Maybe the old ways are better?

Believe it or not they didn’t spray paint carriages or early automobiles.  

That was all done with a paint brush and usually Lacquer paint. 

No, the early shiny smooth  paint jobs weren’t done by a really brilliant painter, rather someone  good at sanding ( which practically anyone can be)  

paint brushes leave brush marks and sometimes runs or drips.  But Lacquer dries so fast it’s easy to fix. 

Why go backwards?  Well cost for one reason.  Lacquer paint is cheaper than 2 part paints.  Plus you wouldn’t need to buy paint guns hoses, respirators, protective body suits, etc etc etc.  

What’s wrong with doing this?  Well,  it’s not as fast on the production line.  Over time,  exposed to UV light Lacquer will fade and require buffing out. Plus you simply can’t get all the exotic fades and shimmers etc in Lacquer. On the other hand a nice hand rubbed Lacquer paint job has a depth and richness modern base coat,  clear coats will never achieve. 

Since these are special cars they won’t sit outside year around and if they must we tend to buy car covers for them.  Nor is production speed important in a car that is taken apart, repaired and carefully reassembled. 

Please don’t tell me all the horror stories. Most of them were by people who took short cuts or put on too many coats etc.  there are Chinese artifacts going back hundreds years with smooth finishes still on them.  My own MGTD  has 45 years on it and is still presentable  in spite of decades of neglect, racing and just driving.  Or how tough modern 2 part paints are. They get scratched, dented, damaged, too. 

The process is simple and I’m sure you can find plenty of U tube video’s that will show how it’s done.  If not I’ll be happy to explain it

The EPA hates lacquer because it dries by solvent evaporating into the air.

That, coupled with expediency of application, is why catalyzed paints came into existence. 

In reply to Cousin_Eddie :

True.  But you can still get Lacquer paint. 

I painted an old 122 using Rustoleum out of a can, with a brush, thinned a little.  Sanded in between coats, did like 3 or 4 coats.  Wet sanded the last coat at 1000 grit.  Was pretty happy with the results- nice flat finish, good depth and color.  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

I’ve always been hesitant to sand enamel. I never seem to get back the shine even going from 1000 grit step by step up to 6000. Then buffing etc.  

Do you think it’s because I treat it exactly like Lacquer and fail to let it,?—dry? Between standings?  

I always wait several days before I start to sand though.  Am I missing something?  

In reply to frenchyd :

I was sanding the car, wiping it down with windshield wiper fluid, letting it air dry, and applying a coat of rustoleum with a foam brush- rinse and repeat- every night for a week. Depending on the coat, some nights I had to let it dry an extra night. Just kept at it with light coats and sanding. 

I've never tried laquer. 

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Oh !  You will love Lacquer.  You brush it on and a short while later you’re sanding your brush marks, runs, drips, errors,  ( Lacquer dries very fast)

Big  mistakes sand with something like 320  wet or dry.  To get deep shine go to 600- 1000, 1500 2000 3000-maybe all the way to 6000   Flood water over so the paint dust doesn’t clog up the sand paper.  Use a Crisp edge squeegee to wipe the water off to see you’re doing everything.  Once color sanding is done start buffing. Avoid edges and keep light pressure on the buffer. Compound comes in medium and fine then switch to polishing compound and finally wax.  

If you aren’t going for an award winning shine a lot of those steps can be skipped or given a quick lick  and a promise.  

Lacquer in a spray bomb / spray gun dries in like 15-20 minutes, but tends to be thin and “watery”. Lot’s of thin light coats yields the best results.   If you like to spray  You can thin Lacquer with Lacquer thinner from the hardware store.  Or if you are going for perfection you can buy temperature sensitive thinners and be exact as heck.  

frenchyd said:

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Oh !  You will love Lacquer.  You brush it on and a short while later you’re sanding your brush marks, runs, drips, errors,  ( Lacquer dries very fast)

Big  mistakes sand with something like 320  wet or dry.  To get deep shine go to 600- 1000, 1500 2000 3000-maybe all the way to 6000   Flood water over so the paint dust doesn’t clog up the sand paper.  Use a Crisp edge squeegee to wipe the water off to see you’re doing everything.  Once color sanding is done start buffing. Avoid edges and keep light pressure on the buffer. Compound comes in medium and fine then switch to polishing compound and finally wax.  

