Hot Rods Is a nice paint job really that important?

Can you two guys discuss this here for a while.............................
@swade41 , you can join in too.

Oh, no reason.....................

 

And Free Shipping with $99.00 purchase L.O.L.

 

It’s very affordable to have a nice paint job. It is a tremendous amount of labor but not a lot of money. Do it yourself and take pride in your work, craftsmanship shows in the details.

 

I'll say it's not important.......until I can afford one than it will be .

 

I did not understand what you meant,,,,,,tok me a minute or two

 

It's always been my notion that a nice shiny paint job is a way for the craftsman to showcase his metalworking skills. It's either that or bare and brushed. You know?

That's not to say that a shiny paint job can't also cover a ton of bondo beautifully. But if you think about it, if a bondo slinger can fool you into thinking there's no rot in that panel, well... there is a fair amount of craftsmanship in his work as well.

My old truck did not belong to either of those guys, but it has a hell of a nice paint job. I don't know the story but but it's almost like the PO had a "buddy" who was a pro painter that said "sure, if you do the body work, I'll shoot it for you". And he did.

Between visible sanding marks and uneven filler edges she's a wreck. And If you get any closer than 10 feet you get motion sick from all the waves in the panels. One day, I shall hire a sherpa to guide me up those mounds of bondo, but until then, I kinda wish the shine was knocked down on her a bit to hide some of the sins.

I guess my point is 99.99999% of a shiny paint job is prep. And as impatient as I am (I'm a "really wanna pull the masking tape off while it's still tacky" kinda guy) I've had to learn to slow down and be more attentive to details over the years. I can speak from the experience of all the hits and misses I've done over the years, there is no such thing as a good rushed paint job.

I dunno... but yeah... Shiny's important.


On a side note. Has anyone started the argument over the difference between a "shine" and a "polish" here yet?

 

^^^^^^^^^^
If I have 100 hours in total on a car.
80 hours preparation.
10 hours painting.
10 hours of unmasking,assembly,polishing and final inspection before delivery to the customer.
......APPROXIMATELY....

 

A decent paint job is always nice. My problem is once I can get behind the wheel it is usually game over on the finishing details. In the 90's I had my Custom 37 Kingcab build in primer and started driving it with every intention to keep working on the final finish. Drove it till I had to replace the engine, sold it in the early 2000's to a guy in PA who started painting the front fenders and later my Son bought it. The truck is now being enjoyed by my Son and his Family in Michigan. Oh ya, it is still in primer.
My 56 ElCamino build back in 04 was going to be satin black with red wheels, dash and a Mexican blanket seat cover. Peer pressure set in when my buddies at the shop said my design was worthy of a nice paint job. I picked out some colors I liked and another friend did an amazing job with the paint. First trip going through Ohio with less than 1000 miles on the car, something bounced down the road and put a chip on my hood and a brand new windshield. I lived with it for a few years and finally got the hood touched up. Less than a year later the hood got another chip.
My next build also got painted and now if anyone says anything about the little nicks or scratches, I just say "Yup, those are real and not custom graphics. They show how much the car is driven and loved".
The same goes for my 37 that was originally painted in the early 90's. It was in need of a repaint in 2000 when I sold it. The new owner eliminated the graphics and repainted it the same color. I bought it back in 2010 and have been enjoying it ever since. Seriously thinking about freshening a few things up on it and yes, it could use another paint job.
I do have paint for a current project and have been considering the possibility of using the color as a base for a more patina style finish. We will see when I get the car closer to the finish line.

 

Hello,

What? A couple of hours of hard work in the canvas tarp/painter’s plastic spread out over a ¼ of a 40’s Long Beach tiny home backyard was not worth the effort? It took a long time to roll out the big plastic painter’s plastic sheet over the concrete pad and grass prior to rolling the assembled car (+ parts) on to the sheet. Then drop sides of the same painter’s plastic to keep our mom’s backyard outdoor clothes line clean during the spraying time. It was a teenage backyard contraption to not have a paint shop do what we could do with our own spray gun.

My brother was adamant about the primer spray paint on the whole 1940 Willys Coupe. But, before we got to that part, everything was disassembled to create our rolling coupe ready for some action. After the motor and rest of the build was finished and the body parts put back on the car, my brother had the idea that we would spend our hard earned money on the build parts. We would save the finished paint job to the end. He knew we were going to do some modifications to the motor and build along the way. The Willys Coupe was going to run well first, be reliable to start up every time, then the modifications would be put on to make it competitive.

He like the idea that we saved money doing the primer paint first. It was mean looking with the red primer, black rims and tires. He did not want a pristine paint job and have to worry about doing some disassembly for major work down the road. It was not finished and would not be until he was satisfied that it could be competitive. By the time it was very competitive (.50 sec off of the national record for C/Gas) ready for a full upholstery and custom paint job, we ended our involvement due to an accident at the dragstrip that could not be overcome, even during the recovery.

Jnaki

For us, it saved us money to get the gas coupe ready and running well with what we could spend on the build. By the time we were ready to spend some saved up money, everything to finish Willys was in a warehouse garage in Los Angeles ready for us to go pick the parts up for the final build. It got all sent back to the different sales companies for a refund. (including an appointment at the paint shop and upholstery shop)

A nice paint job is important, but a full spray of red primer is also important in the way we built our street legal Willys Coupe.


