Flat paint trend???

I am well aware of the trend in flat black. I did my first one about 12-14 years ago. I am starting to see more colors being used...mostly basic colors like blue. What I am predicting is that metallics will become somewhat popular, using a flat clear on top.

Even with the flat finish hiding some of the radiance, it is still the sort of thing that grabs your attention. If you have ever color sanded a high metallic job, like gold, that is the appearance it has. I am sure it will increase, but the question is when? When I think about these things, I am sometimes 10-15 ahead of the trends. I don't think this will take that long, but....

I have seen one or two "flat metallic" jobs over the last 3 years, but none here in Tucson yet. Has anyone else seen a car done this way? I'm just curious whether it's increasing.

If not, then it may be a while, until one good example comes to national attention.

I'v seen a few.. flat purples, flat blues.. with my ratrod, it will be painted with a flattened color when I get to that point.. I'm thinking AMC Big Bad Green.

I can see the metallics being used the same way as the others, with pinstriping....scallops....primitive flames....bomber or pinup art. It would just be another step for the flat paint trend

I just did a 72 Chevy pick up in Viper GTS Blue (color code PBE) with a flattened clear over it.....I hate it, customer loves it.....Who am I to argue :rolleyes:



Bill S.

I usually tell people that there is no "right" or "wrong" in art. It is just whatever you like.

If we all liked the same thing, we would build one kind of car.... all the same color.... same engine.... same wheels.... same everything!

Imagine what the TV shows would be like? They would have to throw different temper tantrums to make you tune in twice!

Besides that....if he "loved it" you are more likely to get a tip. :-)

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Originally Posted by HOTRODPAINT

I am well aware of the trend in flat black. I did my first one about 12-14 years ago. I am starting to see more colors being used...mostly basic colors like blue. What I am predicting is that metallics will become somewhat popular, using a flat clear on top.

Even with the flat finish hiding some of the radiance, it is still the sort of thing that grabs your attention. If you have ever color sanded a high metallic job, like gold, that is the appearance it has. I am sure it will increase, but the question is when? When I think about these things, I am sometimes 10-15 ahead of the trends. I don't think this will take that long, but....

I have seen one or two "flat metallic" jobs over the last 3 years, but none here in Tucson yet. Has anyone else seen a car done this way? I'm just curious whether it's increasing.

If not, then it may be a while, until one good example comes to national attention.

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It has reached down here a year or three back,,we have about a half dozen flat metallics on various cars,flat metallic blue on a 50 Merc semi custom..etc..will find some pix later..interesting combos..:cool:

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Originally Posted by lamin8r

It has reached down here a year or three back,,we have about a half dozen flat metallics on various cars,flat metallic blue on a 50 Merc semi custom..etc..will find some pix later..interesting combos..:cool:

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Sounds like you are ahead of us on this one! :-)

hmmmmm. looks like another "trend" I'll have to pass on......

Eventually we'll get from the forties...to the '50s... then back to the '60s, which was my era! :-)~

While I am hired to help achieve everyone else's goal...if it was up to me, I'd go red, 5-spokes, big meats, tach on the dash, solid lifters and a 4-speed!

There you go! My kind of thinking for sure. We must be from the same age!

61 ....but only on the outside! :-)

Well Hot rod Flatz is now offering 20 diff metallic and pearl flattened colors in addition to their list of non metallics. I will be ready for paint in a month or 2, have been considering going that way. considering, but definatly not decided

Trends seem to come and go in some kind of circle. The "Flat" paint has been around to some small degree for awhile now. I can't help but believe ,personally, that at some point it will go full cirle as well and be just another "Fad" or trend. Maybe, maybe not time will tell. I am also quite certain, personally, that the only trend that is not a trend at all is "Shiny". Gloss colors have always been with us sense Henry started rolling his first assembly line.

I usually don't care for the newest and most popular trend of the week, and this "Flat" paint trend is no exception, personally. I am happy however that this "Flat" thing is around, makes the gloss cars look that much better....

Roland

how about a new trend .... mile deep black paint... whats old is new again hard to beat solid colors

I'm waiting for the lace paint to reappear as a trend...and leisure suits! :eek:

Hey paint! I turned 61 today LOL! I always liked the laced look-I have thought about doing a retro looking car like that.

