Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Uncle Joe]

An old friend, who used to work at a main Ford dealership in the 1960's and early 1970's tells me that especially the early Ford Cortina MkII's had paint keying problems due to the fact that for a short period, they used Water Based Paints (WBP).

Is there anyone that can confirm if this is true, or was it due to other reasons?

With the current debate, it would be interesting to know if this was true!

[admin]

Hi UJ

I remember being told that 140 Series Volvos of the early 70s (the ones with the rubber bumpers) had WBP for a while, and it didn't seem to key in too well. A few years ago I remember looking at an orange 145 and the paint was peeling off in great layers and it was going mighty rusty as a result, hopefully things have improved a bit since then!!!

PS yup I had a quick look at the attachment you emailed me the other day, I need to sit quiet and read it properly sometime as it was a bit mind boggling at first glance

PPS still not sure why your id doesn't allow polls etc

[buzzy bee]

Hi

I believe that some minis were painted with water base paint. Aslo I have been told that on some of the Coopers with the white roofs, you have to be carefull(not sure which ones, time period etc). The entire car was painted one colour and then the white roof was sprayed thinly over the top, so if you polish to hard the water based paint wears off to leave the base colour!

Probably not very interesting but thought I would mention it!

Cheers

Dave

[Uncle Joe]

I suppose that I should have remembered the Volvo paint problems - I see enough of them! It reminded me that the 300-series had the same problems.

If there is one thing that bothers me, its the fact that this will happen to todays WBP's. Only time will tell, but lets hope paint technology has improved since then.

On the paint we used, pot life is stated to be indefinate. I hope its better than the water based household paint I wanted to use the other day. When I opened the plastic can, the white paint was all brown, and smelled like a camels armpit!