Hot Rods Crazy paint in 1964?

I have been working on this two years now, getting close to paint. When I started on it I decided I didn't want to follow all the gasser rules, so I call it a street freak. However, It will be primarily running in pre-65 races.
So the question is, when did metallic, pearl paint jobs begin on race cars? I have looked over pics on the net, but most of the cars I see have been updated so I'm guessing. I was only 4 in 64, I remember the wild paint schemes in the late 60's but really want to know when it began.
She is headed for some bright blue pearl, heavy metallic, but I don't want to look out of place in a pre-65 race.

 

Can't answer your question but I do want to see the finished product. Looks like great fun so far.

 

Pearl was brand new in the mid 1950s an candys showed up late 50s,Wastson was master of wild panel jobs an calips, an looking up his info early 60s my help date some paint style n types. I'm sure some one here on HAMB will have the very dates some paints came out. I was only noteing when I saw them at shows.

 

Glad you didn't follow any rules. That's what a true hotrodder does. Your car is killer and I can't wait to see your choice of paint.

 

I’ll look through my magazines tonight, but I seem to remember seeing mainly solid colors in the early to mid 60’s...after that’s when things got a little wilder and I’d say 70ish is when paint got a wild in drag cars..

 

Ok one pic from 1970, one 73 and 2 from 1965...like I thought wild paint really came to be in drag racing in the late..late 60’s, but the 70’s is when the wild paint really came to be with Circus Custom Paint being one of the best...

 

Check out this '41 Willys. It's a restoration / recreation featured in the May 2018 issue of
HOT ROD DELUXE. They don't pin down an original date on this car, only to say it was
built and raced in the late '60s and painted by Ed Cerney. I'm sure you don't want to knock
off someone else's paint job but it gives you an idea of what your car could look like in
blue and with a panel job. '60s correct? Yes. Mid '60s? I'm not sure.

 

1959 Ed Roth's "Outlaw" had both panel fad an pearl. I noted that rod,both cuz it's one of my fav.s an that it was all over the mag.s then. Was copyed a lot too.
I had Oxblood goldmetallic on my full custom Henry J in late 1960,it was in Car Craft mag by jan 63. { remeber that mags back then were between 3 an 6 months behind with what was in them.

 

^^ that picture is not far off from my vision at all. So I am thinking stay the course. All blue metallic pearl, no graphics outside of lettering, Gold metallic pearl frame, no running boards so it will show up.
Hobby of mine, outside of cars, is gold prospecting. The chosen name, although it's been used many times, is "Gold Rush" or "Gold in my Veins"

 

My 64 race car graphics 70s/80s

 

I'll go out on a limb and say the first 'custom' paint I saw was right around summer '65, I'd have been 11. A guy pulled into my friends dad's gas station in a '62 Vette. Pearl white with a frosted multi-color rainbow down the center, about 3' wide. Damndest thing I ever saw at that point! Remember because the car was over heating, and the guy was throwing a world-class shit-fit. Got to check off my list of cuss words and learned a few new ones too! Spit in the radiator he was so pissed! Damn purdy car though...

 

I would say it would be pretty simple to figure this out. In regards to drag racing and hot rods you have to think of the times and the culture of the young men at the time. Traditional, go with the flow attitude in society. Along comes flower power, pschycadelic (sp), experimental music, as in Sgt. Pepper, long hair, etc. This wou.d be the "Summer of Love"/ 1967. So all that catches on with the young guns and is extended into the paint schemes in the late '60's and carries on into the '70's. That's what I remember anyway...

 

cool. how about: gold-o-mine, gold-digger, in'gitt, or gold ignika??

 

While not a race car I have a roadster that was built in '58 that was repainted in '61-'62 and it is a metal flake blue.

 

Going by Don Montgomery's reference books, most race cars prior to ~1968-9 had simple solid or metallic paint jobs in just one or two colors (the second color being panel painted or maybe contrasting stripes on the roof of a Super Stocker).

Around '68-69, they started going wild with multi-colored panels, lace-painted panels, freak drops, endless lines, etc.

BTW, for accurate research purposes, look at old books & magazines containing actual pictures of taken back then, not just us HAMBers' opinions.

 

nice,good job

 

Big John Mazmanian(spelling?), had some pretty nice candy red on both his Vette and the Willys.

 

Metallic paint has been used since at least the 1930's on factory jobs. It was also called "iridescent" back in those days. I would imagine it could have been used on anything as early as that.

 

What? Every thing wasn't flat black with red wheels???

 

That sounds like something in more recent history.

 

I remember flake jobs in the late 50's but not on race cars. I don't remember that until the very late 60's or early 70's,
Pete

 

Boy do the memories flood in. Back in the early '60s when I worked at the local Speed and Custom shop I was blown away by the types and effort put into paint jobs. I remember the shop getting boxes in the mail with new stuff the suppliers were pushing and I still remember holding that little bottle of pearl additive in the Texas sun and marveling at the color shifting. The cardboard sample swatches of Metalflke would start anyone dreaming.
The really exotic stuff I had the pleasure of working on were panel paint jobs on '58 Impalas that the owners wanted everything. Some were crowd pleasers and then there were the others.
As for your Coupe I say go with your heart. I lean toward Black with Gold lettering and maybe a simple red or grey pinstripe.

 

I remember panel paint jobs were big with the customs then.

 

Metallic paint was available on Detroit cars from the mid to late 30s. Candy apple from about 1957. Metalflake 1961. Flames, panel painting of a kind from the 1930s although panels and scallops became popular in the late 50s.

Lace painting appeared in the late 60s. Larry Watson had a line of pearl paints about that time.

 

Watson was doing wild panel paint jobs in the 50s. His brand new 58 T Bird being one of them and continued on through out the 60s. Most early 60s Drag racers where more about the mechanical side. But your not following the rules anyhow. And I have said before on similar posts , What if Larry Watson had been a Drag racer! Make it your own. The South East Gassers have plenty of custom painted cars in their group. Quain,s Grand Illusion 41 Willys being one. Check out their You tube coverage of their events. Candies , Pearls and Metal flakes where all in use by 1965. Lace , road mapping and fish scallops where hot by 1967/68 . Enjoy your build Larry

 

A few from back then

 

Here are some pic's of my old T!

 

I think the Prock and Howell car showed up in the very late 60's.
Pete

 

Thanks for all the input. I am staying the course. As stated, doing it for myself, OT big ass bbc with a glide & brake.
Hope to spray some test panels in the next few weeks.
So its blue metallic pearl, limited lettering, gold frame that will show up with no running boards.
I will post the sample pix.