While it would make sense for cars, trucks, and SUVs to be painted in simple colors like "red" and "blue," that's never the case. Automakers use their own brand-specific paint mixes, and each one gets its own name. Unfortunately, while making sure their paint colors stay unique from their competitors', what often happens is trucks and SUVs get saddled with truly awful color names. Here are some of our favorites, which really were offered on trucks in the recent past. The colors might not be bad, but imagine bragging to buddies about your new Mocha Frost 4x4.
- Evening Orchid (El Camino)
- Beige Mystique (Chevrolet C/K)
- Seaspray Green (Ramcharger, vans, D-Series)
- Sunset Orange (Avalanche)
- Boysenberry Blue (Ranger)
- Desert Violet (Explorer)
- Mocha Frost (Ranger)
- Tahitian Yellow (Scout -- 800 Series)
- Bright Bittersweet (Bronco II)
- Wild Strawberry (F-150)
Fair is fair. While there have been a lot of horrible paint color names, there are just as many good ones. Here are some of the best -- most trucky? -- paint names. (And the colors are great, too.) In the history of trucks, we found some of these colors came from more than one manufacturer, so we didn't name every single source. But all colors listed here came from GM, Ford, and Dodge.
- Gunmetal Blue
- Victory Red
- Alaska White
- Medium Blue
- School Bus Chrome Yellow
- Burnished Silver
- Midnight Black
- Charcoal
- Sahara Beige
- Dark Pine
Do you have a great truck with an awful paint name? Did the manufacturer turn an otherwise nice light gray into "Tabby Fuzz Metallic"? E-mail us your favorite bad color name.