Hi ?

I once heard that after World War II, a lot of the paint that was
leftover from Military Manufacturing was diluted and then used in the
consumer market.  For example, the greens and reds that were used for
tanks, Jeeps and other equipment were diluted to color the American
homes, cars, and appliances with colors such as teal and pink.

I would like to use this statement in a term paper that I am writing
on the American Post-World War II Economy.

My question is: After World War II, what happened to the leftover
paint that was used in manufacturing American military equipment, and
was this paint diluted (or pigment changed) and used for consumer
goods?

Finally, with the answer, I need to site a reputable source of this
information so I can use it in my bibliography.

Thanks!

Scott

There is an urban legend that US mail boxes were painted olive drab to
use surplus paint from the war  - WW I!  But maybe also from WW II,
which makes more sense.

Personally, I rather doubt your premise.  Is there information that
verifies that there was so much surplus paint, either with the
government or still with the producers?

Hi. Below are several references I've found, but none are what I'd call reputable:




University of Washington online student paper: thedaily

John DeWeese 
Contributing writer

Thursday, November 9, 2000

Left with large amounts of unused material, the government began
selling surplus items to citizens, giving preference to veteran
buyers. Both Jack Bolt and  fellow Navy veteran Phillip Hutt returned
to their native Seattle to open a war surplus store
 
Our most popular item was actually paint," Hutt explained. House paint
had not been available for over four years, so the surplus store did
brisk business with new homeowners. Navy "suntan" and Army "olive
drab" uniforms also became popular fashion items right after the war.


The Gazette.com, Colorado Springs

roadkill

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 

All contracting materials, we generally buy from local suppliers, with
a couple of exceptions. A good friend sells Devoe Premium House Paint.
But I buy Wal Mart's middle grade. Why? It's better paint, at a lower
cost, the interior wall paint washes easily, not off. And the Exterior
Latex holds it's color just as well as the High Buck Exteriors. I do
know a little about House paint, my father was a Paint Contractor and
I remember Sherwin Williams Kem Tone. Brushed on my fair share of that
stuff, as well as war surplus Oil based Exterior and Interior enamel.
The Turps would kill you on a hot day! Even sold the stuff for a while
back in the early '60's


www.Vespa Indonesia.com
History of Piaggio and Vespa Motor scooters
(Based on How to Restore and Maintain Your Vespa Motor scooter Book,
by Bob Darnell & Bob Golfen)


VESPA SCOOTERS IN THE UNITED STATES
It may seem surprising today, but Piaggio got its star in the United
States through Sears-Roebuck department stores and catalogs, arriving
in 1951. Because Sears was selling the scooters as their own product,
the bikes were named ?Allstate? instead of ?Vespa?. They were
stripped-down, bare-bones 125-cc models, similar to Italian U-models,
which were green in color like the All states. (Rumor was that Piaggio
had commandeered a tremendous stash of war-surplus green paint, to
gain the range of green shades used on each scooters). Sears sold the
Vespa-Allstates in the catalog alongside cheaper Cushman-All states
scooters. Though U.S. made Cushmans were popular throuh the late 1940s
and early 1950s, they were simple, slow and ungainly, both in
appearance and performance, compared with the elegance and
sophistication of the Vespa scooters.




CLARK BYERS: THE BRUSH BEHIND THE BARNS 
Email: Karen@seerockcity.com 
Karen Baker

The year was 1935 and Clark's employer was Fred Maxwell, owner of a
Chattanooga, Tennessee advertising company. At the time, Mr. Maxwell
had been brainstorming with his friend, Garnet Carter, for an idea to
court crowds to Mr. Carter's newly opened attraction on Lookout
Mountain near Chattanooga, the gorgeous 10-acre natural attraction
he'd christened Rock City Gardens

The two hit upon the novel notion of painting promotional signs on the
barns and buildings, strewn along the scenic country highways then
favored by most motorists.

For Clark, painting barns--almost 900 of them, in 19 states during the
advertising form's 1950s heyday--meant braving everything from labor
unions to angry bulls.
In addition to ropes, extension ladders and a portable platform stage,
sign-painting called for paint--a flat black liquid Clark originally
mixed up with linseed oil and lampblack. On one occasion in the 1940s,
he bought a similar product at bargain prices when he paid 30 cents a
gallon for postwar, government surplus paint