Technical DID YOU PAINT YOUR HOT ROD OR CUSTOM?

My nickname in my early 20's was Scheib. I'm old and can't see. I'm down to painting solid colors now. One step from quitting. However, if it's not painted, it's not finished in my world so I have decisions to make in the future.

 

I paint my own stuff. I used Rust-Oleum on the Jalopy with a brush and paint gun. I used Rust-Oleum on the truck hood but I bought Dupont Nasson for the body.

 

Same here. HRP

 

I sprayed the primer, block sanded (repeat several times) in my garage. But, I got a friend with a spray booth to spray the final coats and clear.

 

I paint my cars in my back yard. The latest one was my pickup - a mid custom '46. I decided to do two tone, PPG Vanilla Cream over Metallic Rosewood. I wanted to do it in one day. With the truck masked for the first coat I was up at the crack of dawn, did final prep, sprayed first base color, removed masking, masked off for the second coat, sprayed second base color, removed masking, [sun was setting], sprayed clear top coat in the twilight with about a thousand of my closest mosquito friends. Some of them "stuck" around.

NEVER AGAIN. I'll rent a pro paint booth. It's a 20-footer.


(The underhood flamed and checkerboard came later.)

 

Around 1980. Lacquer.



Around 1990. Lacquer



Also '90s. Centari



Couple years ago. Fleet white polyurethane



December. Nason Fullthane. Almost back together.

 

Painted my pickup in 1986 using acrylic lacquer, still shines good. Certainly not a show finish, has its share of chips, and worn paint where my arm rests on the window sill. I’ve primed my current coupe project but will likely have someone else do the finish paint.

 

I've painted a number of cars over the years so I had plenty of practice. The first attempt was on my mother's 53 Plymouth. It had a faded light green paint job so I decided to paint it a metallic blue. The only tools that I had was a vintage vacuum cleaner powered sprayer but being young and foolish I reasoned "HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO PAINT A CAR" As you can imagine the result was not outstanding to say the least but it made me decide that I had to teach myself how to master the art of body work and painting. I read every book on the subject that I could find and asked for a real spray gun and small compressor for Christmas and that was the start of the learning process. As I got better at it and my equipment got updated before I knew it I was painting motorcycle tanks and fenders for money which escalated into complete paint jobs on my a few of my friends cars and countless numbers of my own projects over the years. As the old saying goes Practice Makes Perfect. When I decided to build my 32 Chevy I never even thought about how it would get painted but only the color that it had to be. I chose the stock 32 Chev colors of Bordeaux Maroon and black. I used two stage urethane because it holds up really well and I don't plan on parting with my good old Chevy until I can't climb on board any more. As I had done so many times over the years I had to make the garage in my new house suitable for doing the job. Here's a picture my wife took of me finishing off the paint job that I did in the garage and one if the finished product


. I made a spray booth by hanging plastic on all the walls and ceiling and put a fan in one window to pull clean air in and a hot air furnace filter in the other to keep the dust from coming in.

 

I painted my T when I was a kid, it's the only one I ever painted that turned out good.

 

I did my 32 PU at home. The fenders are black lacquer ,and the body is dark green Centari. The fenders I did out side on the lawn. I did 10 coats. Lacquer needs to be color sanded so no real worries about dust etc. I sanded them with several grits like 2,000 then rubbed them out. Came out perfect. The body,and box was done in the garage. I built a paint booth with sheets of clear plastic,and added lots of lighting. I made several mistakes with Centari like shooting it too heavy,and getting runs. Wait a day,and sand them out,and re-shoot. I learned a lot,and saved thousands of $. I have played with modern two part color/ clear coat since,and think its a much nicer paint.

 

My early life was all about dirt track racing. The car had to look good from the stands. I did all the paint and body work. Mine usually looked pretty good from 15' away, just don't get much closer.

When I got into street cars, I paid people to do the body work and paint my stuff, but most of the time, their work wasn't much better then mine, for the money I paid (cheapest job in town).

