It may be cliche by now, but the So-Cal team livery just looks awesome. (you already shared this photo) I've never seen it written before, but the design seems blatantly ripped off from the early '30s Gee Bee racers. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
Agreed... and honestly, it's probably the best American born livery ever. In my mind, it's right up there with some of the historical greats like Gulf, John Player, Marlboro, etc...
Great idea. Just a guess, but I think custom"paint jobs" and commercial / team liveries were uniquely American for some time. Other countries, anyone? And mostly from oval racers? And perhaps more post WWII than before? Who doesn't like the paint jobs on vintage sprint cars and Indy roadsters? It never started internationally until mid-1900s. As a side bar, I'm posting a link here that shows where the assigned colors and markings for International racing originated, for those who may not be aware of how early in the automotive era all that began. I'd also like the thank folks like Cunningham, Shelby, even the Mopar boys for keeping the white / blue stripe thing going to this day. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_auto_racing_colours
Actually, Europeans were first. They were just much more subtle/tastefule about it. For instance, Ferrari. They found a very specific color to go a long with a very specific brand identity and stuck with it - for some time allowing no other markings on the car. They created a brand in the 40's and haven't really strayed too far from it since. True brilliance in both art and marketing. Porsche came later and did it better than anyone probably - Gulf, Bosch, Mobil, etc... American livery tends to be brash and in your face. I dig it for my own reasons... but I am more drawn towards the simple early Grand Prix stuff for sure. I think that's why I have such a great appreciation for Alex and So-Cal Livery. It was so well done and smart.
Apologies if Yunick Chevelle too new for HAMB, but Smokey's livery and the Veda Orr roadster work for me!
You guys can giggle all ya want. But this simple black with a little red is one of my favorite. The cars silhouette says more than letters and numbers ever could. These 2 colors???Ewwwww Maybe it’s the body. But a simple pant scheme that hit the bullseye.
Iconic American liveries that don't really need a photo include the black & gold cars of Smokey Yunick, and the black cars of Big Daddy.
Racing was an is part of me,early on I painted flames ,to me looked great. I built an raced more race cars then I can remember,nearly all had some type of flame paint job. That became away for fans to ID my racers for all of my 40+ years of racing. One of the first race car models* I built, that I remember,had simple red flames on white,so could of been the start. It was a early Indy car model of #4 Gilmore Spl. My own design flames,I always did big with red at the front running too yellow=this showed up an read better from the grandstands.