Cars are half as colorful as they were 20 years ago

[MurrayDelph]

68. My first Prius was British Racing Green

I needed to replace my car that week. My previous car had a stick shift, which had become intolerable driving the LA freeways riding a clutch, using the leg that eventually needed a knee replaced (after ten years of putting it off). And my registration was about to expire and I didn't want to pay renewals on a car that was going to be replaced.

So, I contacted a couple of Toyota dealers. The one that had a car with the features I wanted at a price I was willing to pay and offered me a decent trade-in price only had it in that shade of green. So I took it, even though I considered it the lowest option on the acceptable color wheel. Ironically, I had two friends who had the same model, and that shade of green was their first choice. But that's what makes horseracing.

Eight years and 175k miles later, I had to buy in a hurry because the hybrid batteries on my car had died (they didn't have the aftermarket they do now) and my wife was leaving for her scheduled volunteer trip the following week. I contacted MANY dealerships, found a new Prius near where I was working at the time (I would be laid off the following week, which wasn't so bad as I hated that job and the new car wouldn't be able to drive solo in the carpool lane). Acceptable price. No trade-in value. And it was dark gray.

Ten years and 187k miles later, Prius had a noisy AC fan, but I mostly got rid of it because rats had decided to live in it at night. I was not in a rush, so I finally got a car the color I wanted, which was silver. Silver has since become somewhat cliche, but I still like it better than any of the options currently being offered.