The 73 Reborn - part V

At one point in his life, Henri Matisse - pscyhedelic lawyer immortalized through his million dollar works of art - quipped that impressions are made by the strongest choice of color effects, and the content from which they are surfaced over is really irrelevant. But with the Corvette (the C3s anyway), content seems stronger than color. The bold and flaring wheel arches provides fluidity over dimension, while the low central posture accentuates muscle toward the nose and tail. Bearing in mind that the original design evolved from a concept born from Zora Arkus Duntov's C2 mako shark to Larry Shinoda's manta ray, the C3's shape is iconically one of a kind. No other muscle car - the Mustang, Challenger, Camaro, Barracuda - comes close (though some may find cause to object :)). Not even the earlier or later versions of the Corvette.

With this challenge, the decision on color was of course not easy. The 73 came originally in yellow, and I had earlier wanted to maintain consistency with its factory code. I toyed with the idea of slapping on mustard yellow (ala Lamborghini), then metallic black (ala Knight Rider (but note - just need to highlight that I'm NO Hasslehoff fan), then Ferrari red to embellish the traditional sports car spirit that Prince echoed through his hit, Little Red Corvette. The experience of choosing your car's color is akin to choosing the right name for your first born. Excitement, anxiety, and anticipation. I consider myself decisive and sometimes impulsive but having changed my mind so many times at one point or another on this matter, I now sometimes question my understanding of who I really am. But then again, I suppose that's excusable. It is after all, my first real muscle car!

Poring over pictures of other C3s on the net and getting opinions from family and friends helped steer my choice. Dropped black as much as I loved it, as form would have been enveloped by color, and lines would have been lost. Dropped yellow, as its too much of an acquired taste. And dropped red, as its just too bloody cliched. So decided on something that would accentuate the lines, make it stand out from other cars on the everyday roads, yet maintain some form of subtelty.

Photoshopped images (from a Vette forummer) that helped with the elimination process:

Blue - represents knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness. Nice but..



Pink - represents romance and nostalgia. Naaah...

Green - emotional healing and protection? Pttthh..

Yellow - intellect, freshness, and joy. Only 1 out of 3 - I'm weathered and angry.

Red - represents joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love. Sure it also yells 'mid life crisis'!

Orange - represents desire, sexual passion, pleasure, domination, aggression, and thirst for action. Hmmm... perhaps just a tad bit darker, and a slight shade of red in it...

BINGO!!

So ORANGE it was.

At the body shop, I got samples of different orange shades and settled for 2:- (1) Saturn Metallic Orange, and (2) GM Sunset Orange.

Flipped through hundreds of different color shades.

$100 if you can tell the difference. Left is GM Sunset, somewhat of a browner shade, right is Saturn Metallic, slightly redder hues.

OK - so I suck at taking pictures..

Saturn Metallic Orange under the sun.

Off to the paint booth..