Dave,
Cars used to be painted differently than they are now. I am not sure that
the entire car received a different color under a second color for a two
tone combination. Most were masked on line and painted with both colors.
Usually, applying thin coats of a different color over another will result
in a color shift and I wouldn't think they would have done that - not to
mention wasting paint.
When your DeSoto was built the body was painted separately and the front
fenders and hood were painted separately. The problem that arose from this
process was most noticeable on metallics because the fenders were hung at a
different angle than the body and the guys with the spray guns would shoot
side to side as they did on the bodies. Same thing for the hood. What
happened was that the pigments would orient to the surface and dry at the
angle of impact.
When the cars were finally assembled and brought into daylight, slight miss
matches were noticeable in color but with metallics it sometimes looked like
a totally different color! The fact that the paint itself wasn't mixed by
computer formulae but instead by a master painter also contributed to color
variation.
In the late 50s changes were made improving the process and today most all
of those problems have been eliminated. Modern paint cells with robotized
guns, exact paint formula mixing by computer and new paints have all
helped. All surfaces of a vehicle today are sprayed at the same angle of
impact so that light will reflect the same and thus give you a consistent
color.
What you are now seeing is the effect of over 40 years of fading on surfaces
that were exposed to the daylight at different angles as well as originally
being applied at different angles. I see the same thing on my 57 Dodges and
on most other original paint from the era.
Brian
D500s in MI
Dave Stragand wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I'm trying to determine something on my DeSoto.
>
> If I understand correctly, the cabs of the cars on the assembly line
> would be painted entirely in the lighter color first, then the darker
> color would be sprayed over it. Therefore, when the cab of the car met
> the front fenders and hood, those components would be painted just the
> darker color over primer, correct? That is to say, they probably did
> not paint the fenders to "match" the possible two-tone combinations.
>
> I'm asking because the front fenders and hood of my '59 have a slightly
> different/duller/lighter color than the rest of the car. The previous
> and only owner swears that there was never any damage to the front (it
> was tapped in the rear, but fixed with MoPar metal right at the dealer).
>
> Does anyone have any insight into this?
>
> -Dave
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