...and it all started with a duck !

That's right, a decoy duck...and it was made by the Mason Decoy Factory in Detroit, back in 1896.

By 1919 the company's founder, Herbert Mason had joined forces with a friend to form the Rinshed-Mason Company, which soon became the largest paint supplier to the growing automotive industry.

R-M gained an outstanding reputation for innovation 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.

And that's not all. R-M launched the first metallic finish for cars in 1931 and the first tinting base system in 1948. This major advance signalled the birth of the mixing scheme, which we all use today.

R-M was also the first automotive refinish paint company to harness the power of the Internet with rmpaint.com, providing global support for its end users and world wide distributor network.

Today, R-M is a division of BASF Coatings. BASF Coatings is part of the BASF group, the world’s largest 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.

The R-M philosophy

The R-M philosophy is based on a global offer that is geared towards the long-term profitability of its bodyshop customers, by developing innovative, user-friendly paint systems that provide the flexibility bodyshops need to increase throughput and profitability by reducing material consumption and process times, while at the same time, respecting the environment.