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Evans---Legendary Hot Rodder Demonstrates Blending Techniques |
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Written by Rich Evans
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Friday, 03 October 2008 |
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Page 1 of 2 A couple of weeks back I had the opportunity to host a workshop“The First Ever Auto Painting Workshop with Gene Winfield,” sponsored by The College for Appraisers, Alsa Paints, and DeVilbiss Automotive. It was a great time hosting and watching a master at work—Winfield, my good friend and mentor. I’ve learned a lot from Gene and been fortunate enough to receive his skills and experience on some of our Huntington Beach Bodyworks builds. What’s really amazing is that Gene just turned 81 years old and shows no sign of slowing down.
Winfield was born in Springfield, Missouri in 1927. His family moved to Modesto, California when Gene was only 18 months old. In 1946, after returning from World War II in Europe, Gene began working on cars in the back of his mother’s house, in a converted chicken coop. The first car to ever be modified in that chicken coop—a 1941 Plymouth—belonged to his brother Frank.
In the 1950s, with World War II finally in the rear view mirror, the American Hot Rod scene exploded. Around this time customs and hot rod building changed from a simple hobby into an art form. It was this new era and medium that gave birth to legendary artists, including the great George Barris. During this era, Gene Winfield really came into his own as a hardcore hot rodder and sought after custom car builder.
Although Gene has taught many workshops all across the country and abroad, this was the very first time he ever taught a custom automotive painting workshop. This is surprising to me, because Winfield is credited with the creation of the “blended paint job,” which was the main focus of this particular workshop.
Winfield brought in a 1962 Cadillac Coupe Deville convertible to prep, paint, and teach his techniques to the participants. It was really cool that for the first time ever, we lucky few got to learn by watching Gene paint one of his famous blended paint schemes.
His blended paint job consists of blending two or more kandies together. Usually there’s some black basecoat blended and some other color or pearl to go with it. Gene first came up with this painting technique in 1957 when experimenting with blending a couple of kandies together. Gene’s crown jewel is the Jade Idol. It received world recognition and best represents the blended paint technique.
Getting back to our Caddy, Gene began by spraying three good coats of yellowish sealer. Since the metal was in pretty good shape, no Polyprimer was needed. After the Caddy was pushed into the booth, Gene sprayed it with several coats of House of Kolor Solar Gold basecoat, followed by several different mixtures of House of Kolor Apple Red Kandy concentrate. Kandy concentrate is mixed together with House of Kolor’s SG100 intercoat clear and a medium to slow reducer.
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