Longer Ago, but not so Far Away,...

[Warren Watt]

Frankenchrysler

HAHAHAHAHA, and the suburbanites ran screaming, cell phones, starbucks lattes, blackberries, gameboys tossed aside in ensuing panic.

All of this could have been avoided if Uncle Larry would have simply given the car to me!!!

[Dana Singsaas]

Steel barges...

My dad has a photo of me in a walker in front of his black '56 New Yorker. (I'm almost up to the front bumper!) I think this was the tank that later in life, while climbing over the seat as a toddler into the back seat (seatbelts? Wha...?...) someone pulled in front of dad, he hit the brakes, and I clocked the big old chrome door handle in the back. Split my head open, brains and blood everywhere (explains a lot, huh?). Mom says we were half-a-block from the hospital so dad just swung into the Emergency Room. She said my parka's hood was full of blood by the time we got there!

So... yeah... ahhh... some "fond" memories of those early all steel land-yachts.

[Sickcall]

Jimmie, there are not enough O's in the word smooooth for you!

[JimmieD]

I was going to knock off a bank one time, but by the time the teller got done reading the note it was past closing time and the vault was locked for the night.... :~ )

[Ugg013]

Brother Jimmie:

You should be a writer. That was GREAT! It's ALIVE! HA! I can also relate to the bank teller thang. Went to the supermarket the other day. One of the vices I have is Coke, not the sniffin kind sillies. So, when they have sales, we stock up. Sale, 4 12 pks for $10.00. Buy 4, get 1 free. Okay, simple. They also had Bratts on sale for $1.00 with coupon.

So I get my 5 12 pks & Brat's, and I go up to the register, the guy rings it up, $15.89. I say wait a minute, this ain't right. What? It should be $12.00 & change (for tax @ 6.5%). Simple math, he can't do it in his head. He calls the manager (another kid). He can't do it in his head either, needs to find a calulator. GEEZ LOUISE!

Then, I got one of Maynard's friends with us in the Beast. He chimes that those little Scion box things are totally awesome cars. WHAT!!!! That ain't a car, it's an overglorified go-kart. Before I can really tear into the kid, his cell goes off. Even my little 6 year old is now hooked on Gameboy.

I don't like driving to much any more, due to all those morons with the cells glued to their ears, watching their DVD's as they're supposed to be driving. I almost came to blows with a guy in the supermarket parking lot as he was gonna leave his cart in the handicapped spot, with the corral maybe 15' away. Women are even mouthier, with real bad attitudes.

They seem to be proud to have the B name labeled to them, sayin "Well if I was a man you'd look up to me." No honey, if you were a man actin like that I'd deck ya. Maybe that saying about nukin em back into the stone age ain't so bad a thought, naw, better the 50's.

Nammy:

Bein city folk, we had cars, not trucks. Like your folks, mine got the NEW used cars until 1965, when my Dad got a brandy new Caddy. I still remember the 48 Plymouth though, and all the fun we had in it, drivin out to the country. My Dad was know for drivin with the pedal to the metal all the time. I wish I still had those old photos, but the all got burnt.

Now about painting with a brush. Until 1967, Ferrari used to brush their cars with a smooth flowing paint. After it dried, some little guy with a razor (not the phone) would cut all the streamers off the bottom. I had a 69 Chevy panel truck that I painted with Rustoleum outa the can with brush & roller. By the time I got rid of it, it was 1/2" thicker than original. HA!

Later
Ugg

[JimmieD]

Okay, gotta pull ya up on this one, Ugg old boy:

"Now about painting with a brush. Until 1967, Ferrari used to brush their cars with a smooth flowing paint. After it dried, some little guy with a razor (not the phone) would cut all the streamers off the bottom. I had a 69 Chevy panel truck that I painted with Rustoleum outa the can with brush & roller. By the time I got rid of it, it was 1/2" thicker than original. HA!"

Somebody is pulling your leg on that. Ferrari didn't do much coachwork, instead contracting Pininfarina, Touring, Allegmano, Bertone, Giugiaro etc. Their painting on their cars was some of the best in the world and it wasn't brush applied. Undercoat, yes, sound deadener [VERY little], yes, paint with a brush? NO! Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa were a part of my life for a few years after Lotus and I never heard this from anyone at any level. Got a reference/link on that? :~ )

[Ugg013]

Yo Jimmie:

No, I don't have a ref or link, I got this info when I went to Body & Fender school back in the mid 70's. We had books with actual pictures showing this. No, I no longer have these books. 8>( Yeah, Ferrari didn't actually paint their own cars. I should have been more specfic I guess and said when they were painted, and not that they painted.

Paint and paint technology has come a long way. I remember the 1st time I used clearcoat. It took less than 1/2 gal on a 72 Cutlass convert. With lacquer, it'a been way over 5 gals. Aycrilic enamel was a trip. The old coachworks used brush for many years (they didn't have spray guns in the 1700's). The old high priced auto's went the same route as it was these same coachworks that built the body's.

Mass production is where & when spray was developed. Ferrari's and the like were hand built, one at a time. Artisans, not tradesmen built these vehicles. Yes, I agree that these were some of the best paint jobs around. Times and technology have changed things forever. It is now cost prohibitive to do things like that now, and also the types & quality of paint & application have changed, for the better I think. Still, hand done pin stripping is still the best looking IMHO.

Later
Ugg

[JimmieD]

I'm still not convinced......

Were these pictures of actual street cars being painted with topcoat and destined for dealers, or damaged race cars? The Ferrari bodies were often hand built, especially by Touring, pounded out of flat aluminum sheet over mules. The undercoat around fender areas might be brushed on, or in trunk areas, but trunks were usually body color or other. Most often the chassis was shipped complete to the coachbuilder who took over from there. It might come back to Ferrari for final fitment of parts or tuning but other than that the body and paint was the coachbuilder's job. Most coachbuilders were justifiably proud of their show quality painting, destined for the premiere automobile in all the world. Many were painted in lacquer in several coats. Some body seam fillers might be brushed on where welds were made and then sanded down to level. Maybe this was what was shown in those pictures? It would be a dark grey, almost black.

[Ugg013]

Jimmie:

Nope, bright Flamin Red. Again, maybe I should have been more specific, saying that the text read something to the fact that as LATE as 1967, this was done by them. On their more exotic auto's ONLY (as in most expensive). It was a dying art back then, now completely dead. The 1968 models were all sprayed.

Think bro, all them royal type folk in Europe, riding around in those real flashy coaches, as in horse drawn. Those were all brush painted and not sprayed. Not to mention gold leaf, ect. No brush strokes visible in them. The same folk that built those coaches went on to do autos. Nope, my chain wasn't yanked on that. ;>)

Later
Ugg