D.E. Campus Life Editor

A recent survey of more than 18,000 automobiles registered with SIUC’s Parking Division discovered the three most favorite colors on campus were painted in red, white and blue.

John Davis and Ngan Hoe Lee spent an entire semester tabulating the favorite colors and makes of cars registered on campus as part of their research class course work.

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The colors that took the top spots were red, white and blue. That could be because of patriotism, marketing or random chance, Davis said.

Davis, a graduate student in workforce education and development from Carbondale, along with Lee, a graduate student in math education from Singapore, sampled the 18,054 cars in 1996 and 13,363 cars in 1997 for color and make. The cars were all registered with SIUC. The research was used for a class titled Introduction To Research Methods In Education, Curriculum and Instruction 500.

Lee said students in the class previously undertook humorous projects.

There has been projects done about the color of underwear, types of shoes and the way people prefer the toilet paper on the roll, Lee said humorously.

In their report titled, Summary Report of Group Survey Project, Lee and Davis found that for two years in a row in the student and faculty sections, that red cars, followed by blue and white were the most popular.

There are a total of 2,647 red cars, 2,302 blue cars and 2,064 white cars registered on campus. The overall most popular makes and colors were red Fords, red Chevrolets, blue Fords and blue Chevrolets.

There were a total of 17 colors and 53 makes tabulated. The top three makes among faculty are Fords, Chevrolets and Toyotas. The top three makes among students are Fords, Chevrolets and Pontiacs. Davis said the difference between the No. 3 car was because of faculty leaving their good cars at home.

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I think the difference lies in the fact that the faculty probably drive Toyotas and leave their Mercedes at home in the garage, Davis said.

And the research might portray consumer preference across the state and even the nation. The general manager at Jim Pearl, Inc., 1015 E. Walnut St., said the most popular colors of cars sold were, white, red and black.

A representative of Arts Body Shop, 603 N. Illinois Ave., said most cars he paints are red, white, blue or black, and the most popular color that customers request when changing the color of their cars is red.

Lee said the favorite colors are fairly consistent from one year to another, but there also are colors and makes that students and faculty dislike. Those colors are tan, brown, silver and maroon, and the makes are Plymouths, Mercurys and Oldsmobiles.

One car in particular is quite unique on campus, Lee said.

There was a car and a color which only one person drives at SIU, Lee said. There is only one orange Datsun.