r/Offroad • u/Jammminjay • 9h ago
Some off-road history: Rollin "Molly" Sanders is the guy that did Kawasaki Green, the Toyota TRD stripes, the Grand National, AND the Lexus logo
I recently finished a short video on Rollin Sanders, better known as Molly, and thought some of you might find his story interesting. Most people have never heard his name, but they know his work.
Sanders opened a small paint shop in 1965 and took on everything from custom cars and choppers to race cars and airplanes. In 1969 Kawasaki asked him to help their bikes stand out at Daytona. He suggested green, which was a bold choice at the time because racers considered it bad luck, and many believed a green car made a fatal crash more likely. That superstition was part of why it worked, since no one else would run it. Kawasaki adopted the color, and it has been theirs ever since.
Yamaha came to him next, looking for a way to stand out in the US market. He developed their yellow with black and white stripes.
His work with Toyota began with the Yamahauler, a custom pickup built as a Toyota and Yamaha collaboration to market the small Toyota truck to motorcycle riders. In the late 70s and early 80s, Toyota asked him to create a cohesive look for its new race program, TRD. The result was the white livery with yellow, orange, and red stripes, which I’d put among the most iconic designs in motorsports.
In the 1980s GM brought him in on what began as a Buick T-Type Turbo 6 project. He built a Regal finished in red with no chrome, black wheels, a lowered stance, and a chopped top. GM executives decided red belonged to Pontiac, so the car went all black and became the Grand National.
Toyota returned in the late 80s as it prepared to launch a luxury brand. Sanders designed the Lexus logo, which has remained largely unchanged since 1989.
He painted many other liveries over his career and played a major role in shaping the identities of these brands. He passed away in 2010 after a long battle with cancer, but his work is still everywhere. Kawasakis are still green, and Toyota continues to use those stripes today.