Justy always causes us a double-take, and not just because of this colour. That’s because it’s easy to mistake at first glance for the Suzuki Swift on which it was based. The two are largely visually identical, but the Justy has a trick up its sleeve, or rather under its bodywork – full-time all-wheel drive, in the best Subaru tradition. Four driven wheels, narrow tyres, and light weight make the Justy a proper mountain goat of a car, but their winter suitability might also have been their downfall, thanks to rust. According to Howmanyleft, only around 40 of these mid-90s Justy GX models are still licensed.
Suzuki Vitara
As an alternative compact, Japanese four-wheel drive, how about the Suzuki Vitara? It’s tempting to say Suzuki got in there early with the crossover craze, beating even Toyota’s RAV4 to the market with a 1988 starting point, but perhaps that’d be doing the small 4×4 a disservice, since these are genuinely capable off-roaders. The car at FOTU was a special-edition 4U model – please note the oh-so-90s hot pink graphics on the side – in True Green Metallic, one of two colours offered on the 4U. You may recognise this particular car from another of Steph’s reviews on idriveaclassic earlier in the year.
Hyundai Coupe
We’re venturing slightly away from teal and turquoise for our final trio, but we suspect you won’t mind. Hyundai’s Tropical Green Pearl looks spectacular on the 1990s Coupe and has a hint of turquoise to our eyes anyway. It’s rare to see one so well-kept – a lot of Coupes ended up cheap and unloved, and the BARC’s Hyundai Coupe Cup race series has hoovered up a lot of others, never to hit the road again – so this 2.0 SE was a real treat. Hyundai has made some great driver’s cars in recent years, but the Coupe, far more engaging than the old Scoupe, was arguably the company’s first proper attempt to woo enthusiasts.
Honda CRX Del Sol
The Del Sol was badged just “CRX” in the UK, but we quite like the more exotic name used overseas. For a start it’s appropriate, given the car’s roof arrangement – a targa-style panel that in ‘Trans Top’ models was fully automated – and it also helps differentiate what was quite a departure from the previous two generations of hatchback CRX. The colour – Samba Green Pearl, as written about here – suits the Del Sol perfectly, and while FOTU’s overcast weather didn’t show it off to best effect, rest assured it positively glows in the sun. This ESi-spec car uses a single-cam VTEC 1.6-litre making 123bhp.
Audi A3
Our final bright choice is another that arguably has a little teal to it in certain lights. This first-generation Audi A3 is all the better for not being painted in the usual silver, though to Audi’s credit, the A3 was offered in metallic gold and purple hues back in the day too. This one is Paradise Green, also offered on the larger A4, and another name that really sells the hue – the first owner, despite opting for a lowly 1.6-litre in basic ‘A3’ spec (no Sport or SE), still apparently saw fit to tick the box for a lively colour, and those fabulous pepperpot wheels. It’s a FOTU star you could genuinely use every day.
Which of these colourful classics stole your heart, and did we miss any standout shades? Drop your favourite green (or blue!) car colour in the comments below!
