Red Cars

This is The Haynes Motor Museum in Somerset, England. It's my sort of car museum in the sense that no car museum is normally my sort of car museum, but anyone who decides to specialise in red cars and display them all together in one place makes something more than a car museum. John Haynes also made a Red Museum, and that is my sort of museum.

There are other bits of the museum with cars in other boring colours that car people can drool over, but this will do me just fine.

The museum was established in 1985 by John Harold Haynes OBE (1938–2019), founder of Haynes Owner's Workshop Manuals (commonly known as Haynes Manuals).

Car museums may not be my thing but the Haynes Manual, even for me, conjures up a time when ordinary people en masse, still tinkered with their faulty cars at the weekend to try to get them working. Because we had to. I remember a dark weekend when using my Haynes Manual for my Morris Marina I played nurse to a more qualified mechanic as we proceeded to change the cylinder head gasket. It was quite an achievement and one that would have been impossible without Mr. Haynes famous book.

In 1984, John Haynes purchased a disused sawmill in Sparkford, where he established the museum in July 1985 with an initial collection of 35 cars.

Between 2012 and 2014, the Haynes Motor Museum underwent a major redevelopment, including extensions and refurbishment works designed to modernise the site and expand its facilities.

The redevelopment introduced a new entrance foyer, shop, café, offices and conference suites, along with additional exhibition halls to accommodate the growing collection. The redevelopment also introduced new themed exhibition spaces and interactive elements.

Architecturally, the project created a new external façade which includes a sweeping white and red frontage and a black-clad exhibition structure. Wikipedia

"John Haynes dreamt of a room full of red cars. He believed that when you experienced a mass of cars in one colour, you saw beyond the distraction of colour and took in the design curves, lines, shapes and angles of the car instead, appreciating the car in a different way". The Haynes Motor Museum

He was clearly right.

According to John Haynes, at least, my red car means I am "ambitious, impulsive and outgoing, with a zest for life", or I might just "love red cars".

But as a former art student and painter, who specialised in using red, even I know there is not just one red. Red comes in many colours, and when it is painted on cars, in many names.

Ferrari is unique among car manufacturers for only having one colour red, Rosso Corsa.

Ford on the other hand has many different reds. Race, Cardinal, Dearborn, Tractor, Royal, Casino, Mulberry, Ascot, Poppy, Cinnebar, Flamingo, Dragon, Garnet, Moselle, Pheasant, Pirate, Magma, Hot Pepper, Kapoor, Rapid and Toreador.

I have added Sebring Red as my Dad had a Ford in Sebring Red in 1972, and it is missing of the Haynes list.

Here we go in a circle slightly, when I see that Ford have a red called Kapoor. That has to be too much of a coincidence, as my tutor at art collage was a certain Anish Kapoor who used a lot of red. It is no coincidence.

Ford Motor Company assigned the name Kapoor Red (paint code AW or JSSEWHA) to a specific, dark metallic red hue for commercial vehicles like the Ford Transit and Transit Connect. While Ford never officially published the specific inspiration behind the colour's name, the name is derived directly from the British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor.

The hue chosen by Ford was created to closely match the distinctive and saturated shade of dark red used frequently in Kapoor's famous art installations. AI Overview

BMW also have a hot pepper red, Chilli. They also have Iberia, Coral, Verona, Granet, Henna, Karnal, Misano and Top.

GM/Vauxhall have Sharp, Calypso, Rabiata, Tierra Del Fuego, Florentine, Rock, Barolo, Carnelian, Chianti, Tizian, Almadine, Radiant, Marseille, Toscana and Rioja.

That is three red wines from GM. Does this reflect what they are drinking when they are choosing colours?

Toyota have Imperial, L.A., Maranello, Masai, Matador, Orpheus, Plum, Mica, Rio, Rubens, Scarlet, Sunfire, Tahitian, Waratah, Wildfire and Wine.

Toyota are just owning up to the wine straight off the bat.

VW have Avara, Tornado, Cardinal, Chili, Wild Cherry, Fortana, Mars and Oxide.

Renault have Pompiers, French for the fire service of course, Esterel, Cerise, Framboise, Andalou, Etrusco and Brique.

Porsche have Carmine, Guards, Cherry, Polo and Papaya.

Mercedes have Jupiter and Hyacinth.

Mazda have the poetic Soul Red, Crystal, Redfire, Blaze, Cinnabar, Electric Current, Flame, Colorado and Bright.

Bentley have Cardinal, Saint James, Sunset, Candy and Dragon.

Lamborghini have Diablo, Magic, Andromeda, Imola, Leto, Mars, Metis, Pop, Sangue, and Winner.

Volvo have Burgundy, Caribbean, Bordeaux, Cherokee, Richelien, Coral, Inferno, Signal and Venetian.

Mitsubishi have Barcelona, Roanne, Imperial, Pamir, Kutani, and Santa Barbara.

There seems to be an international cultural propensity to choose exotic places, red fruits and vegetables, wine, fire, planets and artists or traditional art pigments, when glamourising your new red car. This is despite the fact that red has different cultural meanings in different parts of the world.

Red can mean wealth in Africa, but it can also mean death. In the Middle East red can mean vengeance while in China it represents both modern Communism and the ancient New Year. Red in Russia means revolution, while in Japan it represents heroes. Australian Aborigines see red as supernatural power. In the USA the red of the red white and blue represents hardiness and valour. South America equates red with religion. Thirty five European countries feature red in their national flags.

Red is one of the oldest colours in human history. Prehistoric hunters used red ochre (a clay rich in iron oxide) to paint animals like bison in sites such as the Altamira Cave in Spain over 20,000 years ago. Because of its striking ties to blood, fire, and life, it became a global symbol of power, passion, and revolution.

The Egyptians used red ochre to symbolize both creation and destruction, often depicting their deities with red skin.

In Rome, red represented military might; generals and soldiers wore it to signify honour, courage, and victory in battle.

Bright reds like vermilion (made from toxic cinnabar) were expensive and laborious to source. Artists like Titian used these vivid pigments to drape religious figures and royalty, making red an immediate marker of high status and wealth.

In Chinese philosophy, red represents fire and is connected to dynamism and leadership. From the Han to the Ming dynasties, it served as the ultimate imperial colour, symbolizing good fortune, authority, and prosperity. It is still famously worn by brides today.

During the French Revolution, the red flag emerged as a symbol of liberation and the working class. This association carried into the 20th century, where it became the primary colour for socialist and communist movements globally, representing the blood of workers and revolutionary progress.

Information courtesy of The Haynes Motor Museum and AI Overview.