I noticed on a recent thread about a paint problem that there were a lot of guys responding that had been painters back in the 60's and 70's. I've heard a lot of interesting stories about how people got in this line of business and some of the crazy stuff they've seen and done over the years.

I got my start in the 60's when I went to a local paint and body to get a price on painting a tank and fender for a motorcycle. They quoted $200 on a lacquer job. I'm sure the guy didn't want to be bothered with me, because that was about the going price to paint a whole car at that time. Since I was a cash strapped teenager working for $1.00 hr. at a local gas station, I went out and bought a few cans of Cal Custom paint. These were spray bombs that were lacquer and they came in candy colors as well as the necessary base colors. Long story short, this was the result.



It turned out great and I started having people ask me to paint their bike. I did quite a few paint jobs without anyone knowing that I was doing their paint work with spray bombs. These paint jobs paid for a small compressor and some paint equipment and the rest is history. I graduated to cars, custom vans(remember the wrap around scenes?), guitars and the list goes on. So I got my start back in the day when lacquer, synthol enamel, and acrylic enamel were your choices of paint.

Anybody remember shooting this stuff? I understand they are still in business.



Any of you old painters care to share your story.

Andrew

 

I will share my story,but am not old....LOL

I remember all that paint and star pearl and flip-flop was my favorites in custom paints. I started with learning to paint with machine-tools and then went on to auto and paint school, and then painted for ppg classes and then started a body shop along with the machine shop and also the steel mill components that I built.
The paint job is still my all time favorite thing.....next to sex...LOL
Back in the mid70s I had a crush on a girl and she had a new 75 camaro......2 yrs later she needed paint work done.
I volunteered and did all the prep and then used spray cans to blend in the color. NO-ONE new and nothing wrong with it.
Just then I really started like a whirlwind and painted everything in site......and do you remember NITROCELLULOSE lacquer? I sprayed enough enamels and sprayed lacquers the most on cars. Then I got into IMRON by dupont and all the urethanes and well if it was a paint product.....it got tried.
I was big in striping and mural work and remember spending al weekend masking and airbrushing and even did some chop-tops etc.
Today,I like stock and just get by with my own trucks and that is enough. I am hoping the mural craze comes back and did some wild stuff in the 70s.
Do you remember the street-machine nationals in Indy 1977-78-79 etc? Those were definately crazy times and not made very family friendly...haha!!! WILD and CRAZY...not anything that folks today could handle....

 

Maybe I shouldn't have implied that any of us are old.

Painting was a passion of mine also. If I wasn't painting, I was thinking about painting. I spent every spare moment trying new things.

Oh yeah!!!!! I do remember the street machine nats, also the annual Bowling Green Van In. It was kinda like going to Bike Week or Sturgis. You "never" knew what you might see next. Not the kind of event to bring a family to.

I failed to mention that a couple of years after I started painting I did go and take an auto body course to find out the right way to do things. Didn't mean to imply that I picked up a gun and instantly became a painter. I sometimes did things the hard way and at times the wrong way.

Andrew

 

I really enjoyed masking for a flame job and freehand striping and drawing out a mural...but I did alot of stencil style murals for a while.

Some guys absolutely hate to sand and get dirty with paint dust or bondo or fiberglass dust,and I had at least 5 guys always at my shop shooting the bull.....and I miss that!! I liked having the place all the hot-rodders hung-out at,and they did come in handy for lifting things,or an occasional opinion,but I just do my own trucks now,and really have gotten less particular as I get older.
I have taught a few guys also,and they call me and usually have a paint job lift,or want me to flame a car.
I stick to single color jobs now and actually did a few freehand murals on the doors of the 53.......pics are coming.....I hope!!
Drewski---did you use BINKS or Devilbis or ? I am a Binks man. Now I have about 15 paint guns around and have a hvlp and a turbine system,and about 4 top load hvlps. The BINKS model 7 was and still is my favorite.....but costly.
I will paint my 56f500 this week and when I get back home from Floida,will paint the 53.

 

Yeah, my shop was the same way. Always had a number of guys hanging around. It was like they would show up in shifts. And yes I do miss all the BS and practical joking they would do. Sometimes the only way I could get anything done was to go in on Sunday, lock the door behind me and make a 14 hour day out of it.

