Thread: Flat colors...will they go "out of style" or are they pretty much here to stay?

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I have a chopped, twice Z'ed, slammed, tilted rear glass and B pillars, 496" full roller BBC in a '40 Chevy sedan and I'm almost ready to paint it. I want to keep the car leaning toward a 50's/60's quasi-old school look and I'm thinking of a clear coated dark plum satin "primer" finish with painted or chrome steelie wheels. I'm also going to have the hood louvered and some old school pinstriping done and retro-looking 8 stack Englese EFI installed. But I want a paint style that won't become obsolete or out of style in a couple years. Is the flat color craze just a fad, like the graphics of the 80's and 90's? Or, has it become a classic paint scheme that will likely be here to stay? Thank you.


Tom

Originally Posted by bgblk40

I have a chopped, twice Z'ed, slammed, tilted rear glass and B pillars, 496" full roller BBC, '40 Chevy sedan and I'm almost ready to paint it. I want to keep the car leaning toward a quasi-old school look and I'm thinking of a dark plum satin "primer" finish with painted or chrome steelie wheels. I'm also going to have the hood louvered and some old school pinstriping done. But I want a paint style that won't become obsolete or out of style in a couple years. Is the flat color craze just a fad, like the graphics of the 80's and 90's? Or, has it become a classic paint scheme that will likely be here to stay? Thank you.


Tom

Tom,

As a general discussion, besides the "it's your car you do with it what you like", as a body shop owner I can tell you people are moving away from them already. I used to get several inquiries a week as to doing a Satin finish. Now, I get maybe two a month. What most people do not understand about them is that they require additional (ie: higher) maintenance to keep them looking good, not like a simple wash and wax job (no wax allowed on a satin finish), you also need to worry about people leaning on or brushing up against them as those areas will "polish out", forcing you to attempt to scuff them up again (those areas will then stick out as you cannot duplicate the finish with a gray or red scotchbright pad).


Bill S.

If you live long enough you learn all this kind of stuff is transitional. People always think they want to be different.....................just like everybody else. Too many people get on one band wagon, eventually some, then more, jump off one and get on the next "new" one. Yeah, there are always a few who won't let go (you still see a few people doing those old graphics styles........very few), but the bulk of participants in any trend move on. Some will cycle back around, some won't (thankfully we haven't seen polyester leisure suits come back). It's human nature.

After working in the biz since the early seventies I can agree with these guys.... no trend lasts forever.

Bill is absolutely right about the care of a flat finish. It is fragile, and cannot be easily cleaned up. Your only choice may be to repaint an area, and hope it matches somewhat. :-(

The trend I have been waiting for is flat clear over a bright metallic, that has a lot of color shift. Same repair problems, only worse... but it has a "magic" look to it. :-)

Just 4 the record, I also have been in the biz for over 40 years and seen lots of fads come and go.
I personally this the flat look is dyin.
Case in point.
Did a 32 Vicky in bc/cc satin black, tried to sell it for 5 - 6 months
no even a nibble.
Shot it "Shiney" listed it 4 sale on a Sunday on a few of the Hot Rod sites and the car sold in less than 48 hrs (money in the bank)
U deciede,
As stated-- yor car, do what ya want.

When it comes to trends, you each have to choose what makes you happiest. You can jump on one that is currently exploding, but just be aware that it may become common, then eventually nobody is interested any more.

You can use an emerging trend, and "ride the wave" for a while.

You can use a classic theme, that may work well for an era that your car represents... but interest will always be good, but not great.

Lastly, you can step away from the crowd, and do something that will always be unusual. It may not be the "trick of the week"... but it will always be timeless since it is not part of ANY trend.


Trends that I think are classic, and therefore will always be around to some degree...

pinstriping
'60s flames... (on the right cars)
colors classic to an era the car imitates

Trends that are going over the hump, and will fade with time... (all are being done a LOT!)

flat black
trufire... real fire... photorealistic flames
skulls

Trends that are on the rise...

various shades of green
'60s effects like metalflake... endless line... fish scales... etc.
Not too far ahead may be others like lace paint, and the psychedelic graphics of the early seventies. Many people today are chosing to give these old treatments a new twist.

These are only MY observations, and others will not agree. (That's the way it is on the net.) :-)

Personally I like leisure suits.

