Where have all the liveries gone? | Axon’s Automotive Anorak

While checking out this stylish re-bodied, race inspired 608PS (447kW) machine, one of the revived British coachbuilder Radford’s team – 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button – strolled over and asked me what I thought of the car. Simultaneously one of his colleagues carefully removed the huge black and gold John Player Special (JPS) wording from both sides of the car, though the rest of the livery remained in place. This decal removal was due to tobacco promotion now being outlawed in the UK on new vehicles (unlike most of the rest of the world, with historic motor racing liveries thankfully being exempt from this rather ‘nanny state’ ruling).

This clean, simple and elegant livery was made famous through Imperial Tobacco’s JPS sponsorship on a few dominant 1970s Lotus Grand Prix racers, from the World Championship-winning Type 72 of 1972, via the innovative Type 78 and 79, right through to the Renault V6 turbo-powered Type 98T of the 1986 F1 season (with a brief Essex-sponsored blue and silver livery), as driven by Ayrton Senna, plus his team mate Johnny Dumfries as JPS reportedly wanted a British driver in its line-up.

Just 12 of the 62 mid-engined two-seater Radford’s being built will feature the black and gold JPS tobacco livery, with the equally iconic red, white and gold ‘Gold Leaf’ cigarette logo being offered, plus the ‘standard’ 431PS (321kW) entry Classic edition. Over the Classic derivative, the upgraded 62-2 Gold Leaf edition also gains some design cues inspired by the race car’s livery and rear wings, which, on the original pioneering Type 62, were added by Lotus founder Colin Chapman for additional downforce.

Just as the Gold Leaf livery was used to great effect on a handful of Lotus road cars to amplify the close connection with the Championship-winning Grand Prix cars (most notably the Elan in period, plus being later revived on some special edition Elise Series 1 and Series 2 models), the extraordinary JPS black and gold colour scheme found a natal home on many of the early 1970s mid-engined Lotus Europa Twin Cam models, plus later special edition Esprit derivatives to mark the Lotus Team’s subsequent World Championship success, as well as the inevitable limited production Elise.

The black and gold JPS paint scheme was not exclusively reserved for Lotus Grand Prix and road cars, however. Ford (which supplied its winningest DFV Cosworth engine to numerous race-winning F1 Lotus racers) chose to use the JPS-style scheme for its more performance-orientated S (for Sport) derivatives of its second-generation three-door Capri coupe range (plus its identical imported Mercury sibling in the USA). These mid-1970s black and gold Capri II S derivatives cut quite a dash in the outside land of the M1, with their slim gold coach lines applied to the GT’s flanks and bonnet and top grill surround. Gold painted alloy wheels and gold velour seat trim completed the Capri II S package.

In the very late 1970s AMC also selected black with gold accent lines for its sporting AMX and Spirit sports coupe derivatives, with even a handful of AMC Pacers being decked out in black with gold pin strips too. By the late 1970s, the black and gold JPS colour scheme had also found its way onto numerous other cars, the majority of these being low-volume niche vehicles such as the TVR Taimar and coach built Wood & Pickett Minis and Range Rovers, as well as crass American neo-retro 1930s-style roadsters as produced by Excalibur and Clenet, plus even a few costly prestige cars such as the occasional De Tomaso Pantera and Rolls-Royce Camargue.

A very limited number of other motorsport tobacco sponsorship tie-ins also existed in road car form, such as the early 1980s special edition Rothmans liveried Opel Manta coupes that were sold in some Continental European markets to reflect the cigarette brand’s sponsorship of the German General Motors world rally team.

Away from the now controversial tobacco partnership once prevalent in motor racing, other sponsorship deals were often worn with pride on a series of special edition road-going cars, such as Martini for Lancia’s Delta HF and limited edition Integrale models, plus the late 1970s Porsche 924 to celebrate the Stuttgart marque’s previous Le Mans 24 Hours victory.

In the 1990s the Jordon F1 Grand Prix team’s use of Honda engines resulted in the UK-only Honda Civic Jordon in the Team’s bright yellow livery (including cartoon bumble bee logos with yellow interior upholstery), with the World Rally Championship winning Subaru Impreza of the day often sold in the distinctive metallic blue 555 sponsorship livery of the rallying weapons (with owners frequently adding huge ‘555’ decals to their Imprezas, to match their 555-branded jackets, t-shirts, and baseball caps).

The days of cigarette logos and sponsorship blatantly appearing in new car showrooms any time soon though have long gone…

Lancia image courtesy of Bonhams, Radford image by Steven Stringer.