MTFCA Forum

If you ever wondered what the factory paint looked like well here you go! These were found in the rafters in an attic where I have found a lot of NOS parts. Obviously original paint and never been bolted on.

Don

you simply find the most interesting/amazing stuff!

It finds me most of the time!

This is an example for the next person who says that the cars weren't shiny off the assembly line!

All of them were not shiney off the line.

Tom Rootlieb shared this one just today under the thread titled "Zoom-Zoom"!
This one is a late 1917 or very early 1918. Note the horn button.
I think most of the new model Ts were pretty shiny right off the assembly lines from 1914 through 1925. Earlier brass era colors were also rather shiny, but maybe a bit less so. And some of the new type paints used 1926/'27 had a bit less shine to them.
The "black era" model Ts did however fade sometimes funky. Different parts of the cars used slightly different paints and drying processes. This resulted in their fading unevenly. sometimes, photos can be seen some sections of the car looking bright and new, while other areas a dull and gray.

I think the overall Model T paint was was pretty shiny for a while. After a month or so in the weather and maybe being washed and dried off a few times that’s when the sheen started to change unless the owners may or may not have used some type of polish on it. There weren’t many if at all black top roads either. After a few years in the country a quick wash job may have been in the rain. The paint by that time was pretty much dulled out.
We tend to think in todays terms about how the paint was but in the teens and twenties it wasn’t the same as the paint is today. My opinion of course.