If you aren’t going for an award winning shine a lot of those steps can be skipped or given a quick lick  and a promise.  

Lacquer in a spray bomb / spray gun dries in like 15-20 minutes, but tends to be thin and “watery”. Lot’s of thin light coats yields the best results.   If you like to spray  You can thin Lacquer with Lacquer thinner from the hardware store.  Or if you are going for perfection you can buy temperature sensitive thinners and be exact as heck.  

Sorry Frenchyd -

Working in the coatings industry for over 30 year, lacquers are fine if you're finishing your car under a car port of a double-wide..... Anyone who values their classic and puts the time to prepare the body panels, primes and wet sands correctly will want to put a 2K system down.

Lacquers are brittle, have no UV resistance (they yellow overtime) and have no corrosion resistance (they chemically absorb moisture)

Great system if you live in Arizona and never take your car out of the garage.....

In reply to dougie :

I painted my MGTD in the spring of 1974 with lacquers at the Navy base in San Diego.  A year later I won best finish at a GOF. ( That’s the national gathering of the faithful for Vintage MG owners). 

I’ve driven the car across country and vintage raced it for decades.  Often driving to the race track  or hauling it on an open deck trailer all over the country.  It used to be regularly driven on weekend outings,  to the point where a couple of decades ago it was time to refresh the engine.

Brittle?  Not at all!  Yes my paint has a few nicks in it.   Indicating it’s age, garage scuffs, but the really sweet thing is I can still touch them up and make them disappear.  

No, not repaint the whole panel but brush some paint in the nick, give it 30 minutes to dry and carefully block sand.   By the time I wax the car you won’t be able to find them.  And it’s just a pleasant morning’s task while I listen to a few tapes.  No hazmat suit, no compressor hammering away,  no health risks. 

Oh No!! UV damage?!!! You mean once in a while I need to polish and then wax my car to eliminate fading?  Oh and keep a dust cover over it when in storage?  

As for living in Arizona, well, that’s your choice.  Arizona does too much damage to interiors for me.  However Southern California is exposed to the same angle of Sun Arizona is at. 

My Best friend Joe lives in SanDiego and like me his MGTF was painted in the base hobby shop in 1974. He’s won several best of shows and raced even more than I raced.  I’ll bet he has put even more miles on his and still regularly enters car shows etc.  

I’ve  used modern two part and Catalyzed paints in the past. Each one promising harder, tougher, more durable.    Yet not that many years later scuffs, scratches, dents, etc.  and the car is ready for it’s repaint. I’ve never seen a spot touch up work with those.  No dab of paint, sand and polish makes the repair invisible. 

In reply to dougie :Here’s my double wide 

In reply to frenchyd :

My point, which you clearly missed is the the lacquers from 1974 are not the same as today. Thank the feds for the that, the lacquers available today are so "dumbed downed" they don't have 1/3 the qualities of your past fountain of youth.....

In reply to dougie :

 Granted it’s been more than a decade since I last painted a car but I can still buy Ditzler’s double deep black.  In fact the whole Ditzler’s line.  What I can’t buy is the various Lacquer thinners that are so temperature sensitive which is what makes it possible to paint a car and not have to do all the color sanding, polishing, and waxing,  

That’s OK by me, I make too many mistakes that need to be corrected.  But a professional shop can’t do that anymore.  They’ve got to paint when the car is ready, not wait for the weather to suit the thinners.

However most hobbyists aren’t painting rare expensive  cars. They are putting paint on a cheap used something in an attempt to make it look nice.  

A lot of guys use rattle cans, ( nothing wrong, I did my first few cars that way) or  tractor paint, house paint, plastic dip etc.  There is a very strong chance the car will be scrap metal  in a few years, either through neglect, wear, or simply moving on.  Quality  of paint is a very low priority.