[QUOTE=pro70z28;461647]Personally I like leisure suits.QUOTE]

I once toyed with the idea of painting a bike like a leather jacket... texture, patches, zippers etc. I suppose a leisure suit could be done.

......Call me! :-)~ LOL!

Well ok then.I don't care.Anyone can call me old fashion.I still and never wavered from paint that has a mirror finish that looks ten feet deep.

Originally Posted by 1gary

Well ok then.I don't care.Anyone can call me old fashion.I still and never wavered from paint that has a mirror finish that looks ten feet deep.

I am on board with ya! I work for lots of people, so I am always trying to think outside the box. After all... if it's their project, my job is to help them get the look THEY want. My own toys were a different story. I would never want a flat finish myself. Not even primer. :-)

Hi guys, interesting subject and maybe we can have some answers to these questions please. 1 : when was flake (medium to large ) first used on cars.??
2 : when did lace work first appear and how long was that trend around ??
I believe that in the early days, one only had their cars in prime until they could afford to paint it shiny and also nine times out of ten,the car was their daily driver for work etc.

Hi guys, interesting subject and maybe we can have some answers to these questions please. 1 : when was flake (medium to large ) first used on cars.??
2 : when did lace work first appear and how long was that trend around ??
I believe that in the early days, one only had their cars in prime until they could afford to paint it shiny and also nine times out of ten,the car was their daily driver for work etc.

As far as the medium/large Metal Flake, I’m not sure, but I suspect that was around from the mid-late 50’s. I remember the lace showing up around 68 or so but at best lasting only for a 4-5 year period before it ran its course.

I really think the whole primer thing is really overplayed/overstated by certain segments of the hotrod community that weren’t around during the era they are trying to portray. When you look at the majority of the pictures of hotrods from the 40s-50s, the vast majority of the cars have paint, not primer. Although I can’t say for sure, I also suspect many of the cars shown in those vintage photos are actually wearing their original paint. Keep in mind in especially the 50s (70 years ago now) those “old cars” weren’t that old. The 30s-40s cars had survived WWII when new cars were not available to the public. Those vehicles for the most part had been maintained as best they could because people did not know when new vehicles would be available and from a general pride in ownership. Basically these cars that were picked up for $5-$50 by the retuning service men WERE NOT the rusty hulks that people are dragging out of the fields and deserts now.

I certainly don't remember any of the crew I ran with leaving their car in primer for any reason other then they were saving up the money for paint. At best, a primered car was a temporary condition!!!! Like any other fad, the primer stuff seems to be going away!!!! It's quite humorous when some young-un steps up to tell how things were in the 50's and 60's, especially when they start on the "speed was the only thing that mattered" bs.... The best customizers were flourishing in the late 50's and throughout the 60's, and all their creations had shiny, shiny paint!

IMO, "old school" and "traditional" are probably a couple of the most mis-used and abused terms in the world of Hot Rodding!!!!!

Paint it shiny!

I, too, am a dinosaur, and in my experience, we used primer to cover up bare metal and deter rust for a short while until the body work was done and the car could be painted proper like. Sometimes our finances were a deciding factor, as well, but nobody I knew in the fifties and onward left their car in primer as a finished item. Looking back even farther, many of the cars seen in photos from the thirties, forties and earl fifties were not in primer, their paint was dead; no amount of elbow wax would do much for it. In the thirties, the common mand had not the means to afford polish, nor the incentive to use it; a car was a tool, more than a toy, and it was kept reasonably clean and serviceable, but unless one was a large amount better off than average during the depression and just after prior to the war, shiny cars were not in the necessity column. My Dad had a '29 Model A roadster when I was born, and it was the apple of his eye - but it was not shiny black, only clean, and I can barely remember it before he sold it and bought a '38 Olds 4 door. It, too was dull, but it was blue, just not polished; polish was hard to come by for the most part in those days. He traded the Olds in on a '52 Buick, and it was the first shiny car he ever had, but it was only a year old. So, I think a lot of folks today look at old photos, and think they are seeing cars in primer, when in fact the cars were just a product of their time, and never saw a polish job.

Whats really ugly is the weird neon green that is showing up on wheels and trimwork. I hope it goes away soon. Just like in the 90s when everyone was doing these multi color jobs and painting all the bumpers and trim body color. Give me shiny paint and chrome anyday; it nver goes out of style.