Binks #7 was my gun of choice. Was there anything else? I've still got 2 of them. I still think they are some of the best spraying guns ever made. I've got a variety of other guns but I still prefer the Binks. I've got a new Sata hvlp that I've never used. Working for a local auto mfg. co. in the paint plant we used Graco gravity feed guns for repair work. They were tough and seem to be able to sit for days with paint in them without problems. Quick backflush and they were ready to go. We tried other brands such as Sharpe, and Devilbiss, but they gave a lot of trouble. We later switched over to Sata, but I still thought they were temperamental. I could not get Binks brought in to that plant during all those years I worked for them. When I left the touchup area and worked in a sand booth we finally got a Binks rep. to bring in some demo guns to shoot primer. Few weeks later we replaced all our Devilbiss guns with Binks. One real perk of working in a mfg. plant was that we got to work with equipment and supplies before they were ever made available to the public.

Andrew

 

My story is a bit long, but here goes: I didn't want to pay someone $5000+ to paint my truck, so I painted it myself, learned a lot. Then painted my car. Now to paint another truck.

 

You guys are so lucky tobe good at painting..I'm not a serious believer in "luck", but I have to say it takes talent that I don't think I'll ever have.

 

No....luck is getting an old yblock that is stuck....and it later runs and all you did was use some marvel mystery oil!!! It still runs.....haha

The thing I tell everyone that says they cannot paint.....either could we once!! AND if it turns out bad....sand it down and do it again........and again......and again.......and again............etc.....LOL
I always loved my Binks 7 and have a few still also. Andrew.....don't you miss the ole muraled van craze with the **** carpet and the wide tires ? I miss them days......Bill

 

I can't say that I miss the van craze. It put food on the table for me, but I thought that most of them were gaudy, but when you're painting for someone, they are the "Boss". I've done a lot of paint jobs that I wasn't very proud of. Just what the customer wanted. They were happy and I was on the way to the bank.

We did a van in the 70"s that was painted a light blue with red flip-flop pearl over it and a wrap-around disco themed scene with"Disco Dream" painted on the back doors. The owner had trimmed the inside in thick white **** carpet with white fur around the inside of all the windows. The guy came and picked it up dressed like John Travolta and I can still hear the guys in the shop laughing as he drove away. We later heard that he had won "Best Van" in some show. Go figure!!

Andrew

 

First I’d like to say that I believe that auto painting is an artistic skill that requires a true natural talent at its base. This gift dovetails with the drive, patience, and practice required to master the craft. My compliments to those that have accomplished this talent. Viewing a good paint job is one of the marvels of attending auto shows.


I share my experience with painting for its humor and ineptness content:
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My first (and last) attempt to paint a vehicle was with DuPont Imron on my first ’56 F100. The color chosen was 1954 Cadillac Arlington Metallic Chrome Green. I constructed a paint booth in my garage using black poly plastic hung from the ceiling to floor. I ignored the warning labels on the instructions for the hardener and paint that stated: causes brain damage; must use outside source of air.
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I donned my dust mask and armed with my Craftsman air gun, I was ready to roll. I began painting and quickly became asphyxiated in the mock paint booth. I opened the garage door, took a breather, and then began again. Being twilight, a huge mosquito buzzes in and lands on the hood I just painted.
Frantic, I try and remove the bugger with a pair of tweezers but alias; he has become a new hood ornament.
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My visions of a show truck slowly start to diminish to farm vehicle as I proceeded; the paint had runs, uneven strokes had caused streaking, and the color was not uniform as I failed to maintain a stable gun distance. Although I learned later that painting dark, metallic colors is no job for an amateur, I do not think the color choice affected my ability to botch the job.
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Mine fell into the category of, "Sure, I will be there tomorrow nite to get you started, for now start sanding off the paint and tomorrow I will show you what to do next". Well, about two months later tomorrow finally came. Except I had already removed and replace both rear quarter panels, tail light panel and both full floor boards on my 73 Mustang Fastback. It took the rest of the year though to get all of the body filler in the necessary places and sanded out to where I could primer it. Long story short, I had started something that I had no idea of what I was doing but I wanted it bad enough that I said to hell with it, this will be my learning project and just went with it, looking online for advise was a great advantage. I did everything except the actual spraying of paint. When I was done I submitted a picture I took of it in the park to a mustang website and they used it in their yearly calendar. After I watched the guy paint it I knew I could do that to. It just depends how determined you are, you can do anything yourself.