Marin Zolatone Paint Update

[Drewson]

Received this response yesterday from Marin further to my enquiry regarding Zolatone paint and whether they knew where i could get the original product:

"Hi Drew,

Thanks for your message and especially your enthusiasm for our brand. In my quest to answer your question I have passed your message to several of my colleagues, we all appreciate this kind of passion.

Although few of us worked for Marin at that time some of us remember those frames either as enthusiasts or competitors. They had a very cool and unique finish.

I checked around, even enlisted the factory where the frames were painted. Unfortunately it is simply the way of things that no one can still tell what the combination of paint and clear cost was at the time.

I wish that I could be of help. Good luck with your restoration.

Best regards,

Tom Brown

Marin International

ps. If I had been able to track down the paint and clear coat we would have sent it for free. Seriously."

Shame that it came to nothing....it amazes me that even with alot of hard work and research sometimes it just gets too difficult to get a hold of the right paint and i'm left scratching my head. I know others on here have tried to get this stuff too (thanks for your work too folks....you know who you are...eg. fluoroforks).

Seems like they are very nice folk at Marin and went to some effort to find out if the paint was available too....

Ho-hum

Drew

 

[Coleman]

Pity - you can sell me that 91 Team Marin now

They seem like nice chaps at Marin.

 

[NAILTRAIL96]

Shame that.
I suspect the process or base is probably an outlawed product in these environmentally freindly times.

 

[skinnyboy]

Have you contacted the main coatings suppliers like PPG and ICI? If you can provide a sample it can be spectro analysed to give the formula and finish type.

 

[unkleGsif]

Had a similar experience with a guy at Kona, while trying to track down some info on a frame only option that didnt appear in any catalogues

Received a very freindly email from a guy who had gone away and researched as much as he could, and tracked down some of "the old boys" who were even involved in building and designing in those days

It seems that these bike companies do appreciate the following that their retro products have, despite it probably meaning a lost sale of a new product


Zolatone as a company still exists... have there been any contacts made to them? http://www.zolatone.com/home/

G

 

[juice]

...it can be spectro analysed...

+1
Skinnyboy may be skinny but he is absolutely right.
That's the way to go.

 

[sherlylock]

This is the stuff I came across whilst searching:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/autobodydepot/zolatone20.aspx

It's trunk paint (for coating boots and loading bays of US trucks and vans) - it's hard wearing and sprayed on to give a spatter finish. Not sure if it's the exact same stuff and whether you can even get the correct colour match.....

....not sure whether the zolatone brand name nowadays is even the same as the zolatone of the '90's?

 

[sherlylock]

This was the site I found:

http://www.zolatoneaim.com/trunk-spatter

Anyone know how easy is it to ship tins of paint from the US...?

 

[Drewson]

Sorry Nevadasmith, i'll be keeping a hold of this one as they are pretty difficult to find.... but if i change my mind i know where to come

I'm afraid we've already been down that route Sherlylock

Could be onto something Skinnyboy & Juice....may be the next step....the only sample i have though is attached to a frame....

 

[sherlylock]

Sorry Nevadasmith, i'll be keeping a hold of this one as they are pretty difficult to find.... but if i change my mind i know where to come

I'm afraid we've already been down that route Sherlylock

Could be onto something Skinnyboy & Juice....may be the next step....the only sample i have though is attached to a frame....

What was it that killed that particular route - the cost of shipping or just not the right type of paint?