Black A's were rare?

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by connecticut mike

Good evening,

The "Paint & Finish Guide" published by MAFCA reads on page 22 of the 3RD Edition, "Ford built bodies were rarely painted black."

Is this a correct statement? I think that I've seen more black A"s than other colors.

Mike

Ok, some folks have it figured out, however a little history makes it easier to understand what transpired. In the early days of Ford Motor company they used pigmented varnish as did the rest of the industry. This required days to cure for each of several coats. Not exactly cost effective!

Ford then came up with their black japan enamel (if I recall the nomenclature correctly) which could be quickly oven cured. This was done for about ten years when EVERY vehicle they produced was black. That means around ten million consecutive vehicles in black!!!

In the early 20's Dupont developed pyroxyline lacquer which was a fast drying paint with a variety of color pigments. As sales were declining Ford adopted the use of this new paint (in colors) for the 1926 and 1927 model years.

With the introduction of the NEW Ford for the 1928 model year it was clear Ford was still fighting the old stigma as "black" was omitted from their sales literature and never shown as an option for either the 1928 or 1929 model years. We do know several models were produced in black during that period as there are examples remaining today. What we don't know is if they were special ordered as such or if Ford randomly put them out there to test the waters.

It's very clear that black gained popularity since with the introduction of the new models in 1930 black was a color option for EVERY model. In fact with the introduction of the Deluxe Phaeton and Deluxe Roadster mid year they were released with only two options, one of which was black.

[85930tudor]

my late 31 tudor was black...Dave