1960fivette

Talking to the guy who is doing the bodywork on my 1960 corvette last night and received some bad news. The paint companies came in and removed all laquer paint and related products at the distributors on Tuesday. Bodyman is also doing a 1966 corvette of his own. He is building his 66 as a very nice drivers, so just plans to use urathane paint on his corvette, but I am not so sure that I am ready to give up that easy. I am building my 1960 to the very best standards I can and really had convinced myself that laquer would be on my car. Just wondered what others are doing and if this will be something I just have to live with? I really do not like the idea that it would always get the point deductions for having non-laquer paint. What are all the big restoration shops doing? Surely they are still doing laquer aren't they? Any opinions and replies would be great. At this point I really do not know what to do. My 1960 is an f.i. car with all of its original pieces and I feel changing the paint from its original laquer would be like building it into a hot rod, just do not even want to go there! What do you think?

Greg
1960fivette :confused:


[Modified by 1960fivette, 2:18 PM 11/20/2003]

RugHead

Hi Greg: If your local suppliers don't have the volume to support stocking lacquer systems, why not just travel a little bit to an area that still stocks it? Pick up your supplies and you're back in business. Also, maybe your guy is stuck on one brand but there is another brand available across the street.???

I would agree that if you've made it through all the lacquer-phobia tripe and arrived at the decision to use lacquer for the well-considered reasons you state, that it would be a shame to just "give up" for the issue of convenience of availability.

BTW, it is not a foregone conclusion that you would take a deduction for non-lacquer, in NCRS at least. The standard there is "appearance" of originality. There are methods to make urethanes appear very close to lacquer. I don't get into that whole thing, though. I use bc/cc on certain cars, but when I want the look of lacquer I use lacquer.

Best regards,
Karl

Solid327

You are not alone in your quandry. However, you can still get lacquer paints in some states BUT they may not be the exact formulations that GM used on the C1's. I am no expert but I believe the reason for the declining availability is due to clean air regulations. I think the problem with the automotive lacquer finishes are due to the lead content and high VOC's, solvent bleed off.

The laws vary from state to state but you can bet that standards will get increasingly tougher. I talked to one guy from CA, a state that bans lacquer for automotive use, and he said that cabinet shops can spray it and most have no booth. However, a state of the art auto paint shop with the latest booth can't use it. Go figure that one.

For those of us in the hobby it presents a problem if we are trying to restore a car to "as new" factory standards. Realistically though, are you using the same materials as the factory used on all your pieces? A good example would be the frame. Did you paint it in the asphalt based paint that GM specified? Probably not, I didn't, I wanted to use superior product that resembled in appearance the factory finish. Are you going to duplicate overspray? What about having your painter apply the paint thinner near the bottom of body panels as often happened at the factory? Probably not. The fact is that many restoration paint jobs are better than the factory ever applied whether lacquer is used or not.

A lacquer paint job is beautiful and has that certain patina that is difficult to obtain with single stage enamels or base clear polyurethanes. However, lacquer is fragile. I believe the NCRS has loosened standards somewhat because the realities forced them too. My understanding is that if the finish appears to be lacquer you should be okay with regards to judging. I have seen some that are real hard to tell. The bottom line is you have to balance the advantages vs. disadvantages in deciding which way to go. Fun isn't it?

joe58

Some shops can get BC CC to look pretty close to laquer where others are way off. I talked to one guy who said he mixes some color into the clear and has other secrets to get the original look but that's all he would tell me.

John McGraw

Greg,
Even if your local supplier no longer has any lacquer on his shelves, he can still order the factory pack colors from the manufacturer. If he can or won't do so, then just buy your paint over the internet or in another town. There is no shortage of lacquer, but many suppliers just will not devote the space to it any longer given the infrequent sales. There will be a time soon when almost all sales of lacquer will probably take place by mail order or internet sales.In my humble opinion, lacquer is the only choice for a car that is being built to compete in flight judging. There is no doubt that urethane is a superior paint, but it just ain't lacquer!
Regards, John McGraw

1960fivette

Thank You to everyone for your input. John M., once again you have provided me with the straight talk that sets me straight. I saw the quality of your 60 last year at St. louis and will probably just have to continue to ask you the questions as they come up because "you been there, done that"!!!!!
I will be traveling to see my 60 this weekend, me and the bodyman will have to have a "little talk". He is not against the laquer paint at all, I think the distributor might have just over did it on the fact that they would not longer be carrying it!

Greg
1960fivette :seeya