A primary focus of Ditzler had always been product development which was driven by anticipating customers’ needs.

Peter Ditzler began his career in 1872 as a paint shop apprentice for a Pennsylvania carriage factory. Eager to strike out on his own, he moved to Chicago and opened his own custom paint shop in 1880.

There he acted as a color expert for various coach and buggy makers. Three years later, he gained even more experience through a succession of supervisory jobs in carriage factories and paint plants in Chicago, Detroit and Newark, NJ. It was during this time that Peter began to grind and mix his own Japan colors and under coatings.

Peter’s brother, Fred, followed a similar path, with apprenticeships at carriage companies in Pennsylvania, New York and Detroit. For Fred, though, the emphasis was on mastering the fine art of paint application rather than color grinding and mixing.

All this experience was leading the brothers to one conclusion. They knew they could produce a better paint product than what they had seen over the years, one with better workability, quality and dependability. So in 1902, a year before Henry Ford organized his Ford Motor Company, the two decided to create a company of their own — the Ditzler Color Company at 40 W. Baltimore Ave. in Detroit (pictured above).

Although the company’s first customers were carriage makers — the Pontiac Buggy Company followed closely by the Studebaker Brothers — it wasn’t long before the Ditzler name was closely linked to the emerging auto industry. The first automaker to utilize Ditzler Color systems was the Cadillac Auto Company in October 1902.

By 1913, automotive production had grown dramatically, and with it, demand for Ditzler products. Soon, the company was the leading producer of automotive finishes — a position that PPG still occupies today. The Ditzler brothers owned and operated the business until March of 1913, at which time they sold their interests to T. W. Conner and Associates.

Recognizing the need for speedier finishing systems, Ditzler Color laboratories began conducting research and development of low-viscosity nitrocellulose lacquer, a finish that lent itself to automobile production needs because of the speed with which it could be applied and dried. Before the introduction of this finish, cars were painstakingly painted by hand which, because the varnish dried so slowly, could take up to a month to complete!

In 1925, the company acquired property at 8000 W. Chicago Ave. in Detroit, where it built a factory for manufacturing the first Ditzler lacquer for automotive factory finishes. Ditzler Color Company was purchased by Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company in 1928, but continued to manufacture products under the Ditzler label as a subsidiary until 1968 when Pittsburgh Plate Glass was reorganized under the name of PPG Industries, Inc.

What would Peter and Fred Ditzler have thought of today’s high tech color matching tools and techniques? Or what of today’s dazzling new colors and specialty coatings like Harlequin ® and Prizmatique ®. One thing is certain:
They’d be proud to know that the Ditzler name — and its subsequent parent, PPG — remain synonymous with superb quality, dependability and beauty.