In the 1930s, GAZ-A and GAZ-M-1 cars rolled off the assembly line of the Gorky Automobile Plant predominantly in black. Gray examples were seen, but remained more of an exception. The plant was created with the participation of Ford, and the principle borrowed from there of "painting in black without unnecessary options" turned out to be the most convenient. Dark enamel was cheaper, dried faster, and better met the requirements of mass production. In conditions where every penny mattered, there was no talk of a variety of shades.
After 1945, GAZ-M-20 "Pobeda" and "Moskvich-400" appeared on the assembly lines, but the color palette hardly changed. In the first post-war years, cars were painted in muted shades - gray, resembling damp plaster, and unobtrusive beige. The nitro enamels used at that time gave a matte, quickly fading surface, so there was no question of gloss.
Interestingly, "Pobeda" cars were not produced in black at all. The reason lay in the quality of the body panels: after stamping, they had noticeable irregularities, which were eliminated manually, but not to an ideal state. Light shades hid these defects, while black, on the contrary, would emphasize every unevenness and seam. That is why only representative cars were painted in black - ZIS-110 and GAZ-12 ZIM. Their bodies were carefully brought to an ideal surface and covered with nitro enamel in several layers - up to seven, with mandatory intermediate drying and polishing.
By the mid-1950s, the situation began to change. Under the influence of American fashion, two-tone paint schemes appeared in the USSR: the roof and fenders were made in dark tones, and the sidewalls - in light ones. Such versions of the GAZ-M21 Volga and Moskvich-407 looked noticeably more elegant, often appeared in films and were demonstrated at export exhibitions. However, this technology was extremely inconvenient for factories: the body was first completely painted in one color, then part of the surface was covered and a second layer was applied, and it was difficult to achieve an even dividing line. Therefore, most of these cars were sent abroad, and those remaining inside the country were especially highly valued - it was believed that export cars undergo stricter quality control.
For the average buyer, there was still no choice of color. When the production of VAZ-2101 began in Togliatti in 1970, the plant had only five enamel options: gray-white, cherry, green, blue, and fawn. The same range was used for other models - the "troika" and "Niva", a separate palette was not provided for them.
The paint was supplied by the Yaroslavl plant "Victory of Workers", and it was its current shipments that determined what color thousands of cars across the country would be painted. If a batch of green enamel arrived, green cars rolled off the assembly line, when it ran out, they switched to the next available one. Rows of identical cars accumulated in warehouses, and the buyer actually had no choice: the color came with the car. Although there were ways to "agree" and get a more desirable option, the process as a whole resembled a lottery.
The reason for this limitation was not only in the planned economy. The color scheme was approved by the Ministry of Automotive Industry, and the production of enamels was concentrated in one enterprise. In addition, the assembly line itself did not allow frequent changes of shades: each color change required stopping the line, flushing the equipment, and entailed losses of time and materials. Five colors meant five such operations, while increasing the range to fifteen would already lead to disruptions in the production plan. The melamine-alkyd enamels (ML) used required drying at a temperature of 80–130 °C, and not all pigments could withstand such conditions. At the same time, the most resistant ones - green, blue and white - were also the cheapest, since they were also used in other industries.
A special attitude developed towards white cars. There was a widespread belief that they were more prone to corrosion. In practice, this was only a visual effect: traces of rust are more noticeable on a light background, while the color itself did not affect the durability of the metal. Nevertheless, white "Zhiguli" cars were often perceived as a less desirable option.
The situation began to change in the second half of the 1970s, when the first cars with a metallic coating appeared. Around 1975–1976, "Moskvich" cars with iridescent paint began to roll off the AZLK assembly line - according to rumors, the enamel was supplied from Yugoslavia. At first, such cars were produced in small batches, but interest in them turned out to be high.
Metallic paint became truly widespread in the early 1980s with the Moskvich-2140SL model, for which Finnish Tikkurila paints were purchased. Against the background of the usual matte bodies, such cars looked almost like foreign cars. VAZ joined this trend only by the middle of the decade: export "Zhiguli" cars were painted with imported enamels - Danish Sadolin or Yugoslav "Helios", while the products of the Yaroslavl plant were still used for the domestic market. Information about the color and type of paint was indicated on a paper tag attached inside the trunk lid. Losing this marking seriously complicated the subsequent selection of the shade, since the final color depended even on the thickness of the applied layer, and it could vary from body to body.
Only by the end of the 1980s did black become available for mass-produced passenger models. Before that, it remained the prerogative of representative cars - "Volga", "Chaika" and ZIL limousines.
Radical changes occurred in the 1990s, when buyers for the first time had the opportunity to choose the color of the car themselves. Nevertheless, statistics show an interesting continuity: as of 2025, white (about 30%), black (about 23%) and gray (more than 20%) colors together occupy more than 70% of the new car market in Russia.
How to legally change the color of a car — read in the material motoram.ru.