The Washington herald., 1922-02-05
ROMANCE IN MOTORDOM LIES
NJSAGE OF COACHING COL LORS
Carriage Painters a Century Ago Establish
ed Schemes for Modern Touring Car.

II you are looking, for a bit Of
romance in your motor car. you
need go no deeper than the paint
to find ii.
There. in the gloss OF its body
and the sheen Of its running gear
and wheels, fl they have not lost
their polish. is mirrored a story of
no little charm that recalls the old
coaching days along Fifth avenue
with the thud OF thoroughbred
hoofs and the sportive blasts of
tallyho horns.
The color. or combination of COL
ors, in which your car is finished
are anything but modern. They
were not selected to suit the whim
or the fancy of the automobile
manufacturer or the foreman of his
paint shop. They had their incep-
tion century and more ago when
the horse still ruled the boulevard
and high road.
They are the. classics of color
combination, mellowed by age. They
carry the prestige of precedent.
They have the endorsement of an
earlier generation than ours, a gen.
eration that had for it's mode the
pihio"y luG
fed shirt, the plum colored great
coat and the 'high-beaver hat.
They were first spread by mas
ter's brush in some small carriage
painting shop in England, which
enjoyed the patronage of the peer
age and Britain's first families.
The paint pot had its craftsmed III
those days, painstaking artisans
who knew color and how best to
employ it. They were inspired in
their choice of pigments by the sea
sons, the foliage, the native fauna
and particularly by the uses 20
which the vehicles on which they
worked were to be put.
They finished the broughams, the
barouches and the victorias. for ex-
ample, in black, maroon. the deep
green's and the darker blues to dig
nifty these stately vehicles and the
occasions for which they were
brought out from. the. carriage
houses. These same colors and
their combinations prevail on the
modern limousine, sedan and other
types of formal town cars that roll
up nightly before the Metropolitan
Opera House while the grand opera
season is in progress. They are
ever appropriate, whether the
reigning diva be Jenny Lind or
Geraldine Farrar.
The carriage painters of a CEN
tury ago also established the cnlor
schemes for our touring models
and present-day sport cars. For
the -tallyho, many selected the hue
OF the English primrose, finishing
the panels and mouldings in black
for sharp contrast. In fact, the
shade of yellow that we now term
straw color is the English prim-
rose of 1890 and before. Others
favored the bright reds and not
without good reason, for they are
colors of warmth that blend with
the hospitality OF the tailyho.
The traps and station wagons
were finished in the lighter shades
Of green for contrast with the foil
age Of spring and summer, or in
vermillion to match the huntman's
coat or the satin jacket of his
jockey at the race course. These
hues have been revived in our
roadsters, phaetons and sport cars,
survivals of a color culture that
had its beginning in the days when
gentlemen rode to the hounds and
financed racing stables.
Possibly you have sometimes
wondered why you seldom see cars
finished in white. pink, lavender,
burnt orange or startling yellows,
and rightly assumed that such COL
ors are short-hved and; impractical.
They were not accepted by the gem.
try of yesterday. They were con-
sidered bad form in the old icoaeh-
ing days. That's why they arc not
more in evidence now.
There is no better or safer guide
for correct motor car painting than,
the old English prints, showing the
vlctorias, barouches, broughams,
tallyhoes and traps in color. You
can't go wrong IL you follow them,
for you will sfind among them a
wide variety Of color schemes that