British specialty coachbuilder, Radford, has announced their acquisition of the John Player Special livery trademark. The iconic tobacco sponsored livery has long been associated with racing, best known on some of the most successful and memorable Lotus Formula 1 cars.

One of the most successful JPS-liveried cars was the instantly recognizable Lotus Type 72D with which Emerson Fittipaldi took five victories and clinched the Formula 1 championship . The color scheme was also present on multiple Formula 1 cars throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including Ayrton Senna’s Lotus 98T.

The black and gold theme could be seen on bikes from the Norton Motorcycle Team and was featured on production cars, with the well-known Lotus Esprit JPS edition and the lesser-known examples of the Australia-exclusive BMW E21 323i JPS and the MkII Ford Capri JPS.

Radford, the new owners of the JPS livery trademark in the US, is a resurrection of a coachbuilding name that debuted in 1948. It is headed by a quartet of automotive heavyweights, including 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button, designer Mark Stubbs, lawyer Roger Behle and TV presenter and car builder Ant Anstead.

The outfit already has strong connections with Lotus, partnering with the sportscar maker to create the Project 62, a limited production bespoke model inspired by the Lotus Type 62. The Project 62 will be a driver-focused mid-engine two-seater coupe that will afford some luxury touches in line with the coach-built aesthetic.

Read: Lotus-Inspired Radford Project 62 Opens For Orders, Limited to 62 Units

Button, who recently got behind the wheel of the Emira, said: “We’re so excited to have acquired this trademark. John Player Special is, without question, one of the most iconic racing liveries ever to grace a Formula 1 car. We can’t wait to show you where this livery is going to be used, but expect to see it appearing on Radford cars in the near future.”

While not confirmed, it wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination to assume that the first modern car to feature an official JPS livery would be a version of the Project 62.

However, with tobacco sponsorship very much a thing of the past, it remains to be seen if the re-emergence of the cigarette-brand-inspired livery will come under scrutiny. Lotus, for one, unveiled two similar black and gold Evija pre-production prototypes last year, but made no reference to the John Player Special name.

Although, as far as we can see, there’s no association with the cigarette brand, when the former Lotus F1 team used a black and gold color scheme reminiscent of the JPS livery, similar questions were asked.

Perhaps what we can all agree on, though, is how this historic color combo is just as attractive today as it was in the 70s.

The Lotus Evija was one of the most recent cars to feature a black and gold livery, but the British carmaker made no reference to JPS, despite the instant connection made by everyone else