History School me, spelling intended.

lots of "lemmings" out there. i don't "get" the patina thing. or rat rods. but it got to where the "monochromatic" look in the '80s/'90s just drove me up the wall!

 

Ahhh...the Great Divide...Just drive away and Whistle a Happy Tune...and know that many just don't understand...
period...

We all have to expect that as many know it's old but beyond that not a whole lot...
It's just small talk that may in fact cut a little...

​

 

I have to wonder if there might be some middle ground in the whole issue. Are there owners who would get their patina rods painted if they won the lottery? Or another way to say it: Are some owners hanging out with the true believers of the patina cult only because they happen to be stuck with old, failed paint but they aren't true believers themselves?

 

I have plenty of money and could have a friend of mine do a very nice paint job on my old 59 chevy truck (he painted the bed for it in 1990). I just prefer it to be an old truck that I can drive around and not worry about. It looks good enough for me.

 

I’m not painting mine cause I like the way it looks.
If I won the lottery I would build another. Paint would depend on the vibe it has.
Cool is cool. Great paint work doesn’t make something cool. Stance, profile and attitude will always trump the best paint and body work on a ride that lacks stance, profile and attitude.

 

**Takes long drag from Marlboro Red ** There's only one true hotrod finish, and that my friend comes in gray, and from a rattle can. **Swigs from Busch Light can**

 

Face it , most of these trends or fads or whatever you want to call them are the result of some magazine writer dubbing them cool , or the mis-remembered past some one told some gullible young person .....if you had a shiney car , you could afford to paint it ,or your parents were paying for it, otherwise it was in primer or rust , the first thing any self respecting young hot rodder / gearhead did was make it faster .

 

The paint on my '40 is thirty years old. The paint on my Nomad is 33 years old. Both cars are driven year round in all kinds of weather. They look better in pictures than in person, but whenever the paint starts to dull, I break out the buffer and make 'em shiny again. The Nomad paint is getting thin in places, but it will still shine.

 

...this debate will go on forever;...some people like red, some like blue, simple as that, I like em all but prefer weathered original or old paint.

 

I just drive old cars because it makes me happy....could care less about what everyone else does


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The reason I and many people like real patina (I am not a fan of fake patina) because it is proof positive that you found an untouched old car, be it a stocker a hot rod or race car.

I look at patina much like battle scars an aged veteran. Once you restore an old hot rod you lose what it was. "The paint is a little rough, I don't like Oxy-fuel welds, lets grind it out an T.I.G. it, and I really don't like Nailheads lets do a 350." It is no longer an old Hot Rod is is now a new build.

So many old race cars get pulled out of barn and get restored to better then raced.
The owners don't dare put them on the track even for pace laps for fear of hurting 10,000 plus dollar paint jobs.

 

Uh, pardon me, but is that Real Patina, or is it Sears Patina?

 

I can hardly wait to get this in paint

 

Paint or no paint its cool.

 

73 year old paint. If I painted I would have a woodie like everyone else....

 

Hello,

The overheard statement of, "that primered 1940 Willys Coupe in the pits, looks ready to race..." was satisfying when sitting in the stands having our weekly Saturday hot dogs and Cokes lunch and watching the other races. Also overheard was… “Did you hear that Chevy motor fire up? Wow…” My brother and I agreed to wait until we had the Willys Coupe running as well as we could. Then hopefully, we would have enough money to get it painted and completely upholstered for a finished street class race car.

We estimated that our day would come when the money was available to get a nice paint job prior to going to the U.S. Nationals in September of 1960. Our final C/Gas build of our 671 SBC Willys Coupe had primered paint when we were getting the "bugs" worked out in the early summer months.

When we finished putting together the first 283 SBC with the 6 Strombergs for power, I wanted to get the primer sprayed on and then get the Willys painted our final color. But, my brother said that the primer was for the build and tuning, until we were absolutely ready for the final push into a finished street racer.

He was right to wait, as we did do a lot of assembly/disassembly of the parts, and the whole car during the two different builds. There was a back and forth movement, everyday, to put the Willys back in that small backyard garage. He wanted to move the Willys anytime without worrying about scratches or dents on a finished paint. As usual, the older brother was correct in waiting.

At first, it was the coupe without fenders, hood and grille. Then as the build progressed, it was on again off again, until everything was where it was supposed to be located. After a few months of racing in the B/Gas class with the 6 Stromberg powered 283 SBC, we decided to rebuild to a larger motor, add in some supercharged quality parts and rebuild the whole SBC motor with a new 671 supercharger.

Now, we were back in B/Gas, but we decided to add some strategically placed steel plates over the rear axle and put water in the empty stock gas tank. That allowed us to get remeasured for the C/Gas class. Now, we started to get better tuning and our speeds improved with the way it was set up. We were excited as our times were close to the national record for C/Gas.

Jnaki

So, for the next month, everything was falling into place. Now, we were making plans to do one final rebuild prior to the trip to Detroit from So Cal. The U.S. Nationals was calling for a long road trip. We had all new larger slicks with mag wheels, two port Hilborn Injectors and a B&M Hydro on order for installation at the end of the August. It was something we had not done before and it all started with the discussion of painting the Willys Coupe with primer or getting the finished color in place first.

 

I painted all of these except my '39 it has old 50+ yr old paint, with battle scars..I love it for that, and feel it would be an injustice to paint it.
I enjoy it as much or more than the rest for many reasons, but the major reason is the authenticity and worry free feeling driving/parking it anywhere experience.
At car shows, I'm drawn to the "survivor" Hot Rods.
Seems to be a misconception here comparing Rat Rods, and fake, cleared over "patina" cars vs authentic survivor unrestored cars.

 

I bought it real cheap....come to find out that primer paint was hiding the original paint...

It looked like this when it was finished...and old vehicle should look like an old vehicle...


To me a shiny old car is sorta like looking at Raquel Welch today....still looks good but...

 

As a rule my projects are the result of someone else's failed attempt at rebuilding. These busted projects have almost always been in primerd as they look better than "patina" or so most folks think.

My '55 Chevy project had been painted prior to my possession and is pretty nice. All the others have been in primer when I got them.

All of that being said, I don't like the "patina" look or the primer look. I'm old and I like shiny paint and chrome. I don't dislike others but I'm not a fan of that look. The bottom line is that I didn't build my car for you nor did you build your car for me.

 

With hot rods & customs, everyone's ideas of what looks good are very subjective. When we say don't-do-this or don't-do-that, it gets real tricky because we are all opinionated. And that's OK - it's based on each person's passion for his "art." Regarding patina, occasionally I like it, but usually I don't. For instance, a late '40s or early '50s Buick or Merc with original black or maroon paint with a bit of primer showing through can look awesome (to me) when it's real. But worst-case examples, I've seen brand-new paint jobs where the painter gets creative and sands down into other colors to try and create fake patina - usually emphasizing fender tops and driver's window area where his arm would rest. To me, these results always look like crap! And painting high-gloss clear over any patina to me always looks like crap. Just my opinion.

 

That’s called a “ leavarite”....

 

I think that there are several different reasons why anyone of us likes or dislikes anything. It's all subjective, relative, blah, blah, blah. I also think that anything that "catches on" remains personal as to why any of those individuals that create the masses bought into what ever that "fad" may be. Speaking directly to patina, a few scenarios come to mind. I'm talking about real Patina....the rust wraps and such are easy to explain. Some one saw real patina and found it pleasing to the eye....so they faked it. That's in the same boat as breast implants and bleach blonde hair. Looks good to some and not to others. Anyway, back to reasons someone might wanna keep the Patina......
1.) "Rough around the edges" reminds someone of what they could afford in their youth and brings back that familiar feeling of want and aspiration.....Sometimes the idea of something is better than the thing itself. "Hearts filled with the dark mysterious ambition to have, are easily broken by having." (sorry for getting all deep and sh!t.) Dreaming about what you'd do with a million dollars is sometimes more fun than a million dollars....so I've been told.
2.) It still is what they can afford! Paint, Body, and Interior usually matches or exceeds the cost of everything else done in a build, and does zero for the drivability, performance, etc. If getting in the wind is the goal, "pretty" can wait or fall by the wayside completely (again, pretty is totally subjective.)
3.) Drive/Park anywhere, without a care. Any of us can understand the appeal of driving in any adverse condition, or parking in any parking lot without fear of whats happening to that perfect $5K, $10K, $20K, $30K paint job. You can still have that perfect (to you) stance, silhouette, attitude without all the nerves...That's appealing to a lot of people. I know plenty of people that would enjoy their car more if it weren't so damn nice!
4.) Punk rock mentality. A big ol' middle finger to any establishment, or rule. "Oh, street rods are smooth and shiny, well watch this sh!t....hold my beer." There's always gonna be the outcasts that wanna be different....and of course they all end up being different in the same way after a while....funny ain't it?
5.) They just like it. Just like anything you're truly enamored with, it can be hard to explain why. Has your wife ever asked you "What do you love about me, specifically?" Jeez, I hate that question...."I love you because you're a super cool chick....or at least you were until you started asking stupid questions!"
I could keep going, but the possibilities are endless. I for one can respect anyone who puts their mind, power, time, and creativity into some cool rolling art....However they decided to finish it is up to them. Their reasons?: Plentiful, or not, and none of my business I'm sure. This has been an exercise in speculation at best, what do I know? It's just what I think. If lower build cost only means that pretty stuff suffered and safety is in tact....then I'm happy to see another ol' hunk of steel out on the road and not getting crushed because no one could afford to build it.

 

Real Patina


Fake Patina




How many people under 40 know who Raquel Welch and Joan Van Ark are?

 

yep....good paint jobs will set you back - unless you do the work.....and sanding a car down is not a very quick job - prepping for paint....just saying don't agree....just realize a lot would never be back on the road if all they were waiting on was paint..........

 

Hasn't this horse been beaten to death several time's already? I own both . I drive my patina'd truck every day, I don't own a modern daily driver. But I also own nice shiny painted cars. I see the need for both.BTW my truck is real patina , no clear coat .

 

Really, this again ? whatever rocks your boat, If you dont like it others will..

Hers is a list of similar futility:

Hot Rod or Street rod
Built or bought
Flathead or Overhead
Manual or Auto
Ford or Chevy
Radial or crossply/bias ply
wires or solids
steel or glass
coupe or roadster
male or female
black or white
coke or pepsi
McDonalds or Burger king..

Its all about personal taste .

My personal taste would be for original beat up patina. Im not new to this hobby I just see more artistic impression in an original , jaded old beater. It carries its history with it, Charachter is just more interesting than ironed out "perfection" or the perception of perfection .

Some folk iron the life out of a project, for them its perhaps a show of wealth, the more bling the fatter the wallet, bit like a gold chain and a big fat cheesy rolex.. Other guys just like to test themself and aim high. Its Personal preference . Not all, indeed probably few original hot rods had much bling . I wasnt around in the 40s and 50s , but I have read a bit and see that there were some dog rough hot rods back in the day .. They didnt need to "create" Patina since the base material was only 15 years old at the time .. Fast forward 70 years and good original paint cars are much MUCH harder to find. Not everyone wants to spend a kings ransom on shiny paint, some folk are just having FUN ..

My current project was dragged over from the USA, beat to death, neglected and probably rejected as decent project material by many in its homeland .. BUT there aint to many available over here, so I bit.

Its now more or less a car, cost me in total less than $7000, It has a few compromises in the interest of saftey and reliability. Unfortunately it was media blasted in the USA before I bought it.. So when the repairs were carried out I brushed it with redoxide .. Yep Brushed it .. Cost me all of $20.. and a couple of hours of my time .. So have I ruined a good car or saved a neglected shell. ? ( i did pick out the loose brush hairs )

I can tell you one thing, I would rather spend the doe on good brakes and tyres than waste time and money prepping for paint, Been there done that, didnt go any faster

Am I wrong.. am I lazy.. ? I personally built it from scratch havent got a singe penny in labour and im looking forward to having some fun .. bling or no bling.. Fake or real ..

 

here my other project being saved I wont be wasting time or money painting this either .. It will still outlast me lol ..

 

One good thing I know for sure is that neither of my current projetcs will have 1/2 inch of plastic filler under the perfect finish.. It is what it is

 

One of those ladies has a more talented plastic surgeon.

 

The one patina car that comes to mind is a 1934 Ford pickup that I saw. This truck was very well built but it was the body that just blew me away. It was perfectly straight. No cracks in the fenders, no rust, and no dents. Primer on the affected areas for the chop. Now this was the perfect platform for displaying patina. Finish paint would have obliterated this. My car on the other hand, needs to be finished to hide all the flaws.

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