Nice fleet! It is automotive folklore that Henry Ford once said "You can have your Model T Ford in any color....as long as it is black. This started in 1914 when the moving assembly line started to really roll along. Japan black enamel was the only paint that could dry fast enough to keep up with production. Huge tanks were filled with water and the paint was floated on the surface, bodies & fenders were dipped not sprayed. Then in 1926 paint tech had advanced and Ford once again offered colors. Thats it for today's Auto History 101
Thanks Kid. I knew some of that, but I didnt know they dipped the panels. Very cool... Lets see some Black Fords.
I was always told that the early 'T's were brush painted. I thought the old guys must be really, really good to get them so smooth. Just what I was told......................I know nothing, as most of you have noticed
Yeah, it is... Lowered 14" ( Camaro Clip and a 8 1/2" kickup in the rear ), 351W, C4, ( soon to be swapped out for a T5 5speed).
Yeah, it was real neat, as we took apart my little bro's rusty, but original 1923 Model T and saw all the drips! Even on finished pannels that one would see, runs and drips were present... anotherwords, in being a dip paint job, the finish was NOT perfect from the factory... makes me laugh when you see the restored model t's with perfect paintjobs, pollished engine blocks, etc.
Halibrand. I had a Street Rodder scream at me the other day, for having a set of those on my Work Truck, and for not keeping them clean. And I've got a lot of guys trying to buy them from me cheap, thinking I don't know what they are... Someday when all the Body mods are done, and the Truck is painted, I'll have them polished again...
im a dumb ass too! everything i got is black, well everything that has paint, .... my escalde-my 95 impala ss-my 54 truck-most of my tow trucks-both my harleys-my 55 belair-my 54 belair-my 47 fleetline....sheesh i never realized how much black stuff i got!....no wonder im always swetting..lol
It had a stock 289 with a T5, but she didnt like the stick shift. So I swapped a C4 into it. Then she thought it was too slow, so I put a cam, intake, carb and better heads on it... Yep, its a sleeper.
The choice of black over coloured enamels was a result of the black pigment, being an organic element (charred bone and or plant matter) vs the chemically producted coloured pigments, basicly dies. The black pigment was able to absorb more oil /varnish than the coloured pigments, and thus dry faster. The runs and heavy sags were usually rubbed out with pumice and kerosene Ford too, was not a big player for the coloured finishes because the Du pont family controled the paint industry, with regard to pigments, and ford wasn't very interested in putting money in their pockets.
Some real cool info about Paint... One of the stories I've heard that some colors were not as strong and didn't resist rust as well as others. And some colors really did seem to survive better than others ( or the cars did ) "weak" colors were Dark Blue, and maybe Red ( I'm not sure about that one), and the "strong" ones were Yellows and Tan... Any of that true??
This is as black as I could get it. Love those black cars. I have three of them. Not a good choice for an amatuer painter like me. Pretty unforgiving. But then on the other hand I have made a few other not good choices"
I EVEN LIKED BLACK IN 1957. No its not the same car even though it is identical. I sold this one for about 200 dollars. Cry Cry
JayD, it is trus that the very early cars were painted with brushes. Back then, they just didn't have the spray equipment which was developed much later. Henry's "bath" was actually a pretty cool way of painting and, in fact, is presently used by all the car manufactuers. Of course, the process has beem modernized, but it is the basic system old Henry came up with. With regard to brush painting, I remember a story from a long time ago about a Rolls Royce which was being restored. It was, I think, a Silver Ghost or Silver Shadow or some Silver- some damned thing or other and it belonged to Millard Newman, a very wealthy south Florida RR owner. The Rolls was a very early 1900's model and was being restored to compete for the big prize, an AACA Hershey Senior. When it came time to paint the Rolls, Mr. Newman imported two brothers from Australia who still painted cars with brushes, becuse that's the way they did it back then. The steps to applt the paint and to get it to the final stage were intensely laborious, but when finalized the paint was flawless and, of course, the car got it's Senior status from the AACA trolls. Alex, sorry to hijack your post, but I thought a little history could be fun. By the way, I love your truck. Howevewr, could stand to be just a smidgen lower, don't you think? Don't remember seeing it when I visited early this year. How's the deuce coming along?
I have an ETO early 1933 skirtless fender with shiney black original paint. You can see the drips and runs on the inside, but the outside is almost flawless.
I should correct my original post, the fenders and small parts were dipped, but the bodies were flowed. By that I mean that paint was hosed on not sprayed and ran down the side of the T bodies, the overflow was collected in gutters and run through filters and into the holding tank for another goround. There are photos of this process if I find them I'll post them.
The Jalopy Journal