When I got into hot rods, I did the body and paint work myself. Yep, still 15 footers, but I still had my money in my pockets. I have the ability to add runs, thin paint spots, and about every other error that can be done with paint (I can accomplish the same thing with rattle can paint too), but usually the vehicle is the same color, mostly.

I know how to do body work. I understand the process. I can do a great job for about 2 months, then I'm tired of it, and it gets slam dunked and painted with cheap paint. When the cheap paint starts looking bad, I'll do another round of both. After 2-3 rounds, my stuff starts looking pretty good...

The last time I had the coupe painted (2018), my buddy at the body shop and I swapped out some welding labor for a paint job over my body work. The paint wasn't perfect, but neither was the body work., but at least I didn't have to paint it. It probably would have looked a lot better had I spent another 2 months doing body work, but it is what it is.
I'm soon going to start to do body work on my latest project, and it will get painted. At this point, I'm just not sure who will be doing the deed.
Did I ever tell you I hate doing body work?

 

I painted my first car, the yellow '37 2dr sedan in this picture in our carport when I was 14 yrs. old.
A guy worked at Luke AFB in Phoenix, AZ, and "appropriated" a gallon of air force paint and gave it
to me. As I had very little money and lots of time, I was riding high. Went from faded black to shiny
yellow, which in '62 was a cool hot rod color on a car. Learned a lot about what not to do. Also painted
a friend's car with spray cans that actually turned out pretty good.

 

Yes I have painted a few. Decent but not show car quality by an means. Didn't have a paint booth or high dollar equipment at my convenience. Likely that would have helped with the finished product. Then I drove them like I stole them.

 

Drug my shirt through the last coat of clear.



Buffed out Ok....




-Abone.

 

Every pic in this thread looks damn good to me.
Y'alls some talented folks.

 

Painted in my driveway PPG single stage urethane no clear . I could not afford to have someone else paint it . Babies needed shoes ! Good , Bad it’s the best I could do with the gifts God gave me .

 

Yep, right where I store it beside my house …..piece by piece
HD black…… Ditzler 9000

 

Painted my roadster almost 30 years ago, Glasurit single stage. I used to restore high end cars for a living. I don't do it much anymore.

 

Yes sir. Had to get it all one color. Not show quality but I am happy with results. Don't worry about chips or scratches as old blue is driven everywhere.

 

I'm no expert, but I have painted a few of my cars. This is the only picture I have to show completed paint job.

 

Yes.

 

Did it myself since I can't afford to get it done and haven't seen any volunteers to do the deed. Still have the hood to do and am not looking forward to sanding the lovers.

 

Lacquer from summer of 1980. A few small areas have some small cracks but overall still pretty good.

 

painted these but man am I slow

 

Plan to paint my Willys Coupe along these lines...

 

Built a paint booth in my shop. Here are some of the Harbor Freight purple gun paint jobs I have done. Pickup was filthy when I snapped that photo! The only DIY I don't do on a project is chrome plating and sewing upholstery.

 

Single stage non-metallic is your friend. Quality enamel is a great finish, our cars aren't sitting outside for years. Urethane single stage is better. Learning your gun adjustments, spray pattern / overlap that works for you consistently takes practice. If the gun isn't doing what you want, or the paint isnt laying right, can you adjust it.

By the time you get everything prepped, primed, blocked, (repeat) you'll be ready to lay down some color. Single stage non metallic can have the orange peel and runs sanded out if you have an issue.

A junkyard hood and fender, gallon of rustoleum and some acetone. Paint it every weekend until you feel good with your gun and laying down coats. Pretty cheap way to shoot a lot of practice paint.

 

the base/clears leave a lot of leeway for the amateur painter-can screw up and fix it pretty quick, time and again. Single stage is another story, it better be right the first time. My first single stage job on an el camino came out looking like a pair of suede shoes. I do mine and have done a few others for friends, but now the cost of supplies and equipment almost kills the amateur. Better to find someone who can do it right the first time.