50 Greatest liveries of all time.

[CommanderBond]

I don't have time to go through all 54 pages, but here's my personal favorite...

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Right, let me explain, I know it's a Lotus 78 and the car never raced in yellow in the F1 World Championship.

This is Emilio de Villota's Madom F1 Team Lotus 78 that he drove in the 1979 Aurora AFX British F1 Championship and also the 1979 non-Championship Race of Champions. I think the car looks great in yellow. No disrespect to the original John Player Special version though.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

If there's ever been a car that doesn't look good in Duckhams colours then I would like to hear about it.

 

[MatskiMonk]

It's a cigarette pack on wheels. It's only the associations it has that make people think it's actually a good livery.

 

[Liquid]

It's only the associations it has that make people think it's actually a good livery.

I do actually like the Marlboro McLaren design because it's simple and unclutteted but you raise an excellent point that has been overlooked before - successful cars usually have more memorable liveries.

If the ATS D7 had won 15/16 races, it would doubtlessly be lauded as a stunning car.

If Thomas Erdõs won the 2001 BTCC, his Lexus would be remembered as a sleek looker.

It's much rarer that you get Esso Ultron Peugeot 406s or Jaguar R1s, uncompetitive cars definitely remembered as good looking. It's even rarer still that winners are remembered for being ugly.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

I do actually like the Marlboro McLaren design because it's simple and unclutteted but you raise an excellent point that has been overlooked before - successful cars usually have more memorable liveries.

If the ATS D7 had won 15/16 races, it would doubtlessly be lauded as a stunning car.

If Thomas Erdõs won the 2001 BTCC, his Lexus would be remembered as a sleek looker.

View attachment 1382717

It's much rarer that you get Esso Ultron Peugeot 406s or Jaguar R1s, uncompetitive cars definitely remembered as good looking. It's even rarer still that winners are remembered for being ugly.

I like those liveries

 

[Liquid]

To me, this Felicia kit car looks and has always looked awesome. Colin McRae Rally nostalgia be damned, I honestly think it looks nice. Simple and uncomplicated. The placement of the colour splashes are effective. White with green and red but it isn't Castrol.

 

[Har1MAS1415]

Are there any other threads on the subject of liveries?

 

[Roo]

A new one to me: the Zakspeed 841 test livery, with Jonathan Palmer at the wheel in the pictures and Manfred Winkelhock driving in the video at the Nurburgring towards the end of 1984.

Suddenly the 1994 Pacific livery doesn't seem quite so original, but I like them both.

 

[Jimlaad43]

That's a pretty cool find, looks epic

 

[hakhan]

For me, nothing beats this one.

 

[sillybilly]

For me, nothing beats this one.

It's clean and classic, however I think it's imagery is idolised for the performance of the car rather than the livery delivery.

I think it looks a bit too plain and simple, looks a little bit "homebrand" (generic supermarket) product.

Some of the first races I remember watching was these cars just driving off into the distance, as much as Murray was sensationalising them I thought those two cars were boring at the time - I was fairly young so I had much to learn.

 

[MisterWaffles]

It's clean and classic, however I think it's imagery is idolised for the performance of the car rather than the livery delivery.

I think it looks a bit too plain and simple, looks a little bit "homebrand" (generic supermarket) product.

Some of the first races I remember watching was these cars just driving off into the distance, as much as Murray was sensationalising them I thought those two cars were boring at the time - I was fairly young so I had much to learn.

Marlboro is the most overrated design of all time.

It’s the bare minimum of design effort. Painting a red stripe on a white car (or a white stripe on a red car in the case of Ferrari/Toyota).

The success of the teams using Marlboro liveries and the “smoking is cool” attitude in society that was prevalent when they were being used carry the entire design. Otherwise it’s incredibly basic and boring.

 

[TheCracker]

Marlboro is the most overrated design of all time.

It’s the bare minimum of design effort. Painting a red stripe on a white car (or a white stripe on a red car in the case of Ferrari/Toyota).

The success of the teams using Marlboro liveries and the “smoking is cool” attitude in society that was prevalent when they were being used carry the entire design. Otherwise it’s incredibly basic and boring.

I've got to disagree with this. The Marlboro livery existed well before the cars that ran it became so dominent. It was a very early sponsorship livery when the whole concept of sponsorship was pretty new. As such, liveries were simple, but the way the Marlboro inverted V (which in itself is a classic design) was applied to the single-seater shapes of the time just works so well. It's clean and simple but totally 'Marlboro'. It's shown above on the ('88) MP4/4, but as a design on an F1 car it dates back to the very early 70's.