Man, I'm a dinosaur when it comes to building cars and I gave up on lacquer 15 years ago. With all the new products out, it's a blast experimenting with different colors, hues, translucents, tinted clear coats, pearls, etc. No way I would want to go back to having to paint everything black just so people thought you knew how to build a car. I'm sure I could still do it all "the old way", but why?? It is so limiting on what you can actually do if you allow yourself to be caught up in the trap that the old ways are the best ways. Hot rods are a form of expression, if I was to have kept building nothing but black cars with flatheads I sure as heck would have missed out on a bunch of really kewl innovations that have come down the pike in the last 30 years !!!!!!!