Metallic paints

Can anyone direct me to a source that will tell me when metallic paints were first used? A local authority insists that the date is around 1909 but I need to be absolutely certain.

Old car legend (and the AACA) says 1927 or 1928. Allegedly, Cadillac was preparing some Fleetwood show cars and the paint shimmered with metallic particles resulting from ball bearings from a machine disolving into the paint pigment. However, it is said earlier finishes used fish scales in the pigment for an irradecent shimmer. In both cases this would only be true of expensive custom paint, production cars used regular paint or varnish. Todd C

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Old car legend (and the AACA) says 1927 or 1928. Allegedly, Cadillac was preparing some Fleetwood show cars and the paint shimmered with metallic particles resulting from ball bearings from a machine disolving into the paint pigment. However, it is said earlier finishes used fish scales in the pigment for an irradecent shimmer. In both cases this would only be true of expensive custom paint, production cars used regular paint or varnish. Todd C </div></div>

One of the very first instances of true metallic paint was on the 1928 Sampson Special Miller '91 driven to victory at Indianapolis by Louis Meyer that year. It is my understanding, from some of the old racing literature I have, that this paint was a development from DuPont, who incidently supplied all the body finish material for General Motors at the time. The color? Metallic gold.

Art Anderson