Alvin, e-coat was the electro deposition epoxy or acrylic primer that the auto manufacturers started using in the 60's. From what I’ve read it had been used outside of the auto industry for quite sometime before they started using it. If you've ever bought a body part, frame part or under hood part that was a semi-gloss black from an auto dealership in the last half decade it was probably e-coated. Roughly a decade or so ago a lot of the parts started showing up powder coated.
I was under the impression that they were using e-coat on automotive parts in the 50’s also but from what I’ve found by digging into it the last few days, it wasn’t until the very late 50’s to early 60’s that Ford did the pioneering work on it and by the mid 60’s it had become the standard.
I believe the earlier primers were dipped but I haven’t been able to find enough history to back that up. It only makes sense that the small component parts could be rapidly coated by running the production line down through a dip tank. I do know that this was a later practice for the entire body at some plants. I’ve often noticed drips and sags on lots of NOS parts that I’ve seem. I’m not sure what type of primer was being applied, it had to be compatible with lacquer and enamel. I suppose the black color was chosen because it hides the dirt and scratches and the parts stored better. A white, gray or red primer would not have stored well and would have shown every mark. Also it would not have presented itself very well to a customer.
This is some interesting reading if anyone is interested in delving into it a bit deeper.
http://cpm.ndsu.nodak.edu/croll/HistoryofPaintSGC.pdf Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
