SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – BASF Automotive Refinish is celebrating the 90th anniversary of one of its automotive refinish paint brands, R-M, founded in the summer of 1919.
Today, the R-M product line contains well-known names like DIAMONT, ONYX HD and CARIZZMA, and is used throughout the world by collision repair shops and customizers alike.
And according to BASF, it all started with a duck. That’s right, a duck decoy made and painted by the Mason Decoy Factory in Detroit, Mich., in 1896. By 1919, the company’s founder, Herbert Mason, had developed another use for his paints and joined forces with friend Fred Rinshed to form the Rinshed-Mason (R-M) Co., which soon became the largest paint supplier to the growing automotive industry.
Very early on, R-M gained an outstanding reputation for innovation and quality, and was the first paint company to supply high-performance lacquers to Cadillac. R-M also pioneered Florida testing to assess the weathering abilities of paints, which rapidly became the industry standard. R-M launched the first tinting base system in 1948. This major advancement signaled the birth of the mixing machine, which continues today to be the industry standard.
Today, R-M is a division of BASF Coatings, which is part of BASF, the world’s leading chemical company.
BASF continues to drive the R-M philosophy by working closely with the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers to develop innovative solutions in OEM finishes, as well as automotive refinish, through the development of efficient, state-of-the-art and environmentally friendly coatings technology.
