I actually did not recommend Yellow - on a Series III XJ yellow looks awful. Does anyone remember Cotswold Yellow on the 1979-80 cars? so bad that dealers had them repainted in other colours in order to move them.
But Black Cherry - yes. or Jaguar Racing Green - my XK and the Mk 2 pictured and also the Racing Green 1990 VDP.

 

Be ecologically sensible! Go GREEN!

 

Gregory, put up some pics of your Alpine Green car! Marvelous color, and rather rare. THAT was my favorite; what a beauty. Not sure if I can forgive you for letting in go

Sage green is wonderful as well.

Cheers
DD

 

I agree, Doug; Alpine Green (late 80's) is a beautiful colour on the Series III. I do have a couple of photos of it but I can't be at my computer just now to access them. In any case the photos don't show the nuances of tone in the very soft, silvery green of Alpine Green. It was combined in this 1988 V12 Vanden Plas with Doeskin leather, a lovely, gentle and elegant combination. I'll post what I have when I can.
Colour makes an enormous difference in the appearance of some cars and definitely on the XJ Series models. Bad colours on these cars: Sable on the Series II (which despite the name is just diaper brown), Green Sand (which was a baby diarrhea colour...hmmmm there is a pattern here...); in fact most of the Series I and II colours are awful except for black, white, silver and Regency red - and I blame the penny counters at British Leyland for "rationalizing" the paint colours across the various makes. Once Jaguar became a separate entity again in the early 80's period the colour palette improved enormously. Some of them were stunningly beautiful: Silver Sand, Oyster, Diamond Blue, Tungsten, Solent Blue, Regency Red Mica...even the Jaguar Black had tones of yellow and blue in it (in contrast to the dead black used in German cars...that is, the three or four cars that escaped from the Mercedes and BMW factories not in Silver or Silber or Silver Grey or ....).

 

A local car shark got hauled before the Beak (Magistrate) a few years ago for tarting up a bog stock Nissan Pulsar with SSS decals. Before sentencing the Judge asked him if he had anything to say about the matter, & he was reported in the newspaper as saying "Well your Honour. Yellow cars can be really hard to shift." The Beak was not impressed with his mitigation & slapped him with the maximum fine.
Black, Navy, & BRG are my favourite Jag colours, though Black Cherry has just been vaulted into that holy trinity, putting Navy at risk of relegation. & Yellow, Beige, & Brown my least favourite, with Beige taking out the wooden spoon. I think all Jag saloons look stunning in Old English White (with Burgundy leather trim) But the wedding car connection makes it a bit of a brave choice.

 

The Alpine Green 1988 V12 Vanden Plas - but please note that the photos do not properly show the depth of the colour. Doeskin leather. The photos were taken before the restoration - The side strips were the first thing to go! The 4th photo is also of this same car.
And one of another 1988 V12 VDP in Satin Beige - even if you do not like Beige, the richness of this colour is lovely. Also with Doeskin.
Finally, my 1982 in Arctic White, Biscuit leather - a wonderful car. Actually...they were all wonderful.

 

well I guess Carl an I are the only ones who like Grossvenor Brown, which should have been called "Milk Chocolate Brown".

black cars are passé, the earth has become too hot for black cars that absorb the sun's HEAT. Great if you live in Antartica.

 

In the past, with black cars, I have detected a trend whereby other drivers see you later at night and give you anxious times. I prefer brighter, or lighter coloured cars.

 

there is one Jaguar color I love and it is rarely seen, the name is Golden Sand.

 

Yes, that is beautiful but it is a 60's colour - very nice on the Mk 2 and the S-Type. Some wouldn't like it because it is a sort of metallic beige (!).

 

didn't they revived the Golden Sand color in the V12 Series 3 and XJ40? I swear I have seen them in that color, maybe a respray.

 

Under new Chairman Egan, Jaguar's first priority at Browns Lane was a massive multi million pound injection to build an entirely new paint facility. From what is now acknowledged as "average at best" quality of paint and finish that marred many an early XJ, later SeriesIII models (then, XJ40) showed vast improvement in both the quality of new finish and durability.

Cheers,

Ken

 

Love this topic for all it's subjectivity! Colour evokes probably more emotion than car design itself, so it's likely to be a never ending debate.

