The curious idea of the two-color panel
02/04/2023
While two-tone bodies have been in fashion for decades and are currently experiencing a small renaissance, the four wheels of a car were usually painted in the same color. After all, the paint lines of the multi-colored body were usually horizontal and not vertical, so that the wheels always belonged to the same color group and could be matched in a quartet.
This makes the sight of this 1938 Delage D8 120 Cabriolet at the Rétromobile in Paris, whose wheels on the front and rear axles have different colors, all the more unusual. Painted by coachbuilder Vanvooren in light beige and strong chocolate brown (which drifts into a greenish gray-brown here due to the artificial light in the exhibition halls), the dress only follows the classic scheme with north-south division at the front. The rear, including the fenders, is almost entirely in a darker shade.
It is somewhat paradoxical that this disharmony of all things makes the car appear more subdued and elegant. Because four beige wheels would have made the rear too restless, four brown ones the front. Chrome-plated wire-spoke wheels would of course have solved the problem very simply, but also somewhat profanely. Incidentally, the spare wheel exposed on the aft deck is painted light beige like the front wheels. Otherwise it would have been a little too monotonous at the back.
