Nitrocellulose lacquer I believe was invented by a Dupont chemist for use on fabric airplane wings during WWI. Later, after the war, the technology was shared with automobiles. Lacquer allowed for a larger pallet of colors, that dried much faster then the previous enamels. Lacquer could be sprayed from a paint gun, which meant immigrants coming into automobile plants could learn to spray paints, and the painters union of skilled "brush artists" collapsed. GM was one of the first to use this new lacquer from Dupont, called Duco, with a color called "true blue," which was a silvery, bluish color. This is what Henry Ford was troubled with, in that he was cranking out production, but the painting process was taking too long. He would send is cars through baking cycles, (like bicycle manufactureres) and this would allow the enamel paint to dry faster. Henry had to make sure that the baking ovens were not too hot, as it would damage the bodies containing wood. "We will need a roof over Detroit," was a common quote of the early days as paint productivity was a slow process. Prior to spraying nitrocellulose, enamels were applied with a badger fur brush, at right angels to each other. Several coats had to be applied, and the "lice," dust as we call it was sanded out with pumice stone. Men would often apply these finished in a large tiled room, much like a bathroom, and rub there chests down with linseed oil, as they would be shirtless to keep the dust to a minimum. The wealthier people would often have two car bodies, one being refurbished, and the other on the chassis of the car they were using. Finishes would often dull quickly from uv, rain and bird droppings. Weathly people would have the freshly painted body put on the chassis and be other there way, so they wouldn't have to wait for the body to be refurbished. Many of the earlier coatings were black, as the pigment contained Gilsonite, extracted from coal. Gilsonite was a natural uv inhibitor, and would often last longer then other selected colors. Besides brushinig, car parts would be dipped in a vat, using a process called jappening. Dodge brothers, as well as other companies used this process for many of their parts. Often smaller parts, radiator shells, etc were dipped in paint, using this jappening process. " Any color as long as it's black" We can see why Ford said this as black lasted longer, and made more sense during early production years. Lacquer and enamel, be it nitrocellulose, then acrylic lacquer or enamel have been used for years. As we know manufacturers rely on water-based technology for car finishes. But GM did use a dispersion type lacquer up through the 1980's. But back in the day, enamel was considered more durable then lacquer, required fewer coats, BUT took longer to dry.
