VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions First Fords were not BLACK

I always heard that early Fords were always black even if the customer wanted another color, they were always black. Turns out that isn't true.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/10/16/world-oldest-ford-sells-for-264000/

Were there any early chevys that were not black?

Many old time car dudes are aware that the early Fords were not black.

Fords and many other makes had multiple colors until the production line speed exceeded the colored enamel paint drying time. Since black paint dried faster it was the option taken in order to increase production. The introduction of fast drying lacquer paints made colors again an option.

I guess I'm just to young.

I thought enamel paint was used up into the 60s.

Ford amd Chrysler products were enamel until the base coat/clear coat paints came along.
Chevrolet trucks were all enamel.
GM cars were lacquer from the mis '20's til the clear coat and various experimental paints came along in the early '80's.

They were and still are. Drying and curing agents were found to speed up the process. It was all spurred by the development of lacquer paint in 1920s by DuPont. "Necessity is the mother of invention".

This is the biggest line of BS that was ever perpetrated by idiots ever....that "Henry Ford said about the model "T" "any color as long as it is Black"... I have been a FORD Fan for many years (and not ashamed of it) The truth is 1-_Henry Never said that.
2-according to the official publication book by the Model T Ford Club Of America, after doing years of research and having total access to all of the Ford Co.files,They found only 1 (one) Model T that was delivered (special order) painted BLACK!!!!! They were available in many colors by special order.
The factory standard color was a deep dark BLUE that after exposure to the sun for a time tend to turn darker till it looked like black........Ed

WOW, I never knew that. I thought they were all black. Great post.
I bet I've heard that a dozen times on TV.


More info..

Colors

By 1918, half of all the cars in the US were Model T’s. However it was a monolithic bloc; Ford wrote in his autobiography that he told his management team in 1909 that in the future “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”.[21]

However, in the first years of production from 1908 to 1914, the Model T was not available in black[22] but rather only grey, green, blue, and red. Green was available for the touring cars, town cars, coupes, and Landaulets. Grey was only available for the town cars, and red only for the touring cars. By 1912, all cars were being painted midnight blue with black fenders. It was only in 1914 that the "any color so long as it is black" policy was finally implemented. It is often stated that Ford suggested the use of black from 1914 to 1926 due to the cheap cost and durability of black paint. During the lifetime production of the Model T, over 30 different types of black paint were used on various parts of the car.[23] These were formulated to satisfy the different means of applying the paint to the various parts, and had distinct drying times, depending on the part, paint, and method of drying.

The following is from the book, "My Life And Work" (copyright, 1922), which is an autobiography written by Henry Ford. On page 72, Henry Ford states:

"Therefore, in 1909 I announced one morning, without any previous warning, that in the future we were going to build only one model, that model would be the Model T and the chassis would be exactly the same for all cars, and I remarked: Any customer can have any car painted any colour that he wants as long as it is black."

Well If that's so....were did all the midnight blue T'S come from????... not to mention that the excepted authority on model T's is the Model T club of America..endorsed by Ford ??????..ED

My friends father had a 58 Chev and for some reason I seem to remember something about it being " baked enamel". The non black Fords thing is new to me, but I have seen a number of "T's" painted other colors, just thought it was owner preference.

Henry Ford made the Model T so he should be the foremost authority over anyone else regarding "any color as long as it is black". He is the man that said it in his own words in his autobiography.

"By 1912, all cars were being painted midnight blue with black fenders. It was only in 1914 that the "any color so long as it is black" policy was finally implemented. It is often stated that Ford suggested the use of black from 1914 to 1926 due to the cheap cost and durability of black paint. During the lifetime production of the Model T, over 30 different types of black paint were used on various parts of the car. These were formulated to satisfy the different means of applying the paint to the various parts, and had distinct drying times, depending on the part, paint, and method of drying."


The Evolution of Color in the American Automotive Industry by Jithin R. Veer
"From 1908 to 1914, Model T Fords were painted in a variety of 4 to 5 available colors. All colors of were of darker shades. Interestingly enough, black was not offered as a color initially. However, from 1914 to 1926, all Model T Fords were indeed painted black. The reason behind this color choice was purely economic: Ford wanted to produce the most number of automobiles in the least amount of time. Because black paint at the time was the least expensive and dried the fastest, black paint allowed Ford to produce a car in about 90 minutes … and satisfy the nation’s hunger for personal transportation at a relatively inexpensive price."


From the South Carolina Model T Ford Club:
"The 1909 models were carmine, 1910 models were a very dark green and about mid-way in 1911 Ford started using a very dark Midnight Blue which continued through 1912 and 1913. With the advent of the assembly line in late 1913 and early 1914, Ford finally switched to black until Dupont lacquer became available in the mid-twenties."



According to the Model T Ford Club of America, the Midinight Blue was only used from 1909 to 1914. (See Below)

The following colors were collected as a joint effort between the Model T Ford Club of America, and the Model T Ford Club International:
Body Colors
1909-14 Red
1909-14 Green
1909-14 Gray
1909-14 Blue
1915-1927 Black

All 1958 pASSENGER Cars were painted with lacquer.
At introduction time the Silver Blue and Snowcrest white colors were Lucite Acrylic lacquer. The remainder of the colors were conventional Duco lacquer. In April of 1958 the factories began changing over and all colors were acrylic lacquer.
Cars painted with acrylic has a caution sticker on the firewall warning the owner as to not polish the car before the first 90 days.
Acrylic was advertised as never needing waxing.
The first use of acrylic lacquer was in 1956. The silver and Imperial Ivory colors were acrylic. Those two colors were also available in 1957 and a new acrylic color was added, Dusk Pearl.
In 1959 all colors were acrylic right from the start.

The major advantage of Acrylic Lacquer is it could be "reflowed" with solvents in special ovens producing a flat shiny surface without buffing. Acrylic Enamels can also be softened and partially leveled with heat. Trucks were painted with enamel as it was tougher than lacquer.

urha, I'll agree

I have also heard (not verified) that the Ford spray painters carried a handfull of insects in their pockets so that if he miss painted something he could quickly put an insect in the paint and get paid to repair his mistake. Without the insect he would not get paid to repair.
Tony

I'd say if you got caught...you're FIRED !!

Steve the best thing about this post It got every person that jumped in to spell Ford "FORD" instead of some childish way that insinuates that they are too hate-full to even type the word like useing { F**D } or some other way to send a message that they are somehow "better" than the folks that have Ford's
I am positive that those early Ford owners love their car's just as much as we do. I also realize that there are Ford owners that hate Chevy owners also.
This reminds me of the post I made here awhile ago I named...(Cant we all get along)... that got real positive response with folks telling about the other cars they owned in their lifetime.>>>>>>>THANX ED

Thanks for the info Gene. Looks like after reading Chippers post perhaps some of that memory makes sense.

Great Post

I've owned everything from a 444Volvo to a Z-06 Corvette. I've tried alot of different brands. GM is my favorite brand but old Fords are really more popular and collectable. If money was not an option...I'd be driving BMWs. I bought them for years but they are so expensive to own I couldn't stay in the game. I think GM fits my budget much better. As far as Fords go, I've owned a 39 coach,40 coupe, 70 SCJ Torino, (3)F-150s, and a 82 Escort (Wifes car..hehe).