Got a recently acquired '86 T-Bird with scruffy paint job. I don't know why, but every silver car I've ever seen eventually ends up with paint chips sproinging off the hood, roof, or trunk. Wondering if Ford was putting clearcoat on cars in 1986? I was going to put rubbing compound on it if there was no clearcoat to worry about.

 

Oh definitely. The first American car to be clear-coated was the '77 Versailles. Nearly all Fords were clear-coat by the early 80's.

 

Wow, that was fast! Thanks, 1956MarkII - I enjoy your posts.

 

One thing to remember. Once the feds required the paint manufacturers to remove the lead out of the paints, you started to see a lot more of the peeling on paints, especially silver. They have gotten a lot better since the 80's and early 90's.

 

neither my 85 ranger nor my 94 ranger had clear coat.

 

My '86 F-150 wasn't clear coated either. In the early 90's, Ford issued offered for a short period a new paint job if the paint test at the dealer revealed that the paint had thinned over it's life and there was no rust and the body damage if anything was fixed. I had the dealer paint my truck for no cost to me and the the truck was clear coated for the first time. It was prettier after the repaint than it ever was before.