TABLE OF CONTENTS No repair to a vehicle is complete until it has been painted to match the rest of the vehicle and is rendered undetectable. This part of the operation is carried out by the spray painter, who must have a knowledge of the type of materials used in the repair shop in order to help him select the best process for refinishing the vehicle concerned. Nowadays the spray painter has the help of the paint manufacturers, who can supply him with literature to cover every painting process, but his predecessor, the coach painter, had to have a very solid understanding of the materials at his disposal.
As the term coach painting implies, this is a craft which dates back long before the days of the motor car. Reference is made to coach painting in the diary of Samuel Pepys, in which he makes mention of the buying and repairing of a second-hand horse-drawn carriage. The amount charged to him for the repainting was sixty pounds which, four hundred years ago, would be a fairly large sum of money. The time involved for the repainting was one month which, bearing in mind the type of paint used, was not unreasonable.
In those days the painter not only mixed his own colours but actually manufactured his own paints, using a pestle and mortar to grind the pigment and oil together. The choice of materials available was rather limited, but it is to the credit of the craftsmen of...
