I heard it was standard equipment of some Japanese cars in the 70 and 80’s and they still DO copy it no?
I prefer the fake-lace types 
Trucks are blue because they ran out of that horrible greenish-blue color they used to use to paint each and every Japanese-style house with.
It’s the kind of thing no one knows when you ask them, but there must be a reason. Any ideas?
Admittedly, this is the kind of question that would only bother a certain kind of mind, but one worth asking I think.
Why are black cabs black?
Good question, to which an answer could be found quite easily.
If you mean the little blue trucks here, they’re trucks, not vans. Or is this a regional usage difference?
Perhaps. Van seems to be short for caravan, a covered wagon. I’ve heard “blue van man” used plenty of times, however.
Anyway, it’s easy to think of a hypothesis for why black cabs are black, and I bet a cabbie could tell you why. Black is not a colour, more of a default option. Presumably that’s why Mr Ford chose it. Throw in all the pigments and that’s what you get. I suspect black predates motor vehicles too. Horse drawn carriages tend to be black.
Yellow cabs are easily visible, and somebody chose yellow for that reason. Blue didn’t just happen, somebody chose it (and others followed).
White vans (used as Dragonbones suggests) are another example. As with black, white is perhaps easier to hypothesize than blue.
IF they were white they wouldnt be blue vans would they?
I wonder if there was a legal requirement tho? Because on the wan taxis MUST be yellow. Maybe those blue vans have to be blue?
Funny thing, they’re not actually blue. They just reflect the higher frequency photons of the visible spectrum which are received by your eyes and translated by your brain to produce what English speaking humans call ‘blue’ (the French are still holding strong with their ‘bleu’; whether they’re human though is still up for debate). So in fact, the blue vans are everything BUT blue.
I suggest that if you want to see different color vans you’ll need to do one of two things. First you could learn to run backwards really fast. If you can get up to a speed somewhere close to that of light, the color will actually shift lighter towards yellow, orange or even red. The other option is to ask the driver if he could drive away from you at a similar speed, the result will be the same. Be careful not to go too fast and actually reach the speed of light. If you do this, you will turn into a wave of pure energy like Powder, and everyone hated Powder.
This probably isn’t very helpful in your quest, but it has hosted a grand opportunity to demonstrate the ‘redshift’ of the Doppler Effect. Thank You.
2 Likes
[quote=“Maceck”]Funny thing, they’re not actually blue. They just reflect the higher frequency photons of the visible spectrum which are received by your eyes and translated by your brain to produce what English speaking humans call ‘blue’ (the French are still holding strong with their ‘bleu’; whether they’re human though is still up for debate). So in fact, the blue vans are everything BUT blue.
I suggest that if you want to see different color vans you’ll need to do one of two things. First you could learn to run backwards really fast. If you can get up to a speed somewhere close to that of light, the color will actually shift lighter towards yellow, orange or even red. The other option is to ask the driver if he could drive away from you at a similar speed, the result will be the same. Be careful not to go too fast and actually reach the speed of light. If you do this, you will turn into a wave of pure energy like Powder, and everyone hated Powder.
This probably isn’t very helpful in your quest, but it has hosted a grand opportunity to demonstrate the ‘redshift’ of the Doppler Effect. Thank You.[/quote]
:bravo: Hilarious ! I want what you are having !
Why are/were all Japanese era houses that weird blue-green-gray color?
Short answer: no one on this board is really sure. If there was a specific reason, it’s been lost to history and tradition.
Cheap paint to make … ask Picasso … he had a ‘blue’ period, cheap paint and plenty … :ohreally:
I’ll take a look as I go out today, but are all of the trucks by the same manufacturer? I suspect not.
No, and they are not all blue … but blue is easy to spot … so, an indicator for people to get out of the way …
Hasn’t this topic been on the board in the past … maybe a mod with time to spare can do a search … 
I haven’t actually wondered this before. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that they can then be then easily identified as civilian transport vehicles which can legally be procured by the government in the event of war so that they may be used by the army? I have been told this by commercial vehicle owners before, although as I say I’m not certain the colour has anything to do with this.
I’ve been told it is the cheapest pigment to manufacture, as per what BP says.
But it could also be that sometime in the past, it was the colour chosen to easily identify stupid pricks with rotten teeth that are unable to conjour up any thought or consideration for anyone on the other side of their cracked and chipped windscreen.
I think it’s because they can’t find any lady trucks.
huh huh… uh huhu huhh hhuhuhhuh! niiiiice :bravo: