Orange you serious? Orange cars? Who would buy an orange car? We guarantee you would be surprised. This article features automobiles that look as good, or better, in orange than their traditional, more subtle colors. But you can be the judge. And because it is Autumn, orange-colored vehicles seem to surface and are bought and sold with greater frequency.
30 years after its inception, the Miata is back, feeling just like the original, being light, balanced, and yearning to be driven. Sporting 17” Ray’s wheels, Bilstein dampers, and Brembo front brakes, it was offered only in an exclusive Racing Orange color, which was chosen to evoke the anticipation of a sunrise, and splashed around the interior on the Recaro seats, door trim, shifter, and dashboard. Only 3,000 were produced and (wait for it)… they’re all sold out.
Although contemporary Dodge Challengers are now painted in more traditional colors, this rare 1970 R/T was finished in a bright orange reinforcing the car’s bold, exhilarating shape. Early Challengers were tremendously invigorating to drive. They had a 426-horsepower, 6.1-liter V8 Hemi, that could wear the rubber off your tires in a week. While the Challenger may not offer the creature comforts of some of its more expensive rivals, few cars have or will ever surpass the sporty Dodge’s muscle-car looks and muscle-car performance.
It pretty much doesn’t matter what year a VW Bug is from, they were the same for decades. This 1974 convertible Super Beetle begs for drives along the coast or around town. It sports a lawnmower-esque, rear-mounted, 1600 cc, 60-horsepower, oil-cooled engine, which emits a distinctive purr that often preceded actually seeing the car coming. And considering it came in a soothing creamsicle orange color, it was a “super” popular ride. Today you can pick one up, depending on the condition, for $8,000 – $11,000.
Starting under $3,000, the cool panoramic windows were the selling point of the VW Bus, allowing tons of air to circulate around the passengers. The rear-mounted engine sputtered out a mere 50 horsepower and the top speed was almost 60 mph, but this was a people-mover, and you could pack a lot of hippies and guitars in it for a road trip. Orange was the iconic color for this VW as well, but they always seemed to accumulate color flower stickers.
The Mini Cooper is predisposed to looking cool in dramatic colors, but few are eye-catching as the shades of orange. Given just how emblazoned an orange Mini can be, we think it was the signature look-at-me color scheme. Couple that with tremendous handling and super-sporty (go-kart-like) performance, and you’re in for an awesome ride every time you rev it up. The favorite models of most owners are the early ones. They are affordable and solidly built. A 2002 or 2003 Mini Cooper hovers around $8,000.
It’s hard to miss this Dodge Ram crew cab in the 2015 limited-edition ignition orange, echoing its brothers the Charger, Challenger, viper, and, yup, Dodge Dart. With a production run of under 1,000 for each model, the most popular came with a 395-horsepower, 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engine, and an 8-speed transmission. Orange and black accents abound, with a vented sport-hood, dual exhausts, and 20-in. alloy wheels.
Just because this is an off-beat feature, we thought it would be fun to add in some other enjoyably-orange vehicles from the past…
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