I am also a fan of "gloss", but I think I have a conflict. I like to see something that is not the same "rubber stamp" style that I have looked at since 1958, when I got interested.... but I do like them based on a traditional look.

I just finished a '40 Ford coupe that is flamed in classic shapes, but with a "twist" that I haven't seen done before. The guy won't let me show it yet, but his few friends (who are my age) :-) seem to really like the it!

I think that a car loses some of the individuality, that hot rods should have, if they look exactly like the "black '32 roadster with red interior and Torqthrust wheels" that have seen at least 300-400 times. I believed the idea was to personalize the cars. {:-(

I guess I am different than most enthusiasts, as I work for others, and have to try to understand what THEIR vision for the project is. The "game" now is to take the ideas they have, and do the best I can to make it attractive to all who see it. If I was painting my own cars, the schemes would be much more limited by my own preferences.

I have enjoyed the flat paints for that "variety" they have brought, but it will become too common, and people will lose interest. That was my reason for this thread....to see if I was sensing a new direction in flat paints?

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Originally Posted by ohekk

I'm waiting for the lace paint to reappear as a trend...and leisure suits! :eek:

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Lace will be back! When the 'flake shows up, lace will not be too far behind.

....I just hope you are wrong about leisure suits! Hey! ....How about a leisure suit with an "Iskenderian Cams" logo embroidered on the back?

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Originally Posted by HOTRODPAINT

Lace will be back! When the 'flake shows up, lace will not be too far behind.

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It's funny you mention flake, on the way to the shop this morning I got stopped behind an old school mid 60's Ford panel van painted in the heaviest flake I've seen in a long time. Most likely a new Planet Color tri stage from the looks of it.....Makes me think I need to do something really funky when I finish welding the patch panels in my shop plow truck (87 F250 4X4 beater) this spring.....I'm thinking maybe PCLD2 over PC2710 out of their Sweet Tones collection of colors. Think of it as a old school flake in a tri stage deep red pearl........



Bill S.

How's this for flat?
My opinion is it's still got "the look"

That works well with the 40s-50s look, which obviously this one has! Nice job.

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Originally Posted by mrmustang

Think of it as a old school flake in a tri stage deep red pearl........ Bill S.

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Deep reds are my personal favorite. That would give it an exciting but sinister look, and it would look "bigger than life" in 'flake!

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Originally Posted by bigdude

Hey paint! I turned 61 today LOL! I always liked the laced look-I have thought about doing a retro looking car like that.

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I did a lot of lace in the '70s, then in the '90s on Harleys...but it was things like spider web patterns, and abstract patterns. I figured that painting flowered lace all over their bikes would get me "snuffed". :-)~

I still buy lace and curtain materials, whenever mama drags me to JoAnn's. I found out that lace patterns are usually on the market for 3-6 months then they are gone. However, you CAN always buy "chantilly lace" which is one of the most classic paint patterns.

I also would like to see the seventies stuff come back, like 'flake, the psychedelics on album covers, and some of the other stuff like "fish scales", "endless line", "freak drops", "panel paint", and so on. It was more popular on drag cars and bikes, than on rods, but it would be fun, and get lots of attention.

I want to do the flat paint on my rat rod because I know I'm not going to get the body work 100%, but I do want it painted in color. all in all it will be quite unique

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Originally Posted by Matt167

I want to do the flat paint on my rat rod because I know I'm not going to get the body work 100%, but I do want it painted in color. all in all it will be quite unique

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I like the sound of that flat purple you mentioned. :-)

I just finished painting a "bobber" style chopper for my nephew painted in flat black with the tin's Olive Drab Green and a flat white star on the sides of the tank. It looks WWII which is what he wanted. He is currently in the army in Alaska and will be done in October. It's not my style... but a chopper done in a WWII style did turn out pretty good. In work like this, it's his cycle and he wanted it this way.
Jerome

It sounds like a nice approach, and you are right about it being his bike, and should make him happy.

I have seen painters take a person's idea, and change it so much it isn't recognizeable. I try to do the opposite, by trying to get the kind of look they see in their mind.

