Many people bemoan the lack of color options available on cars today, yet in the case of this special Volkswagen Golf R listed for sale on Bring A Trailer, it was ironically the color grey that brought about a new variety of colors in the company’s lineup. The seemingly normal paint this car wears — a shade called Carbon Steel Grey Metallic — was available only for the Golf GTI at the time, yet it somehow ended up on a Golf R, kickstarting a chain of events that led to VW revamping their entire color pallet.
While the exact cause of the mispaint still remains a mystery, Volkswagen was able to offer up a possible explanation. After the current owner reached out to VW in search of the story behind his unusual car, the German auto giant explained that it was likely either a system error or an improper entering of the four-digit paint code (the paint code for Carbon Steel Grey Metallic is LA9W, while for Limestone Grey, the color the car was supposed to be painted in, it’s LA7N). Since Carbon Steel Grey Metallic was a color that was technically available in the factory, and the paint didn’t display any physical defects, it was shipped out without getting flagged.
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After word got out of this unusual factory mistake, people everywhere were trying to get their hands on the car. The buzz surrounding it was so intense that it managed to catch the attention of Megan Closset, the product manager for the Golf GTI and Golf R at the time. Coincidentally, it was also at this time that Closset was trying make a case for bringing VW’s Spektrum program to the U.S. market, and it was exactly that buzz that proved there was a demand for the paint-to-sample offerings stateside.
Thanks to something as small as a Golf R painted in the wrong shade of grey, VW was able to offer an extra 40 color options for the car in the USA, broadening the appeal of the already-loved hot hatchback even more. As for the original mispainted car, VW America officially recognized it as one-of-a-kind, sending the owner a certificate of authenticity, as well as a hand-written letter from Closset noting its pivotal role in kicking off the Spektrum program in the U.S.
