From the dreamy ‘60s Bahama Blue to the more vivid hues from the seventies and all the various shades in between, it’s difficult not to find one of the VW blues that is right for you. Here’s some of Volkswagen’s more memorable shades from its colour palette…

Dove Blue

Early on, VW obviously were keen on keeping things nice and straightforward when it came to its colour descriptions – hence the first blues were simply called Medium Blue – L37 and Dark Blue (L 32). That said, the former was a lovely rich hue and we think it’s a shame we don’t see more early Dubs in this colour. Another very early (1951-’53) blue was the more greeny Azure Blue (L 36). The now iconic Dove Blue (L 31) commonly appeared on early Buses (as below).

Horizon Blue

Incredibly, the first metallic blue (L 35) appeared in March 1953, although it only lasted for around a year so it’s somewhat rare. There was a bit of a gap in proceedings until 1956 when Horizon Blue (L 331) made its debut (below). Metallic Glacier Blue (L 334) came next and was available from 1957 through until 1958. Around this time, there was another quite attractive blue available – Capri (L 335).

Sea Blue

The pastel Fjord Blue (L 434) was available from 1958, and Capri also made a re-appearance at about that time. The somewhat understated Slate Blue (L 361) was offered from 1959 alongside the equally sombre Indigo Blue (L 436). Gulf Blue (L 390) came along in 1960, and the popular and long lasting Sea Blue (L 360) followed from August 1963 until 1966 (below).

Bahama Blue

In the opening years of the ‘60s, Volkswagen added a raft of gorgeous and it has to be said totally timeless turquoise hues, including Turquoise itself (L 380), Pacific (L 398), the iconic Bahama Blue (L 519) below and the equally evocative Pastel Blue (L 391).

VW Blue

Things started to come a bit more down to earth again with rather unimaginatively named VW Blue (L 633) – see below – which was offered between 1966 and 1968 alongside Zenith Blue (L 639) from August 1967. Cobalt Blue (L 630) was similarly subdued and appeared on a variety of VWs until around 1970. This was followed by Diamond Blue (L 50B) from 1969 and Marina Blue (L 54) and Sapphire (L 50D) from 1970. Gemini (L 96) heralded the first of the vibrant ‘70s metallics. Gentian (L 51B) joined VW’s colour palette from 1971 and a rather unusual Turquoise metallic (L 95) appeared a year later.

Miami Blue

The vivid Olympic Blue (L 51P) broke cover in 1973 alongside another of VW’s rather non-descript blues, Biscay (L 52) and Alaska (L 96). Ontario (L 95) followed a year later and was joined by the popular and now wonderfully retro looking Miami (L 51) – below – and Laguna (L 50) in 1975. Marathon Blue (L 96) was used on the Marathon Beetles of the time, while Ancona Blue (L 97) was a lovely metallic that looked particularly good on Cabriolets.

Ocean Blue

Ocean Blue (L 57) came crashing in in 1976, accompanied by Barrier Blue (L 52) a year later. Florida Blue (LA5A) below made its debut in 1979 and was available on Beetles as well as Polos and Golfs from that era. River Blue (LK6V) was a lovely green tinged metallic from this late air-cooled, early water-cooled era.

Cornat Blue

In the early ‘80s VW added Cornat Blue (LH5H), Medium Blue (LH5G), Tarpon (LE5Y) and Helios (LA5Y) as well as Regatta (LB5Y) and Lago (LE5B). Frost (LE5U) and Monaco (LA5D) came along in 1983, followed by Strato (LA5Z) a year later.

Monza Blue

The contradictory sounding Deep Light Blue (LE6P) was offered from 1986, alongside Dove (LA5Z) which always looked nice on the Golf. A host of new blues came along in 1988, including Blue (LD5V), Monza (LE5L) above, Marine (LA5B), Biskava (LB5Z), Surf Blue (LD5B) and Deep Sea Blue (LD6A). The dark Orly Blue (LP5Z), Jade (LN6V) and Bright Blue (LP5V) appeared in 1989. The striking Calypso (LA6Z) joined VWs blues in 1990.

 

Jamaica Blue

Into the mid-‘90s and VW again freshened their palette with the addition of a variety of exciting new blues, including Mint (LB6U), Calypso (LA6Z), Smoke Blue (LH5Y), Jamaica Blue (LL5V) as above left and Steel (LB5T) above right. Alas, things all became a bit more reserved when it came to later blues, with most being somewhat dark and anonymous metallics.

Ian

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