engine paint

hey circlepilot...
in Pennsylvania, you CANNOT buy ANY "custom mixed" enamel or lacquer based paint in gallon cans. all auto paint sold here is either water based or several step and additive paint. you can buy a limited selection of PPG (Pittsburgh Plate Glass) "factory mixed" enamel auto paint but it is like $1000 a gallon. you can still buy "some" enamel paint in quarts as "pre-mixed" factory "non-auto" paint for painting farm equipment or metal items. there appears to be a mixture of types of paint in spray cans at auto parts stores, home depot or lowes or ace hardware or walmart from water base to enamel base paint. there is NO lacquer paint ANYWHERE in any form to purchase. i suspect the reason why Year One spray engine paint is water based is so they can sell it in california. the point i was trying to make (and not very well) was that buying spray cans of paint is not a simple thing these days. most auto parts stores do have enamel "hot paint" engine paint in chevy orange or ford red and some even have mopar orange. but not many places still have mopar "red" which was the color i needed for my 68 340. when i painted my 68 barracuda, i painted it with old school lacquer paint. there was only ONE place in the U.S. that i was able to find this paint and that was (believe it or not) san diego california at a specialy auto paint company called TCP Global TCP Global Corporation - Quality & Service Since 1974 they are NOT allowed to sell lacquer auto paint to anyone in CA but they can ship to other states. TCP also has old school enamel paint but it is very expensive. for all you old guys out there, the world of paint today is not anywhere close to what we knew 30 years ago. whatever you're trying to paint these days, you may need heat lamps and fans to be able to do it - and that is if you even know "how" to mix and use the current paint products.