Yellow has never been a popular car color anywhere in the world. Not only is it one of the least discreet colors out there, it is typically associated with vehicles that belong to fleets like postal services (in Germany and in France, for example) or taxi cabs – everyone has heard of New York City’s … Continue reading
Category Archives: Russian
Color-coded advertising: Orange
Paint colors that were popular in the 1960s and the 1970s are starting to make a comeback on new cars, but orange has largely been left out. It’s unfortunate: While most of us wouldn’t want our next car to be orange, the color makes a car stand out from the pack and helps buyers remember … Continue reading
Caption contest: Lada Niva
A yellow Niva, two shotguns and a dog – what are these two men up to in the Russian countryside? Continue reading
Color-coded advertising: Green
Green is one of the oldest car colors after of black, gray and white. Darker shades of green are relatively low-key and have managed to outlive all sorts of trends over the past couple of decades, but lighter hues that are more eye-catching have come and gone. Which car do you think looks best in … Continue reading
Topical advertising: Off-roading
Automakers portray cars off paved roads to highlight a specific vehicle’s off-road capacity, to establish a link between rallying and other forms of racing, to convey a sense of freedom that can’t be found in crowded cities or to tout a car’s handling characteristics. We’ve compiled a gallery of period press shots showing cars going through … Continue reading
Caption contest: ZAZ 968
What are these two people talking about as they intriguingly examine the back end of the ZAZ 968? Continue reading
The 2013 Monte-Carlo Historique rally
The 16th annual Monte-Carlo Historique Rally took place last week in southeastern France. Organized by the Automobile Club of Monaco, it is open to cars that participated in the iconic rally from 1955 to 1980 and that were built between those years. Continue reading
Ran When Parked visits Sicily
Ran When Parked had the opportunity to make two trips to Sicily back in 2008. Thanks to good friends and distant relatives, we were able to spend much of our time there either working on cars or roaming around the island in our trusty 1997 Fiat Brava with a camera in hand. Continue reading
The 5 cars we’d want to drive in an apocalypse (and the 5 we wouldn’t)
According to a heavily-publicized prediction made by the Mayan civilization several centuries ago, the world as we know it will end for good today. Everything looks okay to us and we’ve yet to spot zombies, flaming meteorites or craters where shopping centers once were, but it’s best to be cautious. After all, most weather stations … Continue reading
Sunday classic: Lada Samara African Replica
In spite of Lada’s low-cost vocation it has never been shy about taking on the big boys in motorsports. After fielding several near-stock Nivas in miscellaneous rally events throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, famed pilot Jacky Ickx and French Lada importer Jean-Jacques Poch set about creating a rally car that was inspired by the … Continue reading