1960 671 SBC Willys Coupe


Ours was a powerful Willys Coupe that was on the right track to set some national records for the C/Gas class competition. We had to be fast/quick with the famous, local competitors and those from the national scene.

It was not a walk in the park, but along the way, it was worth every nick, scratch, cut, and bruise on our arms, legs and dirty Levi’s. We weren’t finished, but our preliminary goal was to get it running, which it now was, and then go after some national class records if we could. We got very close...


The possible future finished 1940 Willys Coupe YELLOW (my brother’s choice) OR SILVER PEARL my choice, both with black upholstery and all future add-ons we had on order in August 1960. In the end, a nice looking, finished, painted project is important. It is just the road to get there that is the difference.

 

no

 

Would never pay to have a car sprayed. Little bit at a time for prep takes long time,but it's my time. I like doing the work. I know it's done right. I find it hard to repaint a car with original paint. It's only original once!

 

My 32 cabriolet—-b4 & after——painter stripped old paint—-even painted frame,front axle,radius rods BLACK——told me $1500—-was shocked at low price—-told him if a good job was done would pay $500 more—-he said ok.

 

I have one of those! In my avatar. Paint's been on there for at least 25 yr. Had fenders;took them off to repaint frame. They never found their way back on somehow. 286" flatly never boils! Think I''ll chop it this year. I like yours! Brian

 

Yes, I want shiny paint. But that is not to say I want or could afford a pro done show car paint job. I’ve had a couple that were one step down from that level, but it involve a lot of my labor, and paying a pro to take it from 95% to 101% and shoot it.

Along the way I’ve learned to do decent street quality paint myself, and if a car has a weathered original or vintage repaint on it I’m more likely to buff and buff and wax it back to a nice old pair of comfortable blue jeans look.

One I got the most compliments was a job I did the bodywork on, did the jambs and interior (77’ Chev 3/4 truck) and then it was about $1800 at Earl Scheib. That included a little touch up bodywork and extra clear so I could buff it and reassemble myself. Two-tone color in factory pattern.

To each his own, but I could never live with the crusty, rusty, pulled out of a field look so popular today. Sometimes primer looks sorta cool, but out in the weather it doesn’t stay that way. And I’d rather put in the labor to paint it once, than constantly reshoot fresh primer.

But I go with the Jim Croce rule on this type of things. “If you dig it, do it. If you dig it a lot, do it twice!”

 

Generally speaking, get it up and running, maybe some primer, then do the pretty stuff. Any finish done right looks good. Attention to detail. And the overall style and personality of the car means more. I've seen primered cars that I liked a lot more than some finished cars.
But having something cool AND beautiful is usually the goal.

 

No matter how nice your paint job is, somebody will dis it.

 

I always want to finish my cars with shiny paint, but recognize there are different degrees of shiny. It is easy to spend twice as much for a nicer shiny, but almost no one will ever know the difference, but you. My 51 went with lower cost shiny; but my 29 cabriolet was top quality, down to painting the rivets separately so the hood panel could be fully polished behind the riveted hood bracket. I got what I wanted for both, but I would never call flat or satin paint finished.

 

no

 

I originally painted my 36 Chevy in red and black lacquer, it ALWAYS was polished and looking sharp. One day I decided it was "time" and my son and pulled her apart to redo some things and stupid me left the cab outside under a tarp and the moisture screwed up the paint. SOOOO, I sanded all the paint off and painted it with Rustoleum with a brush and foam roller, its so incredably fun to actually use the truck without worrying about it. " To each his own" as my Grandpa used to say. Mitch OH, THOSE WHEELS ARE GONE.... My 36 FORD was black single stage, always clean and slick, lots of work.

 

Show or Go? For show? Yes
For go. No

 

My main priority these days is Fun... I don't care much if it shines... If it's fun to tinker with and drive, then in my book it's a winner...

 

Some of you make painting out like its a black art! Plenty of folks here throwing down nice paint at home and not spending a fortune. It IS NOT that hard! If you want a hint, just look at the recent Tamco thread.

 

Nice paint is absolutely important. It should not come at the expense of some other system, but it is important for sure. Nice paint is what separates the good from the great and gives a car the visual appeal I want. I'm not trying to put together some slapped together jalopy. I'm trying to put together a complete car, and part of a complete build is good, if not great, paint and body work.

 

Just looked it up, thanks for mentioning it! I want to do all the prep and paint on my car and in my learning, I see how a lot of people fear it. I think a lot of it is wanting easy/instant gratification and this type of work is not that...

 

I first learned how to paint in 1983 granted. But with these modern materials I would say ANYONE that can fabricate a car should be able to lay down a nice paint job. It just takes some patience.

 

"Is a nice paint job really that important?"

I can appreciate a nice paint job on someone else's car but I've been there and have no interest in going back.
I knew a guy with a '64 GTO. He arrived at a show and was told to 'park over there on the grass'. He left. His car was 'too nice' to park on grass. I was at another outdoor, single day cruise/show and someone put paper down on the carpet of their Challenger before getting in and driving off. I know those are extreme examples but I want to drive 'em and not give a rat-sass if a bird takes a dump or a stone chips or a ... you get the idea

 

Ehhh paint shmaint.

 

That is what single stage urethane is for!

 

Not to me. I’d rather have fun and not worry about it.

 

The most fun to be had in a hotrod is driving the wheels off of it while it's under construction. Maybe not the most but you get my point. Paint or no paint, it's still fun.