Mopar Color Names

Color Names

Precision in color names is important both in conveying an accurate word-picture in describing cars and in maintaining an accurate account of the restored and original cars offered at auction.

I have begun carrying around in my Motion Tablet computer a pdf document copied from Wikipedia of colors and their names to help differentiate between terminology and — more importantly — to be consistent. It helps me differentiate between “pumpkin” and “saffron” but doesn’t take into account the gloriously enthusiastically named colors affixed to some of the most sought of American cars in the Sixties and Seventies.

It’s possible to imagine the delightful debates that went on among stylists, designers, artists and others during lunchtime debates during the era trying to come up with appropriate, characteristic but also whimsical names for colors. It must have been a wonderful exchange of ideas. Full credit goes to the managers who let names like “Plum Crazy” sneak through, and that is the impetus for this page. The Mopar designers in ’70-’71 did marvelous things, but few of them are more appreciated today than the whimsical, topical names they gave to the High-Impact / High-Performance colors adorning Plymouths and Dodges of the day.

The double entendres were lying around on the ground, twitching and smiling, waiting for today’s collectors to catch on.

My favorites (aside from the ever-popular Plum Crazy and attitudinous Sassy Grass) is Green-Go, which begs to be pronounced like Warner Brothers’ cartoon’s Speedy Gonzalez would have said it, “Greengo”, and Citron Yella, the color for people who want to keep mosquitoes away.

Today it’s hard to separate Plum Crazy from In Violet, so I’ve compiled the following table from published sources (referenced lest I be accused of plagiarizing) to give Mopars their correct color names.

There are no more excuses.

On the Mopar fender tag the color code is the left-most set of three characters on the second line from the bottom.

The High-Impact/Performance Colors

Color Code Plymouth Name Dodge Name
  High-Impact High-Performance
  1970
FC7 In Violet Plum Crazy
FJ5 Lime Light Sublime
EK2 Vitamin C Orange Go-Mango
EV2 Tor-Red Hemi Orange
FY1 Lemon Twist Top Banana
FM3 Moulin Rouge Panther Pink
FJ6 Sassy Grass Green-Go
Italics are mid-year colors
  1971
GY3 Curious Yellow Citron Yella
EV2 Tor-Red Hemi Orange
FJ6 Sassy Grass Green-Go
FC7 In Violet Plum Crazy
FY1 Lemon Twist Top Banana

The Standard Colors

Color Code Plymouth Name Dodge Name
  1970
EA4 Silver Silver
EA9 Charcoal Dark Grey
EB3 Ice Blue Light Blue
EB5 Blue Fire Bright Blue
EB7 Jamaica Blue Dark Blue
FE5 Rallye Red Rallye/Bright Red
FF4 Lime Green Light Green
EF8 Ivy Green Dark Green
EF9 Dark Emerald  
FK3 Burnt Orange  
FK5 Deep Burnt Orange Dark Burnt Orange
BL1 Sandpebble Beige Beige
EM9 Deep Plum  
FP6 Frosted Teal  
FQ3   Light Turquoise
ER6 Scorch Red Red
DR8   Burgundy
FT3 Sahara Tan  
FT6 Burnt Tan Dark Tan
FT8 Walnut  
EW1 Alpine White Eggshell White
TX9 Black Velvet Black
DY2 Sunfire Yellow Yellow
DY3 Yellow Gold Cream
FY4 Citron Mist Light Gold
FY6   Gold
C37D Petty Blue Corporate Blue
  1971
GA4 Winchester Gray Light Gunmetal
GA8   Dark Gunmetal
GB2 Glacial Blue Light Blue
GB5 True Blue Bright Blue
GB7 Evening Blue Dark Blue
GC8   Indigo
GE7   Burgundy
GF7 Sherwood Green Dark Green
GF3 Amber Sherwood Light Green
GY8 Gold Leaf Gold
GY9 Tawny Gold Dark Gold
GJ4   Moss Green
GK6 Autumn Bronze Dark Bronze
T5   Tan
GT2   Tunisian Tan
FE5 Rallye Red Bright Red
W3 Snow White Bright White
TX9 Formal Black Black
EL5   Butterscotch

Source: Original Challenger and Barracuda 1970-1974: The Restorer’s Guide by Jim Schild; MBI Publishing, 2003 and Catalog of American Car ID Numbers 1970-79, Cars & Parts Magazine; Amos Press 1991