PAINTING CARS AT HOME.
Probably no other subject dealing with the problem of the motorist has been so little, or to be correct, so unsatisfactorily treated as the home painting of cars. Most of the literature dealing with the subject is written in a technical vein, purely for the delectation of the professional painter. This naturally leads the novice to believe, owing to the great number of coats these writers say is essential for good work, that it is entirely out of the question for a car owner, without previous experience in painting, to repaint his car satisfactorily.
Fortunately this is not true. In the first place, the fewer number of coats that can be applied and still accomplish the desired result, will make far the most durable and lasting job of painting. I maintain, and have proven, times without number, that if a motorist really is in earnest about wanting to paint his cars, the battle is more than half won. Give this class of motorists the proper material mixed ready for use with the proper brushes for their application, and tell him how they should be used, and 99 times out of 100 he will paint his car so well that he will be sorry he had not done it before.
The quality of the material used in this kind of painting is of vital importance and unless they are the very best will give but limited wear. And the proper brushes to use with the different coats is of equal importance. About four-fifths the cost of automobile painting is labor, so that a few dollars saved in buying the materials is false economy.
The general purpose enamels for sale in stores have no place on a motor car. They belong to the home. Probably no other vehicle excepting a locomotive has harder service for paint to withstand. Hence, the necessity for the very best materials.
There is one reputable concern selling repainting outfits to car owners so that greatly simplifies the painting problem, if one wishes to do it himself. These outfits include everything, materials, brushes, and instructions, and range in price from $6 for a small runabout to $8 and $10 for a roadster and touring car. Compared to $35 to upwards of $100 that one has to pay a regular painter, if one wishes to economize, the painting affords a grand opportunity.
The fenders and hood of a car are subjected to severe wear and the time is coming when these parts will always be painted black, regardless of the body color of the car. In fact, a great many of the new cars will be painted this way. There are thousands of cars in use that hardly need repainting, but if the hood and fenders were done over in black it would make them look almost like new cars. There is one concern making these hood and fender outfits and a novice can do a really creditable job of painting with them. They range in price from $3 to $5 and are in two coats with a suitable brush.
The gases from the motor are a big factor in dulling the paint on hoods. It has the same effect that ammonia fumes from a stable has on horse-drawn vehicles. This is one reason why the black painting of hoods is mighty sensible. When your hood gets dull, instead of laying up your car you can paint the hood yourself with little trouble and no loss of time.
For the novice to repaint the average car, for instance a 30 H. P. touring car, it would require in labor only a few hours on four or five different days. The hardest part of the whole operation is preparing the car for paint. It is absolutely necessary to have it thoroughly clean before applying any paint. It should be well washed first, and then given a gasoline bath to the parts on which dirt and grease have been allowed to accumulate. It is really not so complex a proposition after all. If a woman can paint furniture with enamels that are no better than they should be, a man can surely paint a car if given the proper materials to do it with, and if he be instructed in their use.
Now as to striping. This is of course out of the question for the novice. But you can black the mouldings of the body, seats, doors, hubs and rims of wheels so that the absence of striping is not noticed. So far as the striping goes, the tendency is away from it—in fact, the most expensive cars have hardly any striping. The blacking of the mouldings, etc., mentioned makes a harmonious contrast and takes the place of striping. It looks in no ways amateurish—rather like the handiwork of the professional painter.
In addition to the saving that can be effected by repainting your car yourself, there is the feeling of personal pride when the job is finished, of having done something well yourself.
As the majority of the new cars have enameled lamps instead of polished brass as in years past, I believe a few words on the subject will not be amiss. In my experience of twenty years in the painting of vehicles, locomotives and automobiles, I have never had a harder proposition to solve than the enameling of polished brass lamps, particularly gas headlights.
An enamel for this purpose must of necessity be made highly elastic, so that it will contract and expand with the metal and stick on the polished brass surface without any previous roughing. This means that only the most expensive materials can be used in the making of such an enamel. There is one enamel of proven merit for this purpose on the market and it does not have to be baked. I have seen a great many motorists who have used general purpose enamels on their lamps and the experience has usually been that the enamel leaves when the lights are lighted. If I were buying an enamel for use on the brass parts of my car, I should be very careful to buy the one that had been long on the market, for there will undoubtedly be a large number of new ones offered.
I have made some pretty strong statements in the foregoing article, and it is no more than right that I tell you that they are based on my experience of twenty years in the painting of carriages, locomotives and automobiles, two years as the expert for the largest paint and color house in the world, and several years in the manufacture of the highest class of motor car paints.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.
Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added, when a predominant preference was found in the original book.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
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