I'm curios as to what everyone's favorite "Hot Rod" color. Long before "Rat" rods became the cool thing, I have always had a huge love for em. Basically because it reminds me of the days when Hot Rods were built by young men (and women) in their Dad's garage because that was all they could afford, from digging through salvage yards to piece together their first car. I was one of those that loved to drive around with my car under primer and even though it was mechanically sound, everyone would look at it as though it was junk, just because it was not painted. I know NOW, it is the cool thing to sport flat or satin colors. That said, what is YOUR favorite "Hot Rod" color? If you like the shiny, candy, metal flakes, speak up with those too. But MY all time favorite Hot Rod color has always been: Red Oxide Primer
When I look at primer, I see a sponge looking to soak up the oil I always seem to spread around when I'm working on a car or bike. I can almost see the rust growing under the primer too. I've always been kind of partial to Competition Orange. And the older I get, the more I like "Low Maintainance" White. This would work for me.
Yes, that has always been a problem with primers, and flat colors. Primer isn't meant to be a "paint" due to that, it is designed to give paint something to hold onto. It will also hold onto things you dont want, and also hold moisture as you mentioned. As a teen, I didn't fully understand that, but as I got older and more experienced, learned that. Later on as an adult when it was still difficult to find flat paints because it wasn't mainstream, I did Red Oxide primer a Rod and cleared it with a satin clear which remedied the "technical" downfall of using primer as a color. It did keep that from being a problem. I loved it because it still had that old school "feel". People thought I was nuts at that time, but I liked it.. (BTW: I am also a fan of Comp Orange, and Burnt Orange on certain cars. That was a color I always felt only looked right on certain cars though. )
I've always been a fan of the musclecar era colors in general; SubLime Green especially, Plum Crazy Purple, and Grabber Blue. But those colors are SO musclecar that they would tend to look a bit street-roddy as a body spray. My personal favorite color combo for a Hot Rod would be Gloss Black with accents of the aforementioned bright colors.
Mine is currently in black primer but is in the process of getting a fresh paint job. I happen to be one that likes "Shiney" vs "Flat or Satin" My Deuce coupe will be "Hugger Orange" in a few weeks...
I too always dug the flat black look, and that was my original plan for my truck. Just way too many others like that out there. My favorite colors are all Ford: Wimbeldon White, Monsoon Maroon, Acapulco Blue, and Ford Highland green metallic
Well, first off, welcome to the HAMB. Second, most of the conversations here are regarding traditional style rods and customs, not any sort of "love" or discussion of the rat culture. We, as a whole, don't care too much for rat rods. But, having said that, I would say the most typical color when the public thinks "hot rod" it's probably bright red. Black, blue, red seems to be what the public defines as hot rod colors. Each body style seems to select it's own favorite color. Some rods look great in black while others look good in blue. I guess it's like a house. Some styles of houses look good in some colors while, say a Colonial" style house usually is done in white. The curves, stance and extent of modifications can also dictate what works and what does not. Sleek, curvy lines usually benefit from a darker color, bur your mileage may vary. As usual, the owner has the last word. This is a very personal hobby and sometimes the only guy who absolutely LOVES his color choice is the owner. And that's all that matters.
Doug, "Resale Red"! I've been to some street rod events that had oceans of red when you looked across the parking areas. I burnt out on red pretty quickly, but I've even had a couple of cars/bikes that I painted red after that. Kind of a love/hate deal.
Well back in those days of which you speak (and I was still young) I had an old friend who started building in the '50s. Yep Maudilin those days lasted well into the '60s (maybe the '70s with the correct influence). Uh, I digress, my older friend always said, "there are only two colors to paint a hot rod, Black or ugly." But I am still partial to candy red, not that mamby pandy candy red they sell these days. The real deep dark almost blood colored candy red like you see on a real candy apple. Over gold of course.
my "34 is 1969 Ford red...Ford called it "Candy Apple Red". While it looks like a candy apple, it's not even close to what we call "candy apple red". I'm tired of it on my car, but changing the color is out of the question today. As said, every car and style has "it's" color.
Understood. The question isn't exactly concerning "Rat" rods. I like em all, although not crazy about the extreem rat rods you see a lot today. My love is of the vintage rods and how they came about which typically resulted in what is now called "rat". I've seen some that are just a bunch of junk welded together. But that said, I love them all. Never been crazy about the "trailer" queen, although I do like looking at them. I like the ones that regular working class build on the weekends in their garage. I also like the original restorations. I just like em all, but I like most what I can build in my garage and enjoy driving them around. Never been a huge Chrome, spit and polish guy so my cars generally reflected that. Do I belong here? I think so, it's all a part of the culture and I love several and most facets of that culture. I personally really fall into several parts of the culture. But your point is taken in the context I think you meant it and no offense to it.
I think you're encountering some Rataphobia here. I'm pretty sure I got what you meant in the first place; your favorite look is a Hot Rod in its beater or work in progress stages. Thus your warm fuzzies for the red primer look. RR's are basically a cartoon of hot rods like that *shrug*. This thread isn't about RR's, it's about color preference. Let's get back to that.
I have always loved orange. Cool to see several at the start here giving it a shout out as well. The Model "A" is currently matte orange (which I really like)! However, after this season I am going to do it in a satin pearl white with clear gloss ghost flames. Just something different, that is what I look for in a Hot Rod color.
Color of my OT Caddy. Wasn't sure how much I'd like it before it got laid down, but I absolutely love it now. It's Hot Rod Flatz Firemist Purple.
I have always loved 54 buick titian red. it is difficult to reproduce with modern paints, so my 40 ford is hok passion purple.
To me it depends on the build. I've fallen in love with cars that had colors I would never have expected to like. ~ Carl
The Jalopy Journal
