Originally Posted by ShawnQ
Flat, to me, means no gloss.
And, my engine bay is flat, as are the underside of the hood, underhood edges of the fenders, radiator support, etc. This is typical on 90% of cars that I've ever worked on (and I worked in a body shop doing paint for a few years).
Typically, when doing a repair on these cars, we spray a base coat only - no clear, which gives the flat finish.
As for the alabaster white not having clear-coat, I'd be really surprised...
SQ
To clear up the confusion ( pun intended ) and after closer inspection, the engine bay and the underside of my hood are not clear coated. They are painted and finished to what I would call a semi-gloss finish. While it isn't as glossy as the clearcoated exterior, the finish is smooth enough to easily apply a coat of wax to, which I recently have done.
In my previous post, I was just trying clarify the term "flat" for all of us non-bodyshop guys. In my experience, "flat" paint has a finish like primer or like the paint on a military vehicle. All of the gloss and semi-gloss paints that I have used had a shine to them even without coats of clearcoat.
In a nutshell, paint can be glossy without clearcoat ( although clearcoat makes it much glossier ). The paint on my 73 Cougar is sure glossy without any clearcoat.