As for the '70's colour palettes, FWIW I feel it's unfair to single out Jaguar for creating some bizarre examples. Virtually every car maker did the same - probably the worst decade ever for awful colours in just about everything. I owned some downright ugly variations on browns / greens / yellows on my Volvo's, Datsuns, and various others cars in the period. What was I thinking! We lost all sense of taste back then, well and truly. In fact milk chocolate brown was one of the nicer colours then, and I don't mind it even now on some cars, especially the metallic brown versions on some new model Euro's.

Thinking on it further, the '50's & '60's produced a few colours we wouldn't find in a fair ground these days - baby pink, turquoise etc. But then at least it represented a welcome progression from the austerity of war time, and the earlier times of "you can have any colour you want so long as it's black"!

As for black now? nope, not in our summer climate thank you! Hot boxes, hard to keep clean, look good on the right car in a dust free vacuum sealed environment. Most black cars I see are cold climate Euro imports.

 

Volvos 1971-1973 had wonderful colors, I owned a 1800-E in Gunmetal Grey and the 1800-ES Sportwagon in Metallic Blue at one time, excellent supercars that they were, though the ES automatic was slow, but the E Coupe with its 4 speed OD could reach 110 mph without loosing traction. It was after 110 mph that things got scary. I still have the dealer brochure of the '73 ES sportwagon.

 

I don't mind it, for a beige, & it does suit both the Mk II & the original S-Type. It's certainly better than the Persian Sand, Cadillac used on it's 59 barges, which is basically metallic pink!
I do place a lot of value on colour, & some cars look best in certain colours, & crap in others. So it's an extremely subjective subject. But I'd never let colour be the over riding deal breaker on a car, as I have a friendly Spray Painter, who gives me mates rates.

 

There was a colour similar to Golden Sand used on the mid-80's XJ; it was called Antelope...the odd thing is that with the slightest tweak in the colour formulations over the years, Jaguar gave a new name: an example from the Series III period: what was called Silver Sand around 1988 became (with an ever so slight, virtually unnoticeable alteration) Oyster for the 1991-92 period, and the Black Cherry of the 1992 cars became just slightly more reddish for 93 and 94 and was now called Morocco Red. Worse, the colour called Jaguar Racing Green for 1987 to 1990 (see my photos in message #21 above of the 1990 V12 VDP) was NOT the same formulation as the Jaguar Racing Green of the 2005-2007 period. This latter formulation (seen in the photo of my XK coupe also in #21 above) has much more black in it. The only accurate way of obtaining the correct formulations is to use the 3-letter code. In these codes the first letter always tells the basic colour palette. Greens, for example, star with the letter H, blacks with P...
And one colour that sticks in my mind for unabashed in-your-faces-ness (surely that term exists) is a gold, Sovereign Gold I think, that was on a nice XJS owned by an American friend of mine named Doug. He didn't keep it very long. It was very gold.

 

Well I've gotta say I'm quite chuffed to have started this thread.
To have so much emotion come through has just made me, well, something good.
I'm about to start a rebuild thread for those who want to follow it. I'm almost finished the new roof liner, so yes, I've made some choices.
But you'll have to check my new thread about giving a series 3 sovereign a new life.
With pics!
​​​​​​​

 

Great color. Code GDF.

I've seen only one other XJS in the same color but, as I recall, there was another gold.....not quite so in-your-face....that was more popular. I've never seen Sovereign Gold on a sedan although I believe it was listed as an available choice

I had the XJS for about 4 years. Fabulous car.

Cheers
DD

 

My previous Series III in Crimson.

Crimson wasn't particularly unusual....but being paired with the Savile Gray trim was a bit unique. The combination wouldn't have been my first choice but it eventually grew on me.

My black 1995 XJR can be seen in the background

Cheers
DD

 

Over the many years, I've owned or driven many critters in many colors. Some very pleasing, and others blah or less. The white 61 Ford, that I got from my then employer
for a bargain. Fashionable in AZ at the time. 63, I think. Great AC and $'s was it's attraction. Then we got "promoted" to San Francisco. OK, but AC no longer a big deal.
I found a place to "respray" it for a price within our "hard hit" budget. Thunderbird Red. Voila, from boring to attractive. The "budget" guys did a "more than credible job". My work mates thought I splurged on a "new" car.


Decades later, we bought an 88 Tbird from Budget. Great price. Glorious reddish maroon with a metallic tinge. Alas, in spite of my efforts, the clear coat did not do well. Others did the same.


Am I pleased with my present critters? Yes. The Grosvenor Brown Jaguar still looks great. The Pewter on my Jeep, albeit fart from spectacular, has aged very well.
washed and polished it attracts, "what a nice Jeep".


Carl