Smart cars in any color you want... Really!!!

If you can think of a color, Smart USA will paint it on your car. Even plaid!!!

Smart USA, the company that sells the ultra-small Smart ForTwo, is now offering customers the option to choose to have their car painted any color they choose.

Seriously. Any color. They mean it.

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Red, blue, green, fuchsia, burnt sienna, cyan, lavender, turquoise with a hint of gold, plaid... you name it.

Customers will still be able to choose one of Smart's six basic colors at no additional cost but, for $1,550 more, they can choose from a palette of 93 other colors as part of the brand's "smartExpressions" offer.

If none of those 93 shades quite does it for you, there's the less cleverly named "Any Color You Want" program. The name says what it means.

Bring in a sample of the shade you're after and Smart will try to match it. In this case, pricing depends on the color.

The program is made possible by the Smart Fortwo's unusual construction -- which involves easily removable body panels -- and a partnership with the automotive paint supplier PPG.

The body panels will be painted at a remote location then sent to the dealer for installation. People who already own one of the cars can also take advantage of the program. Patterns and designs, like plaid, are possible through a process of "wrapping" the panels, or coating them with a 3M vinyl film that adheres to the panels. For now, buyers will have to select from pre-designed patterns but soon, Smart says, they'll be able to create any pattern they choose. Wrap prices start at $1,350.

The Smart ForTwo has been on sale in the United States since 2008. Despite fuel economy over 40 miles per gallon on the highway, Smart sales have plummeted in recent years. So far in 2010, sales are running more than 60% below 2009, which was one of the auto industry's worst sales years.

The two-seat ForTwo is powered by a 3-cylinder engine. It's designed to be about as long as most other cars are wide, allowing it to be parked nose-to-the-curb in a typical parallel parking space.

Lauper to Open Shelter for Gay Youth

Singer Cyndi Lauper is opening New York City's first permanent housing for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

The True Colors Residence is set to open next year in Harlem and will provide young people between 18 and 24 a place to live while helping them get back on their feet, DNAinfo reports.

“Kids are coming out in greater numbers as they see themselves accepted and represented on TV and in movies, but they’re still being kicked out of their homes or running away and living on the streets," Lauper said in a statement Tuesday.


Pop singer Cyndi Lauper, through her foundation, is building Manhattan's first permanent shelter for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. The True Colors Residence will open next year in Harlem. Here she attends the fifth annual Focus for Change benefit dinner and concert in New York on Nov. 11, 2009 with friend Rodney Chester "Alex" from LOGO's Noah's Arc.

The '80s pop singer, known for her hits "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "True Colors," will donate money for the facility through her True Colors Fund, is an honorary board member and is championing and promoting it.

There are between 15,000 and 20,000 homeless youth in New York City, according to estimates from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Roughly 3,000 to 8,000 of them are LGBT, or comprising 20 to 40 percent homeless youth in the city, the Task Force said.

The six-story building will contain 30 studio apartments, a communal space, a library and computer room. It's expected to cost roughly $11 million. Residents will sign a year-long Section 8 lease and pay rent according to their income.

Lauper has long been a supporter for gay rights. Last month, her True Colors Fund launched the Give a Damn Campaign, an initiative to spur straight support for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. The campaign will include a series of videos featuring Lauper and friends such as Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Mraz, Cynthia Nixon and Anna Paquin, Tonic reported.