Talk me out of a Lacquer Paint Job....

Lacquer. Definitely. I would take checked lacquer over f-ed up clear all day long. Plus, there's something inherently delicious about it.

 

skull knows lacquer.

RM-Dupont-Ditzler/PPG---the 3 main ones used from the late 1940's to the mid 1970's.

I used to do lacquer on Corvettes. RM and Dupont matched the best (back in the day) and PPG seemed to last better or longer with out checking or crazing. The main lacquer job consisted of lacquer primer and lacquer paint. Both the primer and paint remain soluable, (lacquer thinner disolves and softens them both when you apply more coats --forever) so you have to let the primer dry very well and when you paint, the thinner soaks into and resoftens the primer, so you have to let it dry longer before polishing/buffing. It's very time consuming to get it dried and cured enough to sand and buff. I'm talking weeks into months, especially up north. (Of course this was before bake capable paint boothes).

I just saw a Corvette I painted 30 years ago with PPG acrylic lacquer. It still looked great and almost no crazing anywhere. I was shocked it had held up that well, especially on a fiberglass car.

Now here's the secret to a longer lasting and more workable lacquer paint job. In the early 1970's I learned from some other Corvette guys, that they were able to buff their paint jobs out without dieback, in a week or two. They were using polyester primer (Morton paint company's Eliminator) similar to Evercoat's Featherfill primer. The catalyzed primer would not let the thinner (in the paint) soak into it like the old lacquer primer. This made the paint film dry much faster as the thinner did not have to come back out of the entire primer/paint film as it evaporated. Color sanding and buffing was much faster and held up better with out dieing back from trapped solvents. (This is the system I used on the Corvette I painted 30 years ago.)

With todays better selection of polyester fillers, glazing puttys, and a wide variety of very good catalyzed primers-urethane-epoxy-polyester-it should make for a much more stable foundation for the lacquer paint film and extend the life and durability of the paint.

A couple cautions on using this system:

You may need to use a nonsanding sealer that will be compatible with the primer and the lacquer topcoat/color. I think we used Dupont Velvaseal or PPG sealer 1970 on the polyester based primer. These may be still available or may have been changed. Some catalyzed primers may not need to be sealed. You will probably have to get the manufacturers paint rep to do some checking to see what will be compatible.


If you need to repair a job like this, you have to be carefull how you prime a repair area over the lacquer edge. The lacquer will want to absorb solvents and the catalyzed primer will not. This will cause a swelling on the edge of the repair and may be a little difficult to get stable. You will have to be careful how wet you prime over the lacquer and let each coat flash well, followed by a good complete cure.

overspray

I just realized that some of you reading this weren't born yet when I painted that Corvette.

 

I am 54 and painted my first car at 14. A 55 chev with lacquer. it was cadillac firemist green. I use to work for Keith, brite built rods when he was in St. John. We shot a ton of single stage PPG Deltron urethane over K-36 primer. That is the closest thing I have ever seen to lacquer. Sand and buff's the same and came out with the lacquer depth, but more durable. No BC/CC. Lippy

 

If you remember the lacquer of the 60's that means you are about my age. I figure I have another 20/25 years to enjoy my rides. Take care of it and that should about do it. By then there may be a big movement for old customs from the 2009's and the car will be worth over 300 grand but no gas to run them.

 

the factories didnt do any waitng back then, lol

the cars were painted quickly, then forced dried. they saw little or no buffing. the dealers were left to buff them if they wanted, but most didnt.
im sure the high end caddy dealers had their cars polished well for full retail customers, but the average guy got them right off the line.

this force dry process helped add to the checking of many gm cars.

i used to fix early 70s cars when they were brand new, and naturally saw many that were from the 60s as well.

i recall alot of gm cars had fine checks, even ones that werent that old. left untreated they got rusty down in the checks and got pretty tough to repair. (we always had to strip gm cars for repaints)

also ,most repairs were done out in the shop, i dont think we ever bothered to pull spot jobs in the booth, lol

skull

 

we used to use alot of feather fill and eliminator back then as well. i liked it on vetts, it was almost like re-gell coating it.

dont use it much any more though, and i recall one thing to watch for. never spray over lacquer with it , then put laquer on top. seems that sandwiching the stuff lead to blistering.

a nearby shop sued morton and won back late 70s or so, and i recall they changed the label after that. they painted a seville, and it reacted odd. cant say if the new stuff has the same risk, but i'd sure check on it before id bury an old lacquer job with it now. im sure one of you know the scoop on the new stuff.

i had pretty good results over the years though, but i do recall a couple times the helpers sprayed it without the mekp, and it never dried, lol


skull

 

Use BC/CC as body tech if you use the right paint you can get the same look but a much longer lasting finich.

 

When the factory painted cars new, they were straight, no bodywork.
Most likely, an "aftermarket" paint job was over repairs, customwork, or other bodywork. So, after doing your bodyfillerwork, most guys layed on a thin coat of "redlead" or Nitrostan to fill the pinsholes and scratches. Then you layed on the lacquer primer to have MORE to block out and perfect the surface. All these lacquer products would absorb and hold the thinners in the lacquer paint you were putting on. Lacquer took 100% or more thinner to paint it, so you effectively have to wait for all that thinner to evaporate, and work it's way up from the lower primer levels. That's where the time in between coats, and wating to sand and buff comes from.
Also, if you filled scratches or pinholes with Nitrostan, or heavy coats of primer, the thicker the "underlayer" was, the more it absorbed. So it swelled up with the excess thinner. Then, days even weeks later, as the thinner dried, it shrunk more than the surrounding surfaces. You could really SEE where bodywork was performed on "quicky" repairs and paint jobs, it was 'lower' than the surrounding area. So you did a lot of blocksanding in between coats to prevent this. To try to get the surfaces level.

 

Brilliant. I love the art and process of it all. I was just wondering. So BC/CC jobs can be done way quicker with great results right?

 

Laquer, hands down, if your second choice is BC CC. My second choice would be Acrylic Enamel.

 

Fair question - and I’ll try to answer it. I’m a hobbyist photographer and I shoot black & white film with cameras from the 50’s and 60’s. Making photographs like this is not cheap and it isn’t easy. I’ve invested quite a bit of cash in very old, outdated equipment, money that would have bought me the most modern top of the line Nikon digital with a Mac and the newest Photoshop. This is definitely spending money on “inferior materials” in the opinion of 98% of today’s photographers. Did I “Waste money”? I’m sure some think I did. I, on the other-hand, am in a pursuit of a particular “look” a particular “feel” for my photos that can only be captured using these outdated materials. I like it and brings me a sense of accomplishment re-creating something thats authentic and mimics a time when things were simpler, times I remember but are now gone.
Maybe this is why I run Bias not Radials, drums not discs, run a magneto and not an electronic, a generator instead of an alternator, maybe I'm just anal, but I am glad that we don’t all like the same things….hard enough getting parts now!

Terry

Lot of interesting reading in this thread - thanks for your thoughts everyone......

 

Sounds like you answered your own question.

I am that way with my drag car. I could build a 406 and 4 link it, but I wanted to drive a car that felt like 1962, so I opted for all of the old technology.