Since we just posted some bits from BMW’s history, we decided to stay on the topic and talk about the ///M logo, the three stripes that make M branded cars even more recognizable. So, let’s see what we can learn about the “M” today.

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The first Red stripe represented Texaco, the famous American oil retail brand, who had partnered with BMW during the early days of M racing. Blue represented BMW and Bavarian region. The purple was used to represent the partnership and to allow for a nice transition between the two colors, blending as some may call it.

Once the BMW/Texaco partnership ended, BMW had to buyout Texaco for the rights to the red.

For those of you that are in the imaging or graphics field, here is something that I dug out, the color names and codes used in the ///M stripes:

Pantone:

Blue — Pantone Process Blue

Purple — Pantone 268

Red — Pantone Warm Red

Paint:

blue violett GLASURIT-BMW 4000

light blue GLASURIT-BMW 5002

red GLASURIT-BMW 353

RGB:

Blue — 0 138 201 (Hex: 008AC9)

Purple — 43 17 90 (Hex: 2B115A)

Red — 241 26 34 (Hex: F11A22)

Pantone = color process (order) used by printing shops to define colors.

Paint = in this case it is refering to a GLASURIT paint code. Or a specific mix of auto paints.

RGB = Red, Green, Blue. The same process your computer monitor or TV uses to make colors.

Stay tuned for our next BMW history lesson!

Thanks to Automarket for the inspiration!