1959 Chevrolet Impala - Lowrider Magazine

1959 Chevrolet Impala Jack Pot Flash Body

Upon initially gazing at this ’59 Impala, I’m sure you are curious as to how it was done. If you’re thinking, “It has to be bare metal with etching or engraving,” think again. This is a paintjob! No engraved panels with clear either, this is a new paint technique called Jack Pot Flash. How did they do that? At first, the body has to be prepared during the beginning of the restoration so that some extra metalwork can be done. In order to withstand the thick layers of paint and fit properly, the panels have to be altered so that that the gap between them is made larger by about 1mm. After the metalwork is done, the next step is to shoot primers, and it is during this step that the 3D pattern is made. Using a metal net to make a mesh pattern, a masking technique is used, not unlike laying finished graphics, but instead of using finishing paint, primer is the only thing sprayed. Once the primer is laid and patterned, paint is applied in different layers to build different thicknesses, creating the 3D texture graphics. It sounds simple in theory, but the process takes a lot of time and trial and error to get the right finish. The crew at Artis of Osaka, Japan was forced to strip the car down and start all over after the first attempt didn’t come out right. While the 3D texture on their finished ‘59 looks thick, the finish is actually flat and smooth! This newly invented painting technique is already setting new custom paint trends in Japan, proving that with this innovative ’59, our friends from the Land of the Rising Sun can still teach us how to shine!