1980
HOT ROD regularly does editorial pieces on paint and body, and they consistently rank among the most popular stories with readers. Stories that show tips and tricks help persuade people to try and do it themselves-if not a complete paint job, at least one or two aspects of it. Of course, to really tell the story requires a lot of space, hence the 22 pages on the subject in this issue.
Then there are quickie overviews, such as what HOT ROD's Bruce Caldwell did for the July '80 issue. To kick off that issue's "How To Paint Your Car" series of stories (and to provide a wild cover car), Caldwell had legendary custom painter Bill Carter work his magic and transform a beater '70 SS 396 Camaro into one of the most recognizable cover cars of the decade. The story barely showed any of the bodywork and provided only minimal information about how to actually paint the car, but it did show how Carter went about the process of laying down his wild graphics and offered some insight into the materials he used.
This photo is an outtake from the cover shoot by Pat Brollier. The Camaro is still rolling around Southern California with what appears to be the same paint job that Carter laid on it 28 years ago, which is even more surprising since he used acrylic lacquer. It's now a back-halved race car, but just as stunning and crowd-pleasing as it was all those years ago.
-Rob Kinnan