This week’s AutoHunter Picks features one hue: black. Some folks absolutely looooove black on any car. What’s funny about black is that its popularity is dependent on the era, as black used to be a formal color, while today it’s more of a performance color. For older performance vehicles that have available production information by color, you’d be surprised to note the rarity of black, seemingly never exceeding the rank of median.
Today, however, it seems just as popular as red. In fact, while researching this story, I noted that Black was twice as popular as Victory Red for the 2010 Camaro. In the words of the immortal Linda Richman voice, “Who knew?”
1958 Pontiac Chieftain
General Motors’ 1958 lineup often gets called out for falling out of touch with the market, especially after Virgil Exner’s 1957 lineup, but the 1958 Pontiac managed to not be too ostentatious compared to its more upscale brethren.
But here there’s a bit of charming ugliness thanks to the businesslike exterior of the bottom-of-the-line Chieftain two-door sedan. With 300 horsepower on tap thanks to Tri-Power, this is quite an unusual piece of early muscle.
2013 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca
I didn’t know that Ford updated the stripe for 2013 to reflect (pun intended) the stripes used on the 1970 car, giving distinction from the 2012 that featured the 1969 stripe. It promotes a different look to the Mustang, even though the styling is the same otherwise.
Black was a color only available with the Laguna Seca package, a track-ready version that lacks a rear seat but features an aggressive front splitter, larger rear spoiler, staggered-width aluminum wheels with special Pirelli tires, front brake cooling ducts, and more. Only 765 were built between two available colors.
2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS
Ya gotta wonder what General Motors is thinking now that the Camaro is out of production, but I hold the opinion that it learned its lesson once already, so we should see another Camaro soon. Still, why leave people wanting?
So maybe I’d have to settle for a Camaro like this, a ’10 SS six-speed with 5,702 miles. This one has the gorgeous “W1H” Inferno Orange Interior Accent Trim Package with orange and black leather.
2004 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible
Here’s a C5 ragtop that’s 21 years old and barely has any miles on it—8,627. This triple-black Vette features a six-speed plus 3.42 gears, magnetic active handling suspension, polished aluminum wheels, remote 12-CD changer, and heads-up display, the latter which seems to be more and more common these days.
Window sticker shows a price of almost $57,000 with options, much of them fine choices as you can see. Such a nicely preserved vehicle could mean a future in the Corvette concours circuit?
