Technical DID YOU PAINT YOUR HOT ROD OR CUSTOM?

Hello,

A Racer Orange or Red was the goal of the original 348 powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery that a friend from Jr. H.S and high school painted on his finished project. When he rolled through the Bixby Knolls drive-in restaurant parking lot, the color was Orange. All everyone heard and noticed was the sound of the big 348 chugging as it cruised by everyone in the parking lot, doing their usual Friday night thing.

But, as the 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery came rolling down the back alley and into a preferred spot in the back row, everyone flocked to see what it was and the details. Upon closer inspection of the cool sedan delivery with the hood raised, no one noticed the color, including me. We all thought it was Orange or a version of Orange. There was a bright Red 40 two door Ford Sedan sitting just a few cars down the row and we all knew it was Red. It had a Buick motor and LaSalle transmission. The White upholstery made the Red sedan stand out from afar.

When it got around to someone asking what color the new 348 powered sedan delivery was painted, the answer was Red. But the teens all gathered around compared the two “Red” Ford hot rods and something was not right between the two RED hot rods. If the 40 sedan was Red then the sedan delivery was not. That much was evident. So, the name calling colors began as teenagers wanted answers and colorful names came to the forefront. The most popular choice for naming the sedan delivery paint color was “Salmon Pink.” That too has many layers as there are light Salmon and dark Salmon colors in the real fish.

Jnaki

So, the story came out that in the final hour of the night before, Thursday, the sedan delivery was under a plastic tarp covering the car port. That is where the paint was sprayed. To us, that was a job well done as there were no ripples or Orange peels in the finished color. But, it was not a Red or Red/Orange color. The owner had been working non stop in the 348 powered build and the last item was to get the paint done prior to the Friday night cruise and show in the parking lot.

Well, as a late night paint mix, the colors were there, but tired eyes and the dark counter played tricks on the application. The sedan delivery looked “Salmon Pink” in the daylight and under the parking lot lights.

Now, this is good and bad. We were all impressed with the build and overall appearance of blackwall tires and rims with a little smoothy hubcap all around. It looked and sounded mean as it idled and move across the lot. The paint was just the topping on the cake. The sedan delivery that no one knew about or had seen before opened many eyes and the comments started coming on like a fire.

The most mentioned item was calling it “Salmon Pink.” Even the girls like the Salmon Pink color. So, that just made the owner mad. The next week came and the sedan delivery was for sale. The owner was
mad that everyone was now calling it “Salmon Pink.” So, he had a for sale sign that had no takers as no one wanted a “Salmon Pink” hot rod. Actually, no one knew or had seen a sedan delivery other than the local milk delivery guy.

I offered him a price and we settled on a good compromise. He said he could take out the 348 motor and put in a Flathead motor for the cost he would sell it to me. He told everyone he was in need of a power motor for his next full drag race build project. No one ever saw a 348 powered anything, but in the later years, he and his friends built a 1320 record setting AA/FD class fuel dragster.

His painting skills were always in question, but at least he tried. My painting projects never looked as good in real life as they looked on paper, including flames and my pinstriping skills never made the light of day, either.

The Salmon Pink sedan delivery was the hit of the daily parking spaces in front of our high school and at the beaches. It was also a huge hit at the surf movies that took place all over So Cal. It gave me thousands of miles on our surf trips all up and down the So Cal coastline. Salmon Pink? Who cared, it was a home-made paint job that looked good with several rounds of polish. Surfers were individuals, anyway… right at home on this project.

I drove the Salmon Pink ford sedan delivery from 1960 to 1965. Then, I sold it to a surf shop owner in Huntington Beach, CA. The new owner was taking credit for building the sedan delivery and painting it, too... He was known as an all talk, no action guy, but his store customers did not care... YRMV

 

Painted mine in my backyard shed

 

Years ago I painted a 58 Buick in black enamel in my garage and it looked real good so I decided to pull it out of the garage to get a better look and just as I opened the garage door my wife came out on the front porch and shook a dirty rug out about 20 feet from the wet car, so much for that paint job.

 

Trying to practice up to be able to shoot several things soon. Painted my kids wheels for his Edsel today and will likely paint the hood and wiper grill tomorrow.

 

Just bought a gallon of enamel called "CTA gray" for almost nothing. Something is getting painted gray soon . I have some silver pearl, will throw it in a test panel and see what happens.

I need to stop by the paint store, the "mixmaster" sells mismatches cheap, I pick up pints and quarts to mess around with.

 

I mix my paint one gun at a time. Someone commented that I'll never match the color. Does anyone else mix the whole pot? The cowl dash and rocker panel was painted at 3 different times. I'm happy.

 

I have never had issue painting a car in pieces, especially if a non-metallic color. However, I painted a light blue metallic vette one time in pieces and it all matched as well. I just was sure to position the parts the same as they hung on the car. So, I painted doors hanging upright like they would be if mounted, etc.

I assume you are talking about the actual mix of the paint with reducer, activator, etc. and not mixing the toners together per gun? But, even mixing the actual color with toners can be fine as well as long as someone pays attention to what they are doing. I personally like to mix enough color for a whole job, but only mix enough to shoot the parts I need done with the activator, reducer, etc. as I need to shoot the parts.

 

Yes, I bought a half gallon of green and mix it with reducer and hardener as I need it. It seems easier than painting the whole truck at once. I don't have a paint booth.

 

Thats the way I did it on my panel (see earlier post). Painted it in pieces over several weeks, everything matches.

 

Took me 15 months to get to the epoxy primer and red wheel stage. After a 5 year, 20K+ mile
"road test" session, I finally took it apart for paint. Took 3 months. I painted it in a makeshift spray booth in my shop. Acrylic enamel with hardener. I am an orange peel painter. My modus operandi is to get a lot on there so I have enough paint to aggressively sand the orange peel. It worked pretty good on this one. It is slicker than snot after a good cut and buff. I painted it in pieces and it all matched well. After painting, I made some changes and needed to make a new hood. I didn't have enough paint to do another hood, so I bought another quart from the same store and mixed by the same guy. The hood doesn't match now with the new quart. It is not dark enough. Now I wish I had bought another quart when I bought the gallon.
I would say it is OK to mix your paint by the gunfull, but if you have paint in 2 cans, you better mix them together.

 

Just finished the final cut and buff