In 1982, console mounted clocks were quartz units and had the word "QUARTZ" printed on the face, while the 80-81 years did not. In 1981, Corvettes were produced with two different types of paint. ... My caddy has lacquer paint (and its cracked on the top of the car/ front clip) But t the time lacquer was used because it wsa the best technology available. *** Lacquer is no longer available, and unfortunately many of the original Gibson automotive lacquer colors were not translated to the new low VOC paint formulas. These fall into a number of very different groups. This was the reason that the paint on all of them looked like crap towards the end...GM did not put any money in the paint shops at the factory as they knew they were killing those cars off. There is a reason GM stopped using them.. wookie: "the lacquer paint jobs back then lasted about 10 years. Last ones were for the 1988 model year (1987 for Buick G-Bodies, there were a few 1988 model year Chevy & Olds G-Bodies produced through December of 1987). GM didn't stop using lacquer until the early 1980's Solid colors were almost always single stage. Too many things can go wrong with paint, so give yourself an advantage by using … However I beleive the manufacturers stopped using lead in automotive paints much earlier. Acrylic lacquer was the primary paint formulation used by General Motors for the majority of the production years in which classic Corvettes were manufactured, serving until the early-'80s. Early 80s was the beginning of urethane." But you're right, to the best of my knowledge GM never used high solids enamels to any extent on their assembly lines. Or did they have a clear coat that went over them? Lead was used in Enamel paints. The term lacquer is used for a number of hard and potentially shiny finishes applied to materials such as wood or metal. I used to use lacquer on Corvettes in the 70's over Morton Eliminator 2K primer. Start your paint job right by picking a paint system and using it through the entire paintjob. Lacquer was applied at the St. Louis plant, and enamel was applied at the new Bowling Green plant. Definitely lacquer. Ford and Chrysler used almost exclusively high solids enamels in their paint assembly lines for many years. And never believe the myth about using lacquer primers under acrylic enamel or urethane paint. Morton paint Co.'s Eliminator is a very high build, dense polyester (as in fiberglass resin) based primer similar to Evercoat's Featherfill. This provided an excellent base for the lacquer, but we did use a lacquer sealer before the color was applied. Lacquer paint would not contain lead. FWIW - I've noticed metallic colors were converted to 2-stage before "solid" colors. There are some alternatives though. Lacquer setups.. spray cans.. etc.. they will last great in covered areas without salt etc.. like underbody or interior. In the U.S., the manufacturers switched from enamel to lacquer based paints in the mid 1970's. I worked at a GM dealership body shop in the early 1980's as we did a lot of base/clear acrylic lacquer. My '88 M3 and my '91 Ranger both have single-stage paint. As previously posted, different manufacturers started using two stage paint at different times but I think many manufacturers started switching in the mid-late 80's. Ocasionally metallics back in the day were single stage in laquer, but any custom work in metallic, candy, or pearl was al multi-stage. So for the most part were lacquer a single stage paint? Many manufacturers are in the process of changing over to water based paint. Technology available reason GM stopped using them.. wookie: `` the lacquer, but did... 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