Corporate Colours

Y280, Zircon Green - 1

Corporate Colours

XY GT

Y161, Royal Umber - 4

Corporate Colours

Y161, Royal Umber - 1

Y280, Zircon Green - 1

Y289, Surfer Orange - 1

Corporate Colours

The non-alphanumeric colurs

Now for a quick look at the ‘fleet’ colours that were offered by Ford on the GT. ‘Fleet’ colours were those available in the Ford paint catalogue that were not commercial or ‘corporate’ colours.

XR GT

Z782, Russet Bronze metallic - 1

XT GT

None

XW GT

Y145, Woodsman green - 2

Corporate Colours

Y314, Rothmans Filter Blue

Another mystery. Why did Rothmans have two blues ?

Y340, Hughes Blue

What Hughes ? Hughes Aircraft Corporation perhaps ?

Y356, Kwikasair Violet

At last, something we do know about. Kwikasair is a trucking and freight company, know for its brightly painted trucks.



So, what could be better than having your XB GT painted Kwikasair Violet ?

Corporate Colours

Y308, Budget Green

Could Budget be the car rental people ? Did they, like Avis, have a ‘corporate’ colour ?

Corporate Colours

Y310, S.T.C. Yellow

Nothing is known about this one, not even what S.T.C. stands for.

Corporate Colours

Y299, C.U.B. Brown

Carlton United Breweries are the brewers of, amongst others, Fosters. What is C.U.B. Brown ?

Here is a Carlton drinks tray. Could this be C.U.B. Brown ?



As a further matter of interest regarding C.U.B. Brown, here is a 1963 EH Holden that was a prize giveaway car by Carlton United Breweries with a custom interior. Is either the interior, or the exterior C.U.B. Brown ?

Corporate Colours

Y045, Corporate Blue

Corporate Colours

XB GT

With the XB range of cars, and considering only GT’s there seems to have been a rainbow explosion of special order colours. Immediately below, we will concentrate on the ‘corporate ones.

Y045, Corporate Blue;

Y113, Rothmans Blue;

Y117, Brambles Red;

Y120 Daimler Blue;

Y154, Betta Primrose;

Y229, C.U.B. Brown;

Y244, Pepsi Yellow;

Y264, Fanta Orange;

Y301, S.T.C. Yellow;

Y308, Budget Green;

Y314, Rothmans Filter Blue;

Y340, Hughes Blue; and

Y356, Kwikasair Violet.

Corporate Colours

Y045, Corporate Blue

What better ‘corporate’ colour to offer customers than your own ? Yes, Ford built one XA GT four door, one XA GT hardtop and one XA GT RPO83 hardtop, and painted them Ford Corporate Blue.

There is one other ‘odd’ colour which may or may not be a ‘corporate’ colour: Y266, Bechel Yellow. If anyone knows what Bechel Yellow is, or whether Bechel actually was an organisation, we would be keen to know. One XA GT hardtop built in January, 1973 in this colour.

Corporate Colours

Y345, Readymix Orange

Readymix Concrete are a well known worldwide company whose corporate colour was, and is, orange.

There was one XA GT hardtop built painted Readymix Orange, and it still exists.

Corporate Colours

Y269, R.A.A. Yellow

One four XA GT and one hardtop XA GT were painted Royal Automobile Association of South Australia yellow, presumably similar to the earlier RAA Yellow XY GT’s.

Corporate Colours

Y157, Mac Robertsons Old Gold

Mac Robertson, or to give him his full name and title Sir MacPherson Robertson, was a renowned Australian entrepreneur of Scottish-Irish descent, who made his fortune in the early part of the twentieth century through a confectionary empire. One is his most celebrated products was MacRobertson’s Old Gold chocolates which came in distinctively colured tins and boxes..

Corporate Colours

Y154, Betta Primrose.

Betta Electrical is a chain of electrical goods stores. We guess, sometime in their past, that their corporate colour was a primrose shade. Two XA GT hardtops painted this colour were sold. Betta continue an association with Ford by sponsoring a V8 Supercar team, running a BA Falcon.

Corporate Colours

Y152, New South Wales Ambulance White

What can we say ? Another, slightly bizarre choice of colour for a car, especially as Ford offered two other white colours; Polar White, code ‘3’, and Ultra White, code ‘U’ or option code Y377 or Z801.

So why NSW Ambulance White ? Two built, an October, 1972 four door and a November, 1972 built hardtop. They must have made fast ambulances for someone.

Corporate Colours

Y120, Daimler Blue.

A bit of a puzzler this one. We know that Daimlers were badged Jaguars or limousines. Was there a specific colour called Daimler Blue ? We have the Dulux code for Daimler Blue, 1102, but no way of telling whether it was actually a Daimler colour ? One four door and one hardtop were painted in this unusual and unknown colour.

Corporate Colours

Y113, Rothmans Blue.

Rothmans are the tobacco company, famous in earlier times for their ‘King Size’ cigarettes with their distinctive blue advertising colour and packaging.



Two XA GT four doors were painted Rothmans Blue, and one RPO83 hardtop.

Corporate Colours

Y107, Ansett Blue.

Ansett was an Australian airline founded by Reg Ansett in 1935. It went bankrupt in 2001. Originally the company was known as Ansett Airways, then Ansett Airlines of Australia, and finally Ansett Australia. In its final days, the aircraft tails were painted a striking blue shade, but in its heyday the aircraft carried an orange colour scheme.

Not much help if we are looking for a colour called Ansett Blue. However, here is an older picture of an Ansett aircraft, and yes, the paint scheme features blue.

So, that could be the Ansett Blue, perhaps ? Now, all we have to do is compare it with the one, and only, XA GT that was painted Ansett Blue. This car still exists, and it is an RO83 car too. Unfortunately, the car has, at some point, been repainted Cosmic Blue. However, parts of the car are stilll visible in the original paint and the owner reports that it is like the XW colour Starlight Blue, but with some more green in it.

Here is a Starlight Blue XW GT for comparison with the aircraft above.
However, the tale of the Ansett Blue XA GT is even more interesting because the car was ordered to be painted Aluminium, just like 12 other XA GT’s.
Except, somewhere during the ordering process, Y017 Aluminium became Y107, Ansett Blue. We bet the dealership, and the new owner, got a bit of a shock over that one.

Perhaps as a final hint of what Ansett Blue looks like, there was also a trucking company called Ansett Freight Express, and here is one of their units. Could this be Y107, Ansett Blue ?

Corporate colours

Y099, Shell Yellow

There was one Shell Yellow XA hardtop built, in December, 1972. It is not the most famous Shell Yellow XA though, as that was originally a Yellow Glow car that John Goss painted Shell Yellow for his sponsors and which he raced in the 1973 Hardie Ferodo 1000.