Sprint blu is so retro

I don't know the origins/history of the shade of blue that is Sprint Blu whether the Coupe (or Fiat) was one of the first road vehicles to have such a colour, I am bias as mine is a Sprinty but I have become aware that this shade of blue is having a massive resurgence, Porsche, Toyota, Audi. BMW, Jaguar and Renault etc all see to be painting with this blue at the moment....breaks up the monotonous shades of grey on modern vehicles, many of the cars are almost identical to the Fiat colour.

It's a very similar colour to the old French racing blue back in the days when racecars were painted in national colours, eg British Racing Green, Italian red, American white with a blue stripe, and silver for German teams.

Renault 8 Gordini versions used to be that colour in the 70s.

Cheers Pete I will have a lool at those Renault's

My 1986 Austin Metro was that colour too.

sheesh!

Most old French racing cars can be found in French Racing Blue



Fiat did launch the 16v Coupé with some "RACE" colours. Rosso Corsa = Italy & Racing Yellow = Belgium, the launch country for the Coupé.

Sprint Blue, which is a take on French Racing Blue and Scots Green, close to British Racing Green then appeared with the 20VT, along with the tan seats which were historically associated with Red & Green cars.

A mate of mine imported an Abarth 131 Stradale from Italy last year which had been repainted in Alitalia colours. He has since repainted it to its original colour when sold new, French Blue. It certainly looks great with the black trim.

He has now just taken delivery of a 1973 Abarth 124 Spider he has imported from Portugal, it is also in blue, but lighter than the French Blue. With its original black bonnet and boot, it too looks great.

Some nice looking cars this one from PH Zagato Abarth GT looks lovely

https://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-spottedykywt/abarth-750-gt-zagato-spotted/40203

Can we start a colours bun fight?

Porto - Murple / Crayon
Sprint Blue - Smurf
Chamonix - Frog
Vinci - John Major
Crono - Primer

And of course... black - best. ;p

Here is a video about the paint colour known as Structural Blue.

It truly is a completely unique blue.

I've never ever seen a blue like it on any other car before in my whole life...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9JU541_zm2w

Lovely blue, have to say it looks a bit like the pearlescent Trophy Blue on my MG TF

And mine!

That structural blue is amazing. Not so much with the colour but the technology used to create it.
It will be interesting how a repair would be carried out on a Lexus with that blue.

Best comment on the thread: "Looks gold to me"

Mind you, it would probably be cheaper to breed Morpho butterflies and stick the wings straight on...

(family history: back in the day, one side or the other of WW2, my grandfather took up the case of a French political prisoner on Devil's Island (cf. Papillon) and managed to get him released. At the time, one of the few ways the prisoners could raise any money for 'luxuries' was catching and selling Morpho butterflies. As a gesture of thanks, the prisoner sent butterflies, mounted in a small frame, for both his daughters: my mother and her sister.

Eighty years on, the butterfly at my mother's is still just as blue as I always remember it. The nano-structure of the scales doesn't, indeed can't, fade until the wing disintegrates under them.)

Crikey, can you imagine getting that in a rattle can from Halfords! ‘That’ll be £200 sir, it took us 8 months with the machine’

I bet Jim C could knock a batch up no sweat!

Easy to repair apparently - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYbKITlDRWU

Amazing video. When I saw the rolls of blue pigment, I assumed they would wrap the car !

Blue is Mrs G's favourite colour, so perhaps I could convince her to get a lexus LC next? Will put the house on the market first.

Great link to a very interesting story. As an ex-Sprinty owner, blue is my fav colour :-)