CONTINUOUSWAVE

I had not heard of the Desert Tan color name until the 1973 Boston Whaler came out. Recently at a classic car show, I noticed a car with an original factory paint color called Desert Tan. The car? A 1959 Edsel.

To learn of use of Desert Tan as an automotive color name in 1959 is quite interesting. Nice find.

I found an image of the Edsel paint color option chart (see below) that confirms the name. And with some more searching, I found a reference to a 1935 Hudson automobile that was available in Desert Tan. Apparently that name has been used for paint color tones for a long time. A cross-reference chart for paint shows use of Desert Tan paint from 1935 to 2005 by Hudson, Studebaker, DeSoto, Oldsmobile, Mercury, Ford, GM, Chevy, Pontiac, Lincoln, Mercedes, Toyota, and some appliance makers. There were also colors called Light Desert Tan, Medium Desert Tan, and Medium Light Desert Tan in use--all quite a surprise to me.