I do concept drawings for people outside Arizona, so I don't get to spray them. I guess some painters have to "make it their own design", so I always have to warn the builder that they need to impress on the painter that it should look... "a little bit like the drawing they provided". {:-)

I'm getting ready for paint on my 47. I'm torn between going gloss or flat. thinking or sour apple metallic. then using a flat clear. whhat are the pro's and cons of flat vs gloss? if this going to hijac a thread, I'll repost as it's own. thanks.

Flat Vs. gloss... These are only my own experiences and opinions. :-)


When using flat paint:

Using primers results in rapid fading. I've seen black epoxy turn gray with white steaks in 2-3 years. They were never meant to be exposed to light permanently. I recommend catalyzed urethene.... either a single-stage with flattener added.... or you can add flattener to the final clear coat on a two or three stage job. The single-stage job below still looks good after about 12 years.

Full-flat finishes tend to be more "even" than semigloss, which can look "splotchy".

If you get a scatch, you cannot polish it out.

Some people complain about finger prints being highly visible.

It should be a little less expensive, as the bodywork can be less perfect, and you skip the sanding and buffing part of the job.

They are currently popular, but the black has been overdone for about five years, and is due to be "out of style" in a few more.

HotRodPaint
So true on individuality and taste. Every once in a while someone really gets it wrong! In High School, one of the quieter kids built up a 72 Firebird. Really nice car. He must of had cash, because everything was the high end stuff for the 70's era. One day he came to school with it after painting it. It was a creamy pastel purple, with a bright green shamrock clover painted in the center of the hood. The purple itself sort of emasculated the car, but what was worse was the contrast of the pastel purple, with the primary solid green clover.
Like you say to each their own. I'll stick to the basic solids for right now, and paint my truck candy apple red.

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Originally Posted by stovens

HotRodPaint
So true on individuality and taste. Every once in a while someone really gets it wrong! In High School, one of the quieter kids built up a 72 Firebird. Really nice car. He must of had cash, because everything was the high end stuff for the 70's era. One day he came to school with it after painting it. It was a creamy pastel purple, with a bright green shamrock clover painted in the center of the hood. The purple itself sort of emasculated the car, but what was worse was the contrast of the pastel purple, with the primary solid green clover.
Like you say to each their own. I'll stick to the basic solids for right now, and paint my truck candy apple red.

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One of the dangers in purple is that light colors look feminin, and darker shades look masculin. Most people dont' realize it until too late! {:-(

well you say black is over done ?? but its not a fad. like them colors that guys were putting on there cars in the 80s and 90s.there are now like a bad tatoo :) i will still walk up to a black car at a car show to look it over .a good well done black paint job is for me aways nice to look at .but not so much fun keeping clean :(

Pat, Can I assume you mean gloss black? I was talking about flat black being a fad.

Gloss black is classic....and one of the hardest to do! It also screams "bad!" To me...a child who was a teenager during the sixties...gloss black is near the top of the heap.

Black will always be in. That's why they are trying to ban it on New cars in California!:LOL: Seriously it's about the "heat", but it really is rediculous just how far we have come, to ban black cars. I bet if it was a Prius it would be exempt!
Seriously though black is classic and always will be. From a painting standpoint, I imagine it is the hardest color because it shows all the body flaws, from a cleaning standpoint it is a pain because it shows dirt the most, but from a classy look, it's the best, especially with a nice flame job!:3dSMILE:

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Originally Posted by lamin8r

It has reached down here a year or three back,,we have about a half dozen flat metallics on various cars,flat metallic blue on a 50 Merc semi custom..etc..will find some pix later..interesting combos..:cool:

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Heres a pic of the Merc...The Pontiac was actually done in America before it found its way down here..I have some other pix somewhere,,still lookin..

These others are just non metallics,but the T Birds roof is flake,I just like the concept.

OOps stuffed that up..pix too big, and too dumb to pull them and resize them....:confused:

what is teh shade of blue on the merc?

lamin8r, thanks for the pictures! I do expect to have more requests for flat colors, so now I can have a way of showing people the result.

The person with the yellow-green panel is pretty brave, but it looks better than I would have imagined.

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Originally Posted by tudorkeith

what is teh shade of blue on the merc?

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tudorkeith,that is a Lexus shade,might even be able to give you the paint code in a few days,as I might see him this weekend..