Color-changing car paint

[mtbc]

While standing somewhere around Lennox Town Center in Columbus, Ohio, looking out over the car lot, I watched a car slowly drive past and change color as it did so. For me the color change was a remarkable surprise. At some point a little later I saw another such vehicle and I thought that this new paint makes a welcome change and I would no doubt be seeing plenty more such vehicles on the roads. How wrong I was, surely well over a decade ago now.

Subsequent searching online found me interference pigments with brand names such as ChromaFlair®. These days I find that many such articles are dated around back when I first saw such paint for myself; I don't see later articles explaining why such pigments never became popular on cars. Perhaps I was unusual in being delighted by the effect or there are costs rather greater than those I have been able to uncover.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

I remember those! I liked them, too. I think people are too stodgy about such things.

[aldabra]

I never saw that!

[goldibehr]

A while ago (15 years?) that paint was a plot point in one of the cop dramas on TV; different witnesses reported different colors for the get-away car.

I too am surprised it didn't catch on.