Hot Rods When did 'flake first appear in USA?

As the title says, I'm interested in finding out when metalflake first appeared on hot rods in th US. I believe it was around 58-59, would this be correct? Here in Kiwiland it was around '67.

 

Not sure myself, but Kustoms vs. hot rods? Hot Rod Kustoms maybe? Probably not too many true hot rods worried about flaking the paint until the 70's started to get all over everything including the hot rods of that period I would guess.

 

I've been here since 78

 

I'd say '59, some of my old mags are introducing it around then

 

This may help:

 

The earliest 'flake paint job I know of was Tom McMullen's Deuce roadster in about '61-'62.

 

So the magazine was on the shelf in Nov/Dec 1960 and the article was written even earlier than that.

 

Early '61 as the mag indicates. Back then I read that the first car to get a flake job was Dick Scritchfield's duece hiboy.

 

I remember working at a shop in Houston and a paint salesman left some Metalflake samples. I sprayed it on a Corvair as a racing stripe. It was the Summer of '61.

 

Thanks guys.

 

I knew a stripper named Sparkle once. Shh, it was a long time ago.

 

1960-61..Developed by a Fellow named Stefan Boran who was a designer for the big 3 in detroit..He sold the idea to the Dow Chemical Company which is the trade name for Metalflake Corp today..The name Metalflake comes from its microscopic metal chip content.. In Europe it was being studied and used for experimental purposes in the early 50's for building materials such as injected molded plastics and formicas for countertops..