The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Paint Question

In an effort to get my 52 3/4 pick up to be as close to looking like the day it left the factory I need to know how they would have painted them and with what. I believe the trucks were paint in enamal. My question is after they were painted were they baked in oven to get the paint to lay down and get it's gloss and if this true would it also be true that the finish would have a small amount of orange peel in it when it was shipped out. I'm now in the process of wet sanding and compounding it and and need to know do I make the finish hot rod show smooth or leave a little orange peel in it.

Paul

I remember when I started this, I just don't remember why.

The analogy I like to use reference "baked" enamel is to put a drop of water on a piece of glass. If you put a fan on it, it'll dry faster but when it's dry it's no dryer than the drop you let air dry. All baking does is accelerate the drying. In fact when you use high temp baking the additives that are added to paint to keep it from discoloring from the heat can cause orange peel in the paint.

You get the smooth texture by putting a lot of clear on, color sanding the texture out then buffing it. If you're wanting to match the factory finish, leave some texture to the paint. All of the factory paint jobs I've seen were not show car smooth.