Restoration Forum

I also dragged out my copy of the "Studebaker Proof Book" which features the 1914 models so was most likely produced in the latter half of 1913. (Some of the factory pictures show 1913 models.)

Under the heading "Twenty-four Paint and Varnish Operations" it has the following:

"The finish on Studebaker cars is most carefully developed. Coat after coat of filler paint is scientifically applied and rubbed before the first coat of color goes on.

Furthermore, it is not necessary to rush Studebaker bodies through the factory. Plenty of time is given for each coat of filler or paint to 'age' on the body before the next coat is applied.

Again we find the advantage of quantity production - expert Studebaker painters are able to concentrate their entire time and attention month after month on Studebaker cars only. No special jobs go through our factory to interfere with the concentrated efforts of our workmen. Their time is spent doing one thing well - that is why our color work is so perfect. In the great Studebaker factories there is ample room to do the paint and varnish work of the car where the light is good, where there is good ventilation and where there is nothing to disturb the workmen.

As a result, varnish work on Studebaker cars comes through in flawless and speckless condition."

There is a photograph of a lady varnishing a closed body with the following caption:

"See the reflection of the painter in the satin-smooth lustre of this Studebaker closed body. This is the twenty-fourth and final operation in finishing a Studebaker body."

There is also a photograph of a row of large ovens with the following caption:

"These are great ovens where Studebaker fenders, hoods, etc.,are enamel-baked for hours. The enamel is literally baked into the steel. It will not crack or check off through the hardest kind of service."

Purely by chance today I met a local who has spent much of his life collecting and restoring horse drawn vehicles (both for himself and as a business). His recommendation was to use 1Shot paints.

Thank you Peter and Jenny for your helpful insights. The paint that I had in mind is described here:

http://www.viponds.com.au/Feature%20Gloss%20Enamel.pdf

Aside from their standard colour range I believe that they will custom mix whatever colour you want for an additional charge.

I plan to paint under a carport (currently under construction - to date only the concrete piers have been poured). The idea is to fit heavy plastic curtains on each side as well as the back and the front. I guess that I'll paint the concrete floor to provide a non-dusting surface.

Current thinking is to start off with painting a radiator surround. It has been sand blasted and repaired but will need a skim of filler, undercoat, guide coat and rub back.

Not sure how this forum works, It allowed me to enter a reply but i an't see a way of registering. The following I wrote before dinner, there are a lot more things that need to be know to help you what exactly are you painting and at what is the cars present state as to its surface being painted?

Jenny is on the right track, I brush painted my Ford T after I purchased it from Wal Barker in 1964. My teacher at Tech ( I was doing an apprenticeship in Coach & Motor Painting, later changed to Vehicle Painting) at St George Tafe College. My teacher was an ex Railway Coach Painter (as were most of the teaching staff) where all the old "Red Rattler" rail carriages were brushed painted, especially inside as there was no overspray or need to mask windows or other fixturers.

The teacher supplied his old brushes and I painted it in the spray Booth one day.

The closest paint available today is Air Dry Enamel, Sold usually for house painting for trim such as doors or windows. Choice of colours are limited unfortunately so depending on what colour you want you may not be able to get exactly what you want. You could use 2 pack auto paint with slow hardener and thinner but it is a lot more expensive and needs extra preparation, but if you have no experience with such paints I would not recommend it. If you are spraying your veteran that is the only paint to use today especially if it is for driving.

This paint is thinned with Turps but this reduces the viscosity quickly and it is easily over thinned making runs and sags possible. The end result is a thinner coat of paint.If the paint is heated the viscosity is reduces without adding turps and the end result is a thicker coat. Enamel only requires 2 coats, adding more only creates problems leading to failure of the coating.

Obviously the surface has to be carefully prepared before hand as the top coat can't make up for faults already in the surface.

Enamel dries slowly, 24 hours plus just to be touch dry and hard enough to handle. It can be placed over any other paint BUT other paints can't be placed over it. Enamel was the normal finish for cheap resprays when in the lat 1960' 1990's businesses offered resprays for a few dollars, All that needed to be done was to clean the old paint mask the car and spray the enamel. To speed up the drying time an additive was put in the colour which chemically hardened it quickly (making it a 2 pack product)

Enamel dries by joining with oxygen which sets the paint, that is why you get a skin on the top of the paint when the tin has been used and resealed. That can also happen when too much is applied in application. The paint wrinkles up as the top skins over trapping the solvent in the paint from evaporating and it attacks the drying skin in top. REmember Jack Hockstatt having that happen to a Renault chassis he was restoring. Only answer is to scrape it all off and start again.

This is turning into a lesson which I had to give many times when I became a Teacher at Tafe.

To finish off get a good hogs hair brush, use it on something other than your intended project first before attacking it to break in the brush ( getting rid of the loose hairs.)

practice on something else, lay on the paint with the brush first then wipe out the excess apint and finish off by brushing the surface vertically, Don't play with the coating let it flow out it may take a few minutes. If it stuffs up the paint it will be several weeks before it can be sanded down as it takes so long to cure.

Just get some solvent (turps on a rag and wash it off immediately, its messy but follow up with a clean dry cloth and in a few minutes you will be back to the original surface and you can try again.

Lots of other obvious points such as well lit area, no wind, normal temperature and wet the surrounding area down if you can to lay any possible dust problems.

P Kable

Hi Doug,

I can tell you about painting the timberwork on my horsedrawn vehicles, so sort of similar. Before embarking on painting my show sulky in the early 1970s I asked around and also read as much as I could from period books etc. on coach painting. I should point out that I was determined to do the painting the old way - so with a brush.

What I found out, and what was born out then by my experiences with my own vehicles and helping others with theirs, was:

- Use the best quality brushes

- Use best quality enamel paint, or varnish if using

- Draft off a quantity of paint into a very clean tin

- Put that tin into a container of hot water, water about half way up the tin of paint - be careful not to let water droplets or steam get into the paint

- Warm up the paint before applying

I found putting water in an old deep fryer hugely useful for heating the paint, kept the water at a nice even temperature during the whole process and avoided stopping for reboiling the kettle and topping up the hot water, and accidentally getting water into the paint!

You will find the ambient temp for the paint you are using and the surface you are painting on with a little practice. You want the paint to flow super smoothly but not boil or be as free flowing as water.

Heating the paint was a trick the old time coach painters used. It allows the paint in the brush strokes to beautifully mix giving a lovely smooth glossy finish. After sanding and applying a few coats you get a depth and finish that is amazing. I have read of restorers who have done their entire car to very high standards by brush and heated paint.

The difference between hand painted coachwork done this way and sprayed finish (albeit well done) was obvious when my vehicle and others done traditionally were stood beside those done the modern way.

I have applied heated enamel paint to metal car parts with success too, and also dipped small automotive parts into tubes or small tubs of heated paint, not just because I could but because it was how parts were painted in the factories in the V&V period.

I also heat the paint up when doing pinstriping and scrolling, especially in the winter. I recall striping a buggy late into a hot summer night as it had to be at the Royal Show the next day, but it was so hot that I had no need to heat the paint!

Hope this helps

Jenny