A powerful cell phone photo does not do justice to the maroon paint job on this cool old pickup. It looked to be freshly painted and detailed. It is too bad I did not have my small digital camera for the clear telephoto shots. Hello, Recently we had a discussion about the rarity of specific colors on hot rods and trucks. We had a wide variety of colors from pastels to black and it was just how everyone selected their daily drivers. The colors were part of the purchase decision, but not the most important thing for buying a new or project hot rod. Colors that are usually considered favorites are, of course, all black or its derivatives. Then red and its relatives. But to make a statement of the rarity of dark colors, maroon comes to mind. The popularity of wine consumption is more popular now that a long time ago. So, one would think that a dark maroon would be a popular color. My wife likes maroon for a dark color for old cars, but knows it takes a lot of maintenance to keep it clean and shiny. Our red, 327 powered, 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery took an extra effort to keep it clean and shiny. Not only as some salt air locations, but, the varied So Cal locations and weather. Since we were 20 somethings, it was a fun hose spray and wipe off afternoon activity, since both of us drove the sedan delivery (almost the same amount) as our daily driver. We saw this pristine truck in south Orange County being towed on a trailer. It turned into a newly developed tract of homes. It looked like it just came from a finishing paint and detailing shop. Ever since, we have not seen it cruising around or at the local car shows. But, maroon is a nice color to show contrast. It borders on dark Tahitian Red or Dark Cherry/Black Cherry, but there is a difference about true maroon color. Jnaki Seeing any maroon color always reminds me of my first hot rod photography photo shoot. I had met this guy at a car show parking lot and his F-1 Ford truck was pretty outstanding. We had parked close to the roll up entrance to the auditorium on set up day. He was helping another friend set up a custom car for the show. But, I liked the way his Maroon F-1 truck looked. By today's standards, it was a mild custom. It had chromed reversed wheels, black wall tires, lowered rake and a tall floor shift lever that stood out into the cab. It also had black tuck and roll, shiny chrome accessories and a great looking pickup bed that was finished quite nicely. The Maroon Ford F-1 could have been in the show as it was pretty good sample of a show car/truck. But, as I found out later, it was his daily driver and uses the truck for part of his job. The photos came out great, he got his free share of multiple prints and large color photo mounted on a custom wooden frame. But, for all of the effort, none of the magazines liked trucks for daily use. They were stuck on custom trucks that were for show, similar to the old R&C truck. So, I gave all of the negatives and slides to the owner for his personal use and photo albums. The memory lives, but the photos do not.
I asked the guy what paint this was...Hot Rod Flatz "Merlot". Looked great and right at home on that car
The Jalopy Journal
