1970 production numbers by color

[tommyg29]

Surprised to see black at or on the bottom, and green go near the rear too 
 
My car was originally GT2, which I think was called Tunisian Tan (Plymouth) a gold color.
Burnt orange sounds cool, but I dont think Ive ever seen one in person, which is weird since it was so popular. Funny thing that sublime was more rare originally and that color has got to be the most common I ever see at the shows.

[susanrae]

I was surprised also that burnt orange was so popular.  I always liked the color but hadn't seen it on a Challenger in person until I found the one I bought.  I usually see red, hemi orange, black or sublime green at shows nowadays.  Growing up there seemed to be mostly plum crazy, white and both the dark green light green metallics.  Ah, the '70's! 

[HP2]

You have to take the cars out of the formula and look at the times overall to get a feel for what was driving the color choices.

It had been proven over and over again that the more distressed the financial situation is, the darker the colors being chosen on cars. The greens, golds, and blues tend to be in the upper end of the list, which is interspersed with the occasional high impact selection. Overall, consumer confidence was fair with the occasional chemically induced "wahoo" effect that made a few bright colors seem nice. Compare this to later in the 70s when cars were coming out dark brown, dark green, and black and overlay that with run away inflation, oil embargos, and  stagnant economic growth.

[susanrae]

HP2,

Do you have any stats or a reference regarding car color and the economy?  I think that is fascinating and would like to learn more about that theory.  For me, I have always liked green cars but generally went with red so I could be more visible to idiots (mostly after some idiot rammed my gold '72 Mustang twice because he "didn't know he hit a car" he thought he scraped a guardrail).  I did this both when I was dirt poor and also as I became more affluent.  I can certainly see though how the mental state of a person would influence their car purchase.

[HP2]

As a marketing major in school, I read through a number of different references from OEM sources that explained it all in great detail. However, I can't say I retained all those books and documents for reference. Just doing a quick web search during lunch, here are some  tid-bits to get you started;

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/07/what-your-car-color-says-about-us/

http://www.coatingsworld.com/issues/2011-10/view_europe-reports/color-trends-brace-for-economic-uncertainty/

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226319

http://www.nineteenfortyone.com/2010/11/color-trends-the-economic-effect/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/leesheppard/2013/10/06/fashions-leading-economic-indicator/

[susanrae]

Thanks HP.  That will get me started.  As a chemist, I can tel you all about the pigments but not the marketing.  This edification will be fun for me.