There's so much more detail you can go into in this stuff.
Before the Model T assembly line in 1916, most manufacturers did something like 6 or 7 coats by hand because it was such thin, slow drying varnish. And to get that nice shiny enamel surface we are used to with hand brushes, they had to alternate the direction of the brushstrokes between every coat as well as sand it. In addition to time, this is a huge QC issue.
Part of the magic of the all-black Model T is that you can just dip parts that can be dipped, Japan parts that can be Japanned, and pour paint on parts that cannot. At final assembly they will all be matched up together without any mismatching paint jobs.
And we cannot understate how magical the introduction of asphaltum and naptha were to the paints. This was still pretty new technology then and the precursor to our modern petrochemical derived paints and even plastics. You could get thicker coats that dried faster. So paint could just be poured on and the surface tension would smooth the surface perfectly. And they were more durable because they produced a more flexible coat.
One of the innovations of the Dodge Brothers (that Ford later copied) was that by using more metal body components, not only do you save on labor (working with wood is much more skilled than running a metal press) but that metal can withstand the much faster oven-baked finishes.
Before the Model T assembly line in 1916, most manufacturers did something like 6 or 7 coats by hand because it was such thin, slow drying varnish. And to get that nice shiny enamel surface we are used to with hand brushes, they had to alternate the direction of the brushstrokes between every coat as well as sand it. In addition to time, this is a huge QC issue.
Part of the magic of the all-black Model T is that you can just dip parts that can be dipped, Japan parts that can be Japanned, and pour paint on parts that cannot. At final assembly they will all be matched up together without any mismatching paint jobs.
And we cannot understate how magical the introduction of asphaltum and naptha were to the paints. This was still pretty new technology then and the precursor to our modern petrochemical derived paints and even plastics. You could get thicker coats that dried faster. So paint could just be poured on and the surface tension would smooth the surface perfectly. And they were more durable because they produced a more flexible coat.
One of the innovations of the Dodge Brothers (that Ford later copied) was that by using more metal body components, not only do you save on labor (working with wood is much more skilled than running a metal press) but that metal can withstand the much faster oven-baked finishes.