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Geneva Motor Show: It's a matte world
Click the image for our full gallery of matte vehicles.
This year's Geneva Motor Show brought even more matte finish to the party and after discussing the trend with a few of our colleagues, we determined that the bubble is reaching critical mass and will soon burst in a pseudo-rat rod colored explosion.
Several examples were available to prove our point, but the three that caught the attention of our shutter finger include the display of the above Phantom in all its anti-blingerific glory, before it left the Rinspeed crew for a customer somewhere in the Middle East.
The Sbarro Turbo S 20 was another example using the dull hues to good effect and coupled with the blown powertrain from a Porsche 928, it had the oomph to match its understated exterior.
Also on hand was a tuned Mustang GT in the aftermarket showcase area, which we caught on our way out the door on Wednesday. There was no one on hand to answer any questions, but the faux rivets, flanking the hood, roof and trunk were enough to garner a few chuckles as we departed.
Check the gallery for more images of all things matte and we'd encourage you to sound off in comments about the anti-buff trend.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mike 7:46PM (3/09/2007)
matte... They used to call it primer.
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frank 7:55PM (3/09/2007)
Matt finished look horrible
Matt is just the easy way out if you are building a car for an autoshow but you can get the highlights to look right on time
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Deezee 8:04PM (3/09/2007)
I love that mustang. Even in flat paint.
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Astrochicken 8:33PM (3/09/2007)
The future is matte.
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doglet 10:04PM (3/09/2007)
i like it, its different. i honestly dont know if my next car will have it but i hope that someone finds a way to get this on volume models.
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paul34 9:46PM (3/09/2007)
Hmm, I still don't think I like it...
oh man, does this mean I'm "old-fashioned" now?! Will my future children make fun of me for my shiny cars? "Oh dad, you're so OLD" =(
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Tina Silva 10:45PM (3/09/2007)
That's a nice car.
Tina Silva
http://redirect.alexa.com/redirect?blog.pimentels-photography.com
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Snix 8:48AM (3/10/2007)
I believe it was called "suede" back in the 50's. Yay for hot rod primer! I'm tired of metallic clearcoat on every damn color of car. That and the names given to new paint colors such as "Light Driftwood Satin Glow". What the hell does that mean? Just call it metallic tan, for cryin' out loud!
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Nick 11:06PM (3/09/2007)
I like it, I might buy a matte finished car if available. It's different. Glossy is nice, but I buy matte pictures as well.
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carbuzzard 11:26AM (3/10/2007)
Hmmm, an F-18 looks great in matte grey. Of course, shiny surfaces are easier to see and when it comes to air combat, you want to be the last seen. What that has to do with cars, I'm not sure, though maybe Smokey won't see you when you sail past at 20 over...?
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Kit 11:56PM (3/09/2007)
Excuse me? A Sbarro with a blown porsche v8? Why is the first mention of this about it's paint job?
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gerald 11:56PM (3/09/2007)
I love matte black cars. I seriously wish they would make matte finish an option on cars.
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JayP 12:43AM (3/10/2007)
Cool... so now I don't have to bother waxing my 20yr old car. I knew being lazy would pay off!
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shane 4:11AM (3/10/2007)
awesome... it's like the anti-bling... I love it... reminds me when in the late 70's when everything was cheesy disco, and along came a new music that was stripped down and raw... punk rock!
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Joe 7:49AM (3/10/2007)
i bought my mountain bike frame and had it custom built by a company in British Columbia. I had them paint it a Matte Metallic Blue. I have always loved the style, when done correctly. I was actually discussing this with a few co-workers two weeks ago saying that one of the special-edition lotuses (Loti?) should encorporate a matte finish.
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Matt 12:48PM (3/10/2007)
matte finishes only look good on certain cars, but that rr seemed to pull it off.
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SickManSeth 12:52PM (3/10/2007)
Personally i like a satin textured matte better then a regular matte. it just feels more complete.
Around here the trend is to buy a crap car,paint it (or just the hood) matte black and call it a drift paint job. The paint usually goes on really dirty and uneven. This will probably come full circle when i see Hubinette touching up his viper with a can of krylon before the end of the day at irwindale.
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ron 2:59PM (3/10/2007)
Hey, my mid-80's Chevy S-10 pickem-up truck would fit right in with the matte finish! Came that way from the factory and never really looked worth a damn. Got rid of it at 18 mths (12K miles) when the rear seal of the motor started dripping oil all over the place and the dealer wanted a fortune (to me it was a fortune at the time) to fix it.
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Ken 4:32PM (3/10/2007)
I think satin finishes will be very well at home with the newer angular styles. That RR shows how well it can be done. I'm quite in anticipation of the anti-bling.
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Agent MOO 5:58PM (3/10/2007)
The S197 Mustang body style can look good with Matte, but that Norey is pretty tacky
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