Heritage Liveries  /  1990s

Nissan — the tyre-house colours

Red over black, split by white. A horizontal division so simple it functions as a colour system rather than a livery.

Nissan Silvia / Skyline1988–1998

Stripe-geometry study — colour and geometry only. No sponsor logotype, wordmark, roundel or emblem is drawn.

Palette
Signal red#D0021B
Ink black#141414
Paper white#F4F4F2
Specification
Team / entryJapanese tyre-house entries
CarNissan Silvia / Skyline
Years1988–1998
Decade1990s
Hero-car issueIssue 04 — Nissan Silvia S14

Read Issue 04

The study

Reading the geometry

Some liveries are drawings and some are systems. This one is a system: the shell is divided horizontally, red above, black below, with a white channel holding the two apart and hairlines of each colour bracketing the channel.

Because the division is defined as a proportion rather than a shape, it can be applied to a saloon, a coupé, a wing mirror or a wheel and still be recognisable. That is why it outlived the cars it was drawn for and became one of the small number of colour arrangements enthusiasts can identify from a single photograph of a door.

A vertical white break interrupts the bands at the B-pillar, which stops the horizontal reading from becoming monotonous over the length of the car.

Reproduced here as colour and stripe geometry only. The tyre maker's marks are not drawn.

Presented as a historical colour study for editorial reference. All team names, marques and marks referred to remain the property of their owners.