Patina verging on rust, with a side of mildew
Since the CC comment section has (almost) always been a model of civil discourse, I thought it would the perfect forum for a question that’s been bothering me. When and why did carmakers start using clear-coat, thus robbing old-car enthusiasts of genuine patina? Clearly it’s a dumb question, but doesn’t chalky old paint look better than peeling clear-coat?
Caution: Weird Load
My beloved Volvo wagon had been parked out in the rain for almost 20 years when I got it in 2005. The guy lived on Chuckanut Drive, with no room for a garage or even a carport. He did, however, wax the thing religiously, leaving a great paint job in his midst. This was an ’87, and my guess is that clear-coat started around then or shortly thereafter. But this is where you come in, dear reader.
1981 Volvo
Here’s a shot of my older Volvo wagon, with a nice patina. This one was in sable brown, which weathered nicely.
Grand Wagoneer
Here is a relative’s Grand Wagoneer, with its DI NOC woodgrain and faded peeling clear-coat. Guess it still looks like patina, which is OK by me.
No patina here
Finally, I shot this hot rod on De La Vina in Santa Barbara in 2005. I’m guessing it has MULTIPLE layers of clear-coat. What do you think?
Depends on the manufacturer and color, but generally during the 1980s. My white 1980 Scirocco is single stage, my old 84 silver Rabbit GTI was with clear coat, and the 84 Brown Scirocco my friend has is cleared as well.
Also, another friend’s red 84 Rabbit GTI is single stage. So it was not evenly switched by color even for the same model
Actually, I dont think its a dumb question. I think it was kind of phased in around the early ’80s, and it took awhile before the manufacturers figured out how to do it. Here in BC’s harsh climate failed paint on 3-4 year old vehicles was not uncommon. Ford and GM pickups seemed to be the worst, and not surprisingly dealers were very hard nosed about warranty claims.
Interestingly, some colours seemed to hold up better than others with metallic blues and greens being the worst from my observation. I believe all this came about due to health and environmental concerns about the older paint formulations, some of which really were nasty stuff.
I think the VWs and Porsches through early 80’s that were solid, non-metallic colors were single stage. My ’84 Euro 928 is single stage black. I love the look of single stage.
Toyota trucks up thru the 2010s used single stage white paint. They turn chalky real bad if you dont wax them. Same thing with bright red, they turned pink
When metallic s started appearing in the color pallet. They realized if you polished the paint of a single stage metallic paint, the color is what you remove resulting in a very silvery end result. So the clear prevents the removal of the color from the paint. Earl the pearl Scheib used to say the color was added to the paint so you didn’t need the 2 stage(base coat, clear coat). The water based paints that came along in the early 80’s to comply with the new EPA regulations to reduce the VOC’s , had a steep learning curve for the manufacturers to finally figure out how to prep , spray and keep the paint from peeling, took along time and they still screw it up. Typically the amount of time between spraying the base cote, letting it tack up before laying down the clear is usually about less than an hour. In the production environment, they don’t have that luxury . Bring back the lacquer.