While searching, I found two interesting photos that may pique some conversation. Each painting cars with brushes some 29 years apart. I know it's taboo these days but the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy. (Click to enlarge) From 1920. From 1939. Anyone else have similar photos?
i've seen a few... horrible ones like that, evean a 95 buick with blue laytex house paint brushed on.. i wanted to puke... both from the car and the paint job.
That second pic is a guy sealing the top with tar, (I think thats whats going on). My Dad was just telling me about my Grandad doing that .
In 1928 it was probably pretty common for a working class guy to paint his car with a brush. The lack of available spray equipment would probably have been the big reason. But a guy could probably brush on a coat or two and then block sand the paint and brush on another coat and sand again to get a presentable finish.
How did you think they painted cars before spray guns were invented? My uncle was a very clever car painter who learnt painting with a brush then spraying as it became the norm. He would two tone a car by spraying the body then brushing the guards. A one day job rather than a two day job masking and spraying. Forget brush marks you would not tell the difference between the brush and the spray. He was a master of pin striping, lining he used to call it. He would wire two striping brushes together, load them with different colours and lay a two tone pin stripe.
I use to know guys in the 70's who brush painted cars.Buy a good brush,good prep,good paint and it turned out pretty nice.
When my dad was stationed at Gitmo back in the 60's, he brush painted a Nash Metro. It turned out great. But I believe a special, slow drying / self leveling ? sort of paint was used. And perhaps some sanding between coats? He brought that car home to Illinois and I drove it around a little in high school. It looked good and I don't ever recall anyone actually noticing it was painted that way. It was a nice lemon yellow and white 2-tone. Sure wish it was still in the family! Gary
Years ago there was a fellow from the Dutch area in PA in the Hudson Club . He painted several cars, including a '27 Essex coupe, with a brush. Several layers with color sanding inbetween. Looked really smooth when he was done.
Anyone ever paint a car with a hardware store bought Magnum power sprayer??? I've thought about giving it a try on my o/t '91 Ford...
It is interesting to talk to old painters, the ones that did some remarkable things with brushes. Not only could they paint cars and get a resonable finish but they could do faux wood grain and faux marble that looks like the real thing. The technique was in the brushes, real camel's hair brushes for instance not the 8 brushes for $5 at the box stores today, and the various additives like Japan Drier that are almost unheard of today. There is an old fellow here in NH that was a house painter for decades and I have seen him do some remarkable things with a brush.
i used to have to do that with the '36 chev with Sikaflex (sp?) but then one day i was welding some bracketry in the rear floor and some spatter must have gone over my shoulder and hey presto, the roof was on fire... so i dont bother sealing it no more. lol
My dad has brushed cars before looked good. My dad was a painter by trade he still can do just about anything with a brush..... It's a art to itself.... and a lost one at that...
I was told that Henry Ford's cars were brushed with a big brush with a paint tube up the center of the brush, sloped it on heavy and let the next guy sand and buff.
I don't have any pictures. But, my Dad and his Dad used to paint with a brush. They'd load on lots of paint, and color sand and buff to perfection. Also, when I was a broke kid, I'd paint all my model cars with a brush, without any brush marks. I can't tell ya why, but they came out amazing. I also painted my Stingray bike with a brush, and it looked like it was dipped in paint. My friend's Dad said I was full of shit, it looked that good
Back in the day these cars were utilitarian, no one had compressors and spray guns of the day were awful, the brushes were a lot better too, hey why not?
My Grampa's brother worked on cars, wagons, buggies, etc. back around WWI and he painted cars with a brush using a shellac based paint. They would put on several coats of color and sand smoothe, then apply a clear shellac. Yup--the early version of Base Coat/ Clear Coat. Final polishing was done with corn starch. I wish I would have been able to hear more stories from him, but he lived in California and just came home to visit. He did tell me he made a snowmobile/snow plane from an airplane that crashed near home around 1918. He salvaged the motor and propeller for power and used some of the fuselage framework for a chassis. He was a pretty ingenius guy. overspray
My Dad owned Sequoia Auto Body in Visalia, CA in the 20's and painted the cars with a brush. The thing is they used nitrocellulose lacquer then. It has been completely outlawed here in Cali now (don't get me started). All the old classic cars were painted with the stuff. Lacquer is unique in that each new coat bonds with the one underneath, later guys would spray their '32's and such at home, color sand between several coats, then polish to a mirror finish. With Lacquer, when you sand through it you don't see the layers of paint like on an enamel job, and it was easy to do a spot repair job. It could get chipped easily, but you could touch it up and polish it out. My Great Grandfather used to refinish horse drawn coaches, buggies etc, with a brush, then pinstripe them. The Chinese produced the finest lacquerware in the world for centuries all painted with a brush, thats how it was done.
I said I was going to brush paint my T and a fellow HAMBER looked at me with disbelief and slight disgust. That was a couple of years ago and I still havent painted it.
I can post pics later. I painted the inside of my T with a quality brush and Rustoleum enamel paint thinned out a little. 2 coats. I'm seriously thinking of doing the outside too. Doesn't need to be perfect. Looked pretty bad at first but the paint smooths out as it dries. Couple runs in there for flair.
Ask for the Ox hair brushes at your paint supplier. They are very soft and leave little in the way of brush marks if used properly.
Here is the key. You can still find Coach/carriage builders/restorers that know the technique. SRM covered 3 27 roadsters about 10 years ago from England. It is mentioned one of the rodders built carriages and brushed his paint on the T.
Do a google search for brush painted cars and you'll be amazed at how good the job can be with a little color sanding and elbow grease. the paint doesn't care how it's applied... I drove several 'high school cars' with brush paint jobs... it was either that or use the exhaust end of an Electrolux vacuum cleaner and spray the car using the insecticide glass jar sprayer. My buddy Don bought a full custom '56 Chevy ragtop around '63 that had a 56 Olds bumper molded in on the front, '56 Packard tail lights molded on the rear, nosed, decked, shaved and a brush grey primer paint job.
I had a 63 Ford station wagon when I was young and brave. We brushed the most awful green on it and then threw sand on it. Kinda like nonskid. Then they splain what colorsanding was. Drove it like that till the latex came off the hood in 1 sheet. God, I was cool.
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