Hi,
Can anybody tell me what type of paint was used on the Corvette in 1977, was it cellulose?

 

lacquer

 

As far as I know Lacquer is a clear coat applied on top of a base coat,I just didn't know if cellulose was ever applied to the Corvette from the factory from new.

 

no, lacquer is a single stage type of paint and normally clear coat is not applied over it. Some people have sprayed clear coat on top of lacquer but that's not a typical application of this type of paint. Regardless, lacquer is not just a clear coat sprayed over a base color, lacquer paint is it's own type of paint that is a single stage paint.
Lacquer was the factory applied type of paint used on all cars up intil maybe the early 80's? I don't remember exactly what year they changed but I know that in '78 it was still being used as my '78 and my dad's '79 both had lacquer paint from the factory.

Lacquer paint was sprayed on, usually 2 or 3 coats from the factory, than buffed out to bring up the gloss. No clear coat was applied over it at the factory which is why it's concidered a single stage type of paint - no clear was required.

basecoat/ clear coat paint is a completely different type of paint type.

**EDIT:
ok, found this in another thread and it was posted by "Easy Mike".

All C3s produced at St. Louis were shot with acrylic lacquer, right on through to the last one in 1981.

All C3s produced at Bowling Green were shot with acrylic enamel right from the git-go.

so, since your '77 was produced at St. Louis is was shot with lacquer paint as i mentioned. it was when the Bowling Green plant started production that they switched to enamel paint which is another single stage type of paint.
i'm not sure at what point they switched over to basecoat/clearcoat urethane paint.

 

How do I find out where my car was made?
Is there any problems painting it with cellulose?
The reason I ask is that I would like to respray it myself, but I have to spray it outside on my drive and I believe Cellulose is probably the best option for me, but I am worried about putting Cellulose on the front and back bumpers.

 

your '77 was made in St. Louis, the Bowling Green factory didn't start production until '81 I think.....
it was either '81 or '82 and for a short time they ran production in both factories until bowling Green was fully up and running well enough that they could finally shut down the old and outdated St. Louis plant.

Sorry, I'm still not sure what you mean by cellulose paint.......
I'm not paint expert by any means but from my understanding which comes simply from the experience of having two vettes painted within two years there is:
acrylic lacquer - a single stage paint
acrylic enamel - a single stage paint
Urethane ( basecoat/clearcoat) - a 2-stage paint process

A lot of people that spray their own like the lacquer because it seems to be easier to spray and apply but the downside is that lacquer paints are not as readily availabe as they used to be because of evironmental concerns. Aslo, the cirrent lacquer paints are nowhere near as durable as the old style lacquer paints since they had to remove the lead content out of the formulas. For a street driven car the lack of durabuility makes the current lacquers a poor choice of paints anymore. In fact, both of my painters that I used will strongly object to spraying lacquer unless it's going to be a trailered show car only. Neither painter recommends lacquer anymore for a street driven car.

the enamel paint is about the closest "look" you can get to the original factory lacquer paints. it's also a single stage paint. The limitations of enamel is that you are somewhat limited to the colors you can shoot with it. you do not want to shoot enamel paint if you have a metallic color although if you have a solid color than it can be an excellent choice. I would have probably gone with enamel myself on my cars except both cars have a factory color metallic. With metallic colors you can't wetsand the enamel afterwords since the metallic tends to "float" to the surface when it dries and if you wetsand it it messes up the metallic. On solid (non-metallic) colors I've seen enamel paint jobs that looked spectaular!

basecoat/clearcoat paint is now by far the most common. It can be done with basically any color, metallic or solid and it has the advantage of being the most durable and the easiest to touch-up or repair later on if you get chips, scratches, or worst. It's easier to blend in repairs to the paint and not have the repairs seen than the single stage paints are.

 

Your probably thinking of nitrocellulose lacquer. This was developed by Gm and Dupont, called Duco, and GM starting in the 1920's using this paint on assembly lines because it was fast and it did not have to be baked, but was wet sanded and buffed.

In the mid 1950's GM started using aycrlic laquer commonly known as Lucite instead, because it produced a more durable finish, but did not have the depth of nitrocellulose. As far as the corvette was concerned, apparantly all the cars produced in St Louis were of acrylic lacquer single stage and buffed.

Then came acrylic enamels and single stage eurathanes which were baked and often produced a less than mirror finish.

Then came the 2 stage base coat/clear coat systems that had a less "deep" look but more glossy than the earlier lacquers.

The basic difference in look is that the lacquers have more depth and are glossy and have sharper corners.
The bc/cc have a little more gloss and less depth and a thicker look to it on edges.

Lacquers were never clear coated from the factory by GM. It was very common by custom painters to apply many coats of clear over lacquer to achieve depth and reduce tape lines etc ( flames, murals etc). Contrary to popular belief metallic lacquers were and can be wet sanded and buffed, but amateurs probably will ruin it.

Unless you are going for top judging, bc/cc is your best bet for maintenance and durability. The clear coat can be wet sanded and buffed (done it many times) to provide an almost perfect finish whereas only a pro could tell the difference between that and the original nitrocellulose.

BTW items such as high end guitars are still finished in nitrocellulose lacquers today becuse of the "depth" desired.

 

good answer noonie

 

You're going to paint it outside in your driveway? In Britain??
Wow. Didn't think I'd ever experienced a day with good enough weather to paint a car in the open. Too much wind/humidity, I'd have thought.

You're not planning to use cellulose rattle cans from Halfords are ya? Would hate to see you disappointed in the result of your efforts - I've never managed to paint anything with rattle cans to a finish I'd consider good enough for a car body. They're crap.

 

Go to www.PPG.com. They still sell acrylic Lacquer for your vette. I just did my 1975 coupe in classic white #10 the original color and paint. I used this system for two reasons, for 1 it is the type of paint that GM used, and 2, I did it in my home garage without a spry booth. I could not afford all the protection at this time that is required to use the modern paints. Look really good though. Just like the factory.

Good luck