Projects Black paint, let’s discuss

I'm with a lot of you fellers that have/had a love/hate relationship with black cars. My last was my '12 Ram 1500. Absolutely beautiful when freshly washed! But within minutes here in the central San Joaquin Valley of California, (much dustier that the average town) the dust is already visible. After a few days, I may as well not washed it at all. Too tall and long to fit in the garage.
I also made the mistake of taking it into a drive-thru car wash. Man, don't ever do that!
And when watching cop shows on TV, I'