Look around these days and every car is simply a different shade of grey. But it wasn’t always that way – as demonstrated by the following list of retina-blasting oranges and yellows that have appeared on Volkswagens in the past…

Yukon Yellow
One of the first yellows listed by VW was the wonderfully chilled Yukon Yellow – L19K (35) – which made its debut in around 1965 and was only available initially on Cabriolet Beetles from this era. It did eventually become more widely available towards the end of the 1960s – as seen on this 1970 Beetle, below. Another early yellow was Oriole (L11K) which appeared in 1969, while the exotically named Shantung Yellow – L12 D (64) – came along in 1970.

Lemon Yellow
Lemon Yellow – L11 E (29) – was a real retina blaster, and again, it only appeared on Beetle Cabriolets (and possibly Karmann Ghias, as below) when it made its debut in 1970. The more popular Texas Yellow – L10 B (08) – appeared in 1972 and was slightly more subdued. That particular hue was available with Lapis Blue upholstery which must have been quite a stunning colour combination.

Saturn Yellow
As if from another planet, Saturn Yellow – L13 M (26) – was another shocker, and much lighter than anything that had gone before. It appeared in ‘72 and again was offered alongside with Lapis Blue trim in some markets.

Brilliant Orange
The first raft of oranges appeared in 1972, with the funky seventies look Brilliant Orange (as below) – L20B – and the aptly named Blood Orange (L21E) making their debut that year. Amber Orange (L20E) was added the following year.

Sunshine Yellow
Continuing on the planet theme, Sun or sometimes Sunshine Yellow – L13 K – was also added in 1973. Rallye Yellow (L10A) – below – appeared a year later – so in 1974 there was a choice of three yellows: Rallye, Sunshine and Saturn. On early water-cooled VWs, Chrome Yellow (L20A), Yosemite Yellow, Bright Orange (L20B), Pumpkin Orange (L30F) and Amber (L20E) heralded a brave new taste of things to come. Sunflower Yellow (L13K) and Fiesta Orange (L20C) was also available on early water-cooled VWs from 1975.

Berber Yellow
Berber (L11D) from 1975 was a real rarity and looks more green than yellow in some colour swatches. Likewise, Marino Yellow from this period (L20A) looked more orange. 1975 also saw the arrival of the rich Nepal Orange (L20C) – below. Riyadh Yellow (L11A) came along in 1977 and incredibly Lemon Yellow (LA1D) made a re-appearance in 1979 – albeit with a different paint code to its predecessor. Sunbright Yellow (LE1A) appeared on some of the water-cooled cars from this time.

Bamboo
By the start of the ‘80s, the writing (or should we say paint) was already on the wall for VW’s yellows and oranges and the first signs of dulling down became apparent. Bamboo (LH18) was a mustardy colour that appeared in 1981, which contrasted strongly with the much brighter Lagos Yellow (LK1A) – below – that came along in 1982, the latter being the only yellow available the following year. By this time, orange had all but disappeared from VW’s colour palette.

Nuggets of the nineties
Nugget Yellow (LK1B) was really the only vivid VW colour in 1990 but the Wolfsburg firm obviously realised they were becoming boring with their colours and in 1992 a whole raft of new, stunningly bright colours emerged including Spanish Yellow (LL1C), Yellow (LL1K and LP1C), Jasmine (LK1D) and a hue tastily called Ginster (LY1A) – below – which was reminiscent of Sun Yellow from days gone by. Alas, they obviously weren’t brave enough to release another orange. Sadly, all these only lasted for a year because by 1993 they had all disappeared from the options list. According to our research, though, Ginster and Yellow made a re-appearance in 1998.

We’ve probably missed a few dazzling yellow and orange hues along the way, so if you’ve got a classic VW in one that we haven’t mentioned we’d love to hear about it.

Ian

 

The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of VW Heritage.