Digital Clothing for Your Car

Gizmag reports that an Autralian promotional company named Decently Exposed, has developed a product named Auto Skins. It is a digital skin for your car. The skin costs between $US1500 to $US3000 depending on the size of the car.
They have been used not only for artistic impression but also for advertising. McDonalds, Coca Cola, Nokia and AustraliaÂ’s largest fleet, that of AustraliaÂ’s telco giant Telstra.
The AutoSkin has the double advantage of forming a protective coating which can be stripped off to reveal the original, as-new unblemished paint the car came with.




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Nissan paint that doesn't scratch

There is a story on the Pysorg.com site that announced a new non scratch paint form Nissan.

"The Japanese automaker said the paint contains a newly developed resin that can stop scratches from marking the car's outer layer."

Now I can almost imagine a resin that would do that but there is always a trade off as Dom Palon keeps reminding me. What would a resin like this trade away, color life, fade resistance, how well would it stand up to chemicals. There is also one other little thing about the story they show a scratched hood when you photoshop a photo you can usually tell what the original photo was in this case it was a Chrysler Town and Country. We'll wait and see.

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The Worst Cars of all Time

I like lists. I came upon Dan Lienert article on the Forbes web site a list of the all time worst cars. Some of the cars on the list would be on anybodies list the Yugo is there and the Fiat Strada. Also the Ford Pinto, The Chevy Vega and the AMC Gremlin. There's also the 1983-1989 Ford Bronco II this is the one that defined "prone to rollover"and the 1979-1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 remember that one General Motors tried to convert standard gasoline to diesel. Probably the worst car of all time was the 1957-1962 Sachsenring Trabant P50 this little gem was made in East Germany and I am told everyone of them smoked coming right out of the factory. The thing is for every bad car, and I can think of a couple that are not on the list, there is an internet tribute page or a car club that honors or collects them. To view the whole list go to the Forbes The Worst Cars Of All Time and place your vote


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The Colors of the Future

Dee-Ann Durbin of the Associated Press reported in the San Diago Union Tribune on future color trends.

"Blue will get more popular in the next four years as more dramatic shades are introduced, such as watery blue-greens and smoky lilacs. Yellows and oranges will get richer and warmer. Reds will glow in deep shades of cranberry and wine, and dark brown will make a comeback."

This year PPG is showing 130 new colors for the auto makers to consider

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The Colors We Buy Now

Worldwide new car sales
34% silver
14.4% white
12.7 blue
11% black
Red, green, beige and other shades with less than 10 %. But new colors are on the way.
More on that tommorow.



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How much higher will paint prices go?

Mark Johnson of the Automotive Body Repair News interviewed officials of Dupont,BASF and Sherwin Williams and indicated that the price of paint could rise 25 percent. Now this is no surprise what also is no surprise is that the one insurance company that responded felt that was not their problem. Where does that leave the folks that fix wrecked cars well squeezed in the middle of coarse.




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