HOTRODPAINT - You and I are about the same age and from the same general region of the U.S.:rolleyes: I am just a few months past my 60th birthday and I was born and raised in central Indiana. The first 'flake job I ever saw was a green '63 Pontiac convertible at a custom car show in Indianapolis in 1963... I started learning body and paint work in '65 working in my cousin's body shop. He did a couple of 'flake jobs while I was working for him (I got to do a lot of the sanding:( ) and I used to dabble with the leftovers. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was painting cars at home in my dad's garage (just simple stuff; no custom paint yet). As I recall, when the all-over 'flake jobs started to lose popularity in the late 1960's, I started seeing it more and more on custom bikes. My wife and I bought our first house in 1973 and, since I finally had my own garage, I started doing some custom painting.:cool: 'Flake was still being used quite a bit on custom cars in panel paint, flames, and scallops (I even did a few of those flame and scallop jobs myself.); it was still used in all-over jobs, too, just not as much. I seem to remember a silver 'flake Roadrunner and a green 'flake Corvette roaming the south side of Indy in the early '70's. I guess my point is, as far as I can remember, it's been in use continuously ever since its introduction, but like most things, the popularity ebbs and flows.:3dSMILE:
I haven't done any 'flake in over 20 years. We were still using lacquer in those days. It went something like this: Put on a base coat color that matches the 'flake; mix the 'flake with clear & spray two or more wet coats to achieve hiding & let dry; cover with 3 wet coats of clear; let dry & sand, careful not to hit the flakes; apply 2 or 3 more coats of clear; let dry & sand again; repeat as necessary to get smooth; buff and polish.:whacked:
How do you do it with the modern urethanes?:confused: I think I would like to try it again sometime...