A gas tank paint

[Ned Hamlin]

Our painter painted the gas tank on our '58 T2 Speedster gloss black, after claiming that the underside shows original gloss black. Am I right in insisting that it is supposed to be satin black? It really looks funny in gloss.
Thanks.

[Martin Benade]

I think it should be somewhere in between. It’s hard to communicate what exactly that is though.

[Rick Johnson]

My 1956 T1 Speedster was restored by John Willhoit in 2000 and the gas tank is closer to gloss black than satin black. It's definitely shiny. Also, Brett's book states the 356 fuel tanks were painted low gloss black.

Rick

[Mike Wilson]

Sounds like your painter could use gloss black with a flattener.

Mike

[David M Patrick]

Shoot some semi gloss clear on it. That may get the sheen you are looking for. Try it on the bottom first.

[Jules Dielen]

don't forget to put some fuel proof paint around the filler opening or you will have no paint left soon

[Victor Ingram]

Ned
Jules advise about the filler opening is important, you don't want to paint your tank again.
We used a semi-gloss black, not too shiny

[Ned Hamlin]

Thanks everyone. We haven't decided what to do yet, but I'm leaning toward a semi gloss clear coat.

[Dick Weiss]

Commonly, the pushrod fuel tank's paint would be equal to the engine's sheetmetal of Semi-Gloss Black.
However, my Carrera which was originally Gloss Blacked--and still is.

[James Davies]

The amount of gloss varied, likely depending on the air humidity and drying conditions. But it was a gloss black, though maybe not as glossy as modern gloss paints. Lots of period photos show this "almost"-gloss black. Here's one from 1953 on a brand-new coupe with 93km on the clock.

As Dick says, it's pretty much identical to the engine tin finish. Probably the exact same paint.

I would match it to the bottom of your fuel tank in both gloss and shade of black, just as your painter has.

[Joris Koning]

Another thing I see many people do is make the tank way to smooth by applying liberal coats of primer and sanding in between. The original turn coat steel gave the tank a fine texture. The factory only put the thinnest coat of cheap gloss paint on.

[Ned Hamlin]

Thanks for responses from the best of the best. I already knocked the gloss down a little bit, so I'm going to try adding a little to it with some car wax.
Just finished putting the Speedster back together after a magnificent ruby red paint job, and the car is stunning. We took a drive up to Galena summit near home and the car performed flawlessly.
Thanks again everyone.

[Dick Roth]

Victor's shots are clearly what you're looking for.

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