The Grinch’s green fur is one of the most instantly recognizable things about him — it contrasts sharply with his red Santa suit as he commits his dastardly deeds around Whoville, and seems to represent the rotten, greedy spirit of the character. But the Grinch’s coloring actually doesn’t have any deeper meaning — in fact, the beloved Christmas villain was originally drawn in black and white. When it was time to develop his animated special, a color had to be selected for the creature, butanimator Chuck Jones chose green for a very unusual reason: it was the color of his rental car.