I was just thinking about how it was working in a garage back in the early 70's . I was an apprentice panel beater and sprayer working in a Ford Main dealer. When I first started basecoat and clear finishes hadn't been invented. They gradually appeared in the mid 70's possibly around 1973. They sneaked in, we weren't told, you just noticed that certain metallic finishes had a depth to them. You could see that there seemed to be a clear coating between the top surface and the underlying metallic paint. Later on Ford released information on how to repair such paint finishes. At first only complete panels would be painted . The acrylic clear lacquer was also strange ! On a hot day if the lacquer was a bit on the thick side strange cobwebs would appear floating around in the spray shop. These tended to stick anywhere and we're a right pain ! Gradually the paint manufacturers improved the paint .
What got me thinking about this was by seeing all these nice shiny metallic cars which have been restored . Back in the day they wouldn't have looked as shiny as they would have had a metallic finish instead of a basecoat and clear one .
