Dave,
Having my XK120 coupe repainted BRG with 2 clear coats. I have the same concern
about the car looking too "wet" when it's done, and not having the more
friendly lacquer look. I went with modern paint technology because I have a
theory that as the finish ages it's going to develop some degree of softening
in the appearance of the gloss. Car should be done by end of '04. We did a 4"
by 8" test spray yesterday and I did notice that the dark color combined with
the clear coat gloss make the surface especially revealing of any waves or
imperfections so if you go BRG with clear, surface prep will have to be as good
as a black car.
I'm not a paint expert but have the following experiences with my cars:
1. Healey 100 painted Aston Martin racing green with clear coat. Excellent.
Looks outstanding. I love the car. The Ford 289 doesn't hurt either. No issue
with it being overglossy. I think the shop that did the paint (Gabe and Peter
at Highland Automotive in NY, great Healey shop) took pains to buff out the
clear coat so it's perfect without the hard gloss.
2. Porsche 356 painted silver with clear coat. This car wasn't touched after
the clear coat. It had the hard gloss for a while but thanks to some benign
neglect on my part it the hard gloss seems to have softened. I think it looks
better and more original now.
I did speak with an expert about clear coat and he indicated it is advisable if
there is any metallic look to the paint (so-called Healey blue, as well as
Aston Martin racing green and Porsche silver). He didn't think clear coat was
as important with true solid colors like BRG (same probably goes for basics
like white, red and so on). Sorry, I can't elaborate on what the reasoning was.
Good luck!
Dick Rowley
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