Now that we’ve all survived Toyota Week, it’s time to unleash all that big American iron shot in the past week or two. Yes, flat black is way too common. I can be a real idiot when it comes to popular fads and such, but I assume it’s evoking the time when guys couldn’t afford to get their older cars painted, and just sprayed them with several cans worth of dark gray/black primer. Yes; that was rather common back in the day. First things first: the ’56 Chevy got a cam and four-barrel, or even a later 283, and some dual pipes, and some longer rear spring shackles. And a coat of flat primer, while endlessly imagining it in candy apple red metal flake. Of course, nobody’s imagining that anymore; the only thing that comes after flat black paint is…the crusher. Or am I missing something?
My understanding is that the flat black thing is a side venue of a reaction against custom cars.
The boomers started overdoing modern customs so much, that there’s a school where you’re trying to recreate what the custom crazy teenagers were actually driving back in 1962. 40’s and 50’s cars, usually works in progress (and shown that way), no chromed wheels or mags (back then moons were about as far as it went), MANUAL TRANSMISSIONS (no mandatory automatic) often coupled with the original or at least period correct engine.
The black primer look was very common, as back in the day lots of kids were spending enough money just to keep their hot rod running, and it seemed like every time they saved enough money for the paint job, something else major broke.
Obviously, to a certain extent, the black primer look has caught on to cars that don’t fit into the “traditional customizing” venue.
Best Bogan Blak along with a silver fern our national colours Our world beating Rugby team is called the All Blacks because of our sports colours, maybe this guy has painted the car with a view to emigration and taking it with him. Very popular shade of etch prime here.
In the tunertastic mid-00s I saw a few teenagers driving flat black Civics, and assumed the factory paint was plum purple or a similarly unfashionable early ’90s color.
Never liked the primer look, always thought there should be a cheap alternative to the high dollar paint jobs that still made the car look more “finished.” Even rustoleum automotive enamel put on with spray cans, a steady hand, and a decent masking job looks better than plain old primer.
Nothing looks worse than spraycan paint jobs they do not atomise the paint and you get a rough finish.
I think a lot of the flat-black look comes from plasti-dip which seems to be a popular new cover-up. In fact, the LTD almost looks as though it were “dipped”
Throughout the 60s/70’s, Hot Rodders would paint their beaters ‘primer gray/black’. Was an anti-status symbol, meant it was a project car; in process of ‘souping it up’. Along with loud mufflers and jacked up rear ends.
By the late 80s it was seen as tacky and dated, now maybe back?
When I was in high school in the late ’70s, we always said “He’s workin’ on it” when we saw a car in primer (whole or in part).
Rat rod ?
Having been in Oregon nearly a month these cars are become background fodder where before I used to briefly stare at them. At least they add to the diversity of the roads.
I agree, kind of. This being an 80s car, this guy is plainly saving up for a fartcan muffler and neon lights to go under the thing. Unfortunately, his grandma never owned a Honda Civic, so he is having to make do with an old Panther. At least it has an operating cassette deck, so he can put the windows down and blast some 80s metal. 🙂
Hate the black primer look, but at least the vinyl roof appears to be in good condition. I love these 2-door Grand Marquis though, especially the earlier Panther ones with the 2 side air vents on either side, that this one sadly doesn’t have.
Not only is the roof in good condition, it actually has at least two matching wire wheel covers! Fancy!
Flat black carbon fiber is very cool now. Rice racers sport unpainted carbon fiber hoods. A few have taken it all the way to a fully carbon fiber body (link).
No one thinks this is a carbon fiber Grand Marquis (!), but flat black has become cooler than it was, and maybe carbon fiber is part of the fad.
I don’t get the flat black thing. Sorry if anyone reading this has one on their car, it just doesn’t compute with me. My understanding is that it used to be a means to an end, and that “end” would eventually be (with a little luck and money) a finished car. It looked cool on rat rods 10 years ago, but when it started showing up on 90’s Civics and Panthers!!!, it got to be a little too cheesy for me. I actually saw a new Audi A8 recently that had a flat black finish–on a $100k car. Seriously, the guy should have saved his money and bought an old Nissan 240SX instead. I can’t help but think that it will destroy the resale value even faster than a purple paint job would.
Actually a lot of the higher end cars can now be ordered with flat or satin paint for an extra charge so if it is the OE paint job in theory it should command more than a shiny version. Of course in a couple of years that won’t be the style so you are most likely right that it will hurt the resale value in the long run.
The other possibility is that the car has been “dipped”, something else that is popular nowadays which can be pulled off.
A couple of weeks ago I saw a new Mercedes with the satin black paint and Texas plates on it seems like it would be just a touch on the hot side in that climate.
I was going to bring up the factory flat black thing that some makers are offering.
And if you read up on that kind of paint, it takes special care to keep it up.
And I’m in the camp that if you gotta go black, make it durable, shiny black paint, please, preferably straight black with clear coat thankyouverymuch.
I happen to have the metallic black called Mica Black by Mazda if I recall on my P5, and while it’s not the color I’d have chosen when it was new, it works on this car so I don’t mind.
Flat black doesn’t work well in the south although you do see a lot of it. One thing I would love to try is monstaliner with a reflective color for the top. Your wax job then is simple wipe on armorall. Particularly good if you are driving in a bunch of brush.
Black is beautiful – very popular on Mercedes-Benz G63s, although I’ve seen everything from beaters to Lamborghinis done like this. I suspect that some NBA player or R&B singer is responsible for the current popularity of flat black paintjobs, but I still like it. Kind of a big “fuck you” to everything glossy and flashy regardless of whether it’s trendy or not. Rice rockets with carbon fiber hoods go back a long ways – at least to the mid-90s – and I seem to recall seeing lots of Japanese market “tuner cars” (Mugen, TRD, etc.) sporting them in magazines back then. I’m not into that look at all – or the prevalence of carbon fiber interior pieces. Paint that shit, it looks goofy! I do think, however, if anyone is seeing lowered Civics and whatnot in primer, most are probably painted that way for the same reason Tri-5 Chevies were in the 70s.
Busy day at work so have not checked site much today, but 2 cars similar to former cars of mine. My second car was a 71 Plymouth Fury Gran Coupe similar to Brendan’s feature car this morning except mine was a 2 door in blue with a Black Vinyl Roof with the Hideaway Headlights. Then this car is similar to car # 4. A 1979 Mercury Marquis Brougham Coupe. Mine was Medium Red Glamour Coat with a White half Vinyl Roof. The flat black looks hideous on an MGM. A neighbors son painted his jeep in something similar but I think the flat black is somewhat rubberized and he can peel it off when he tires of it.
That would be “dipping” your car, with plasti-dip spray. Peels right off. Great if you want to do something nefarious and you’ve got a flashy or even not so flashy car.
When I first heard of “dipping” it was a few years ago where people would spray the flat black as sort of a barrier layer and top coat with some other glossy rattle canned color. Now,I like that particular use of plasti-dip, since with wheels and trim pieces and such, it allows you to change things to your liking without screwing up expensive parts forever(as you said it just peels away like a decal). Of course now people are just lazy and think the flat black looks cool… Yuck.
The funny thing is on forums where a plasti-dip topic will pop up, there’s condescending attitude between spray-can plasti-dip users and spray-gun plasti-dip users. As if it doesn’t look like crap either way. The latter always baffled me since they clearly have the equipment to properly paint a car, yet opt for $300 worth of what is essentially temporary paint.
A lot of the later panthers(1992-2011 body styles) in the MD/VA/DC/PA are sprayed flat black simply because they were ex police cars and some jurisdictions have issues about ex police cars being owned by the general public with the colors or logos of the police department they were from. Hence the quick spray and drive. A lot of old taxi’s get this treatment after being cashiered out of livery service.
As for the flat black look outside the Panther cars, that seems to evoke a Honda from the 1980’s to 1990’s(such as 1990’s Civics) which also have a large fart can and a tow hook on the front bumper along with upside down bleacher seat attached to the trunk as a crude spoiler(as if a spoiler is going to help a car that only got 80HP)
In the mentioned Panther in the picture, the owner took pains to preserve the vinyl half roof so maybe it is just primer and it will be getting painted? Or maybe it is hipster ironic?