By tradition the Italian cars were red. The German cars were silver. But what about the British cars? Britain's official livery was green, as shown in the Lotus above. But why were the Rob Walker cars dark blue? Can anyone explain?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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I thought it was because Rob Walker was Scottish? He had dark blue and white didn't he?
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense! I think it was a Scottish thing. Blue and White. No idea where the white "Cigar band" idea came from, but I love it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Walker has a great quote: "The only way to make a small fortune in motor racing is to start with a large one."
Interesting. Had not occurred to me that the Scots had their own color. But wait! Wasn't blue supposed to be the French color?
ReplyDeleteFrench Blue is much lighter like a sky blue (like Bugatti Blue) or a medium blue (see Delahayes). The French never used really dark blues. Plus it is Blue and White we are looking at here, not just blue.
ReplyDeleteSome countries had combos. Like Belgium was Yellow and Black. Ireland was Green and Orange. Americans were White with Blue (not blue with white haha)
The dark blue with white stripe was always considered as the Scottish flag.
ReplyDeleteThere was a story, back in the late 50's, I think, that a overzealous German comissary inquired of the colour of his car. He responded "that's the colours of the Scottish Flag". He didn't accepted the awnser and told that as a british car, should be painted green. He responded with another question: "Should German cars be white?", and the conversation was over, and the Rob Walker Cars continued with the dark blue and white livery.
Can anyone explain when and why the yellow stripe was added to British cars, most notably Lotus? Earlier British cars were just solid green, but some Lister Jags and Loti had the Yellow stripe later on.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Scottish-entered "Ecurie Ecosse" Jaguar D-types that won Le Mans were dark blue with white nose stripes, for the record.
Automobiliac:
ReplyDeleteThe explanation that I listen about the yellow stripe on Lotus Cars was that Colin Chapman was fascinated with that when he saw it in Indianápolis, so, after 1963 or 64, I think, the cars were using that yellow stripe.