Hot Rods lacquer paint Question

I'm Looking at purchasing a car that was painted in 1985 with lacquer paint, I did not see any cracking which I know is well known for. Due to a side scrape sections had to repainted about 4 years ago in Base / clear. 60% of the car is in Lacquer and 40 % of the car is in base / clear, the color match did seem pretty good in the garage, I have not looked at it in the sun light.

any issues that you guys foresee down the road? how do you prevent lacquer paint from cracking? it is currently in a heated garage if that makes a difference ?

Thanks any advice would be really apricated.

 

I painted my 31 pickup with lacquer in 1986, it is always garage kept but not heated. The paint has held up really good, some crazing on only one panel, but not cracked thru. Just keep it clean and waxed. Store in a dry place.

 

I have a '75 Chevy 1 ton Van factory lacquer is still on the old truck and has not cracked. I painted cars starting in the '60s and lacquer was my favorite. There are reasons that lacquer cracks and 99% of the time it's caused by the painting process. Too many coats too quickly not giving the bottom coats time to set. And not color sanding with 400 wet/dry after every forth coat to open up the surface. As the paint cures the bottom coats shrink at a slower rate than the top coats thus the reason to open up the surface so the paint and thinner can evaporate. Lacquer painting is a very specific and a long tedious procedure. If your lacquer paint hasn't cracked by now you should not have any issues. The last car I painted with acrylic lacquer is my 3W in my avatar. Painted it in '99 and no cracks or spider webbing.

 

I painted mine with lacquer in 1981. It is in my garage when not being used. It still looks good.

 

I painted a 53 Merc custom with black nitrocellulose lacquer back in 1987 or so, as per the customer's preference. Looked great, and held up until around 2004 or 5, when he brought me back the car to paint scallops on it. It had developed tiny bubbles in the paint. Asking him what happened, he bought another car, and put it in his house garage, and put the 53 in a tent, with a cover, outside. That's when the paint started to fail. Extreme temperatures, and trapped moisture did it.

 

i used to make deliveries to and for an oldtime paint company called sinnett lacquer, and the old timer once told me about the explosive power of nitrocellulose...

 

Thanks for all the replies, do you know if a Lacquer paint needs to be stored in a heated garage over the winters up here in the north east.

 

To add to what I said, lacquer does get brittle with age. If I remember, the old timers used to use kerosene in the wash water, and use Butcher's Wax, and other products to re-hydrate the paint. Meguire's #7 was another product that was said to put oils back into lacquer, even to rehydrate old lacquer jobs, and make them look good again. and definitely try to keep it in a climate controlled garage. Old lacquer can shatter like glass with extreme temperature changes, esp. old, thick, custom paint jobs.

 

Preventing cracking is done before the top coat paint is applied

 

It’s gonna do what ever it’s gonna do.

so just enjoy it.

 

My 31 cycled through 27 Michigan winters in an unheated garage and the last 12 in milder PNW. It’s all about prep, making sure the primer was well cured and shrunk before applying the top coat.

 

Back in the 80s we sprayed nothing but lacquer and enamel then came urethane and the old timers thought it was crap then 15 years ago came water and then I thought it was crap the point is paint products evolve and lacquer is totally inferior to today's products. Your paint job lasted this long don't worry about it it will last many more years with proper maintenance.

 

Excessive material is the usual cause to many lawyer paint jobs , primer , spot putty & paint . Most of it never gets adequate dry time.