Most new cars come with only a few colors from the factory these days. You’ll usually only see blacks, whites, and grays, with an odd red or blue. But every once in a while, a car gets a color that wasn’t in the ad. In 2016, Volkswagen had a similar problem, but it was a different shade of gray. The car in question is a 2017 Volkswagen Golf R shown on Bring a Trailer. It has become a tale since it first appeared on the dealer’s lot in November 2016. This is because the Golf R’s outer color, Carbon Steel Grey Metallic, was never made available by the company that made the car. When Lindsey Volkswagen in Dulles, Virginia, put the car up for sale for the first time, it made a lot of noise. As the current owner learned more about the car’s past, they asked how it got the color Carbon Steel Grey Metallic (paint code LA9W). At first, the color was only available on the Golf GTI Mk 6 and Mk 7 models. Volkswagen couldn’t explain what happened in a way that made sense. Representatives from the company say that the four-digit paint code was probably entered wrong or that the wrong color was chosen because of a system mistake. The company says the car should have been Limestone Grey (paint code LA7N). Since the paint was easy to get at the Wolfsburg plant, the car was painted that way and put on the assembly line. The quality inspection found no flaws because the surface was perfect, and inspectors only sometimes looked for cars made in the allowed colors. When the Golf R went on sale, more than 100 people called to try to get one, and Facebook went crazy with comments about this one-of-a-kind manufacturing mistake. At the time, Megan Closset, who was in charge of the Golf GTI and Golf R in the United States, saw how excited people were. Closet showed how much the community cared about the Spektrum program to make her case for bringing it to the U.S. market. The program gave the Golf R 40 new paint options, from deep teals and ocean blues to fiery oranges and tempting greens. Volkswagen says this was the only Golf R made in the color Carbon Steel Grey Metallic. It gave the owner a particular statement of authenticity that talked about how the car was one of a kind and how it helped bring the Spektrum product to the U.S. The car’s owner has loved having it, but he’s ready to move on. An exciting piece of Volkswagen history is for sale at Bring a Trailer. It is worth just over $15,000 right now, but with five days left in the sale, the price will likely increase. You can now buy a Golf R in any bright color for as little as $2,500. There are a lot of different ones, and they are all fun. But Volkswagen no longer sells the Carbon Steel Grey Metallic color. Porsche still sells it as a “Paint to Sample” color.
