Folks Of Interest Wet sanding with gasoline Tommy the Greek

Again I am not advocating any of this. Just putting together a story of the way things were in the past. I'm sure Tommy was capable of some fine paint jobs if anybody then had the money to pay for them. And some did because he painted some of the Oakland AMBR winners.
Sorry if I put anybody off.

 

Yup!! Watersanding with Gasoline was the way to go in the 40's and 50's. The gasoline kept the sandpaper clear. You could sand a car complete with 2 or 3 sheets of 600 paper.

Remember it only goes "BANG" once.!!!

The Old Tinbasher

 

But since wet or dry was only a dime back then .......

 

When I painted my 3 window back in '59, we sanded it with gasoline. It was black lacquer and after we rubbed it out and waxed it you could see your reflection in the paint just like a mirror.

 

All safety concerns aside, gasoline makes a decent and very cheap (at the time) wet sanding lube. It washes off waxes of the day and oils that may get onto the work in those old often cramped shops. Sanding was often an outside job, so the flammabilty was of lower concern. A guy just had to be smart enough not to smoke or use a torch near it. By the time I got the age to be involved, paint masks were becoming common, laquer was thought to be evil by some folks and the safety folks were in control.

 

we used to use yellowstone whiskey when wet sanding. we were very careful not to get a drop on the car.

 

I'm not a big advocate of wet sanding with gasoline but I find wet sanding with 2 or 3 bottle of Corona Beer works best for me.
If I spill a little on the ground or spill it on the car it wont stain or eat everything in it's path.
Tasty too!

 

Yea, and then I would drink another bottle before laying down the color coat, it helped the paint to flow better.

 

I painted a car last week, with BC-CC Black Pearl, and didn't even do any sanding or rubbing or buffing afterwards, and it also looks "just like a mirror" Using Gasoline wasn't any different than using water, it just took more material with water, thats all.

 

I like the way this thread is going. Glad we've lightened it up. These young people ask you how things were back in the day before EPA. Then when you tell them they get defensive and act like your making it up.
When you walked into the Greeks, Palamede's or Dutche's shop you expected to be read the riot act, put down and humiliated until you proved yourself. No "Well how are you young man".
Another bit of Steve"s story, when he went into the Greeks shop looking for a job with a friend that new Tommy. He was asked what he knew (remember Steve was maybe 15). When he told Tommy he knew nothing Tommy yelled at the friend "why did you bring this ass hole in". Then hired him. That's the way it was "Back in the day"

 

during the 60s when i was in colledge i worked for tommy sanding cars at nites. tommy was somewhat thrifty and he would give me a sheet and a half of sandpaper to hand sand a whole car, yeah i used gas and the reason was it cut the sandpaper better than water although it took the toll on my hands, they were rough and the gas would make them bleed. sometimes when my hand were so abused he would let me use white gas or water . nobody today can stripe or do scallops like tommy. mike

 

I just joined this site. I was looking around for information on Tommy the Greek, and saw your post. My Dad was friends with The Greek and Don Bell. My Dad is Cal Armtrout, and hung out at Tommy's allot! Dad and Don were best friends. And my Mom and her family were from San Lorenzo. I grew up between Oakland and San Lorenzo. My Dad had a body and fender shop in Oakland, and he and Don and Tommy customized many cars. My Dad is 87 years old this year and lives here in Auburn CA. My Mom was a Mackin, and her brother Lyle was a boxer. Sounds like you were in the area at the same time.

 

Took me a minute to get this....


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

41st and E 14th was where his shop was in about '89 when I got my roadster running. A friend of mine was a good friend of Tommy and wanted me to go down there to have him stripe it. Even then it was a pretty bad neighborhood and I opted to have Rory stripe it at my house. A decision I regret to this day. Although Rory did a great job my roadster might have been the last car Tommy ever striped.

Thanks for reviving this thread. Maybe we'll get some posts from people who new your dad.

 

Sandpaper cost a dime, the sand boy got 15 cents an hour and you could get your car painted for $50. Just multiply everything by 100 to get today's prices.

 

No, you're thinking of Moistassus!

 

Sounds sorta akin to tap dancing on a land mine[Aerosmith] to me......what with the amount of guys who were smokers back then it gets real iffy....

 

My bud Ramsay had a Model A Coupe we built when we were 15. (1957)
Ramsay's Dad was Tony Encina, his shop was across the street from Stanford University, right on El Camino Real.
Tony was commissioned to make all of Shirley Temple Black's furniture...he did custom work for her for 40 years.
We took the Coupe to Tony's house to strip it for paint...after removing the doors & deck lid, we used paint remover on every panel. Dinged out 2 small dents, then GASOLINE SANDED everything. Lots of regular gasoline, 2 gallons? And #400 sandpaper.
Covered it up and resumed Sunday.
Water sanded entire car, then primered it.

I worked with Tony at his shop sometimes during the summer. All the wood furniture got the gasoline sanding prior to sealing, I never saw him make a mistake.
On a further note: When I served my 5 year apprenticeship at Mayfield's garage, we washed parts in gasoline...and our hands, between jobs and after work. Then soap and water...
I'm 70, my hands look like those of a surgeon...no callouses, smooth. (younger wife says, "Keep your cotton-pickin' hands...ON me!"

Never had problems with gas...Still burn it in all my cars...

 

I went to dish soap, a couple of drops, The paper stayed clear, nuthin' caked up.
600 and soapy water.

 

HarmsWay, that sounds practical. but u wouldn't see me doin it. jmo.

 

A revealing test for the non worrying sorts is this.......
Take a cup of gasoline,[currently less volatile than back in the day we are discussing].
get in a clear area with no other combustibles such as a concrete surface etc,pour the gas in one spot -let it set for a few seconds and then light it with a match or your cigarette lighter.......
Then after that go ahead and wet sand with it any time you want,as much as you want....surely the bandages wont interfere.
Seriously, there are some folks that even suggesting that wet sanding with Gasoline would be a viable activity, might just convince em to try it.
That surely would lead to a disaster, and we really don't want that to happen.....

 

Basically, if you can smell benzene, you've been overexposed.

 

Used white gas for thinning enamel to flatten the paint but wetting sanding with gas sounds like an accident waiting to happen..

 

Sounds like Hex chrome (Cr6), there is no lower limit to the permitted exposure. What out if you're welding SS, it can show up then too.

 

I remember helping my dad paint his '53 Chysler New Yorker Deluxe sometime in the late '60s. We wet sanded with gasoline, then he sprayed it with industrial floor enamel thinned with gasoline. The whole paint job must have cost less than $20.

The old car looked good for a year or so, but once it started to fade, no amount of rubbing and waxing would get it to hold a shine. Ask me how I know! (teenaged labor was cheap)

 

Seriously? This happened? I thought I had heard of everthing.......Stupid.

 

Stupid?
We years ago cleaned parts with gasoline.



Ago

 

Wasn't a matter of being stupid. People just didn't know the full dangers of doing that sort of thing at the time.

 

The so called white gas years ago I believe was Amoco. It was unleaded before unleaded was required, before 1970. This was hi-test only. Any one have other ideas?



Ago

 

Using gasoline doesn't surprise me.
In the 60's, a guy that lived 2 houses from my childhood home used gas for everything.
Old man Howey, used gas for cleaning, lighting the grill, dumping tons down the throat of a carb. to start his car in the middle of the winter (resulted in a huge fireball) and sanding. He was totally the man of the time, every other word was f'n this and f'n that and smoked non-filtered Camels. There was gas stains all over his driveway, I wouldn't be surprised if he brushed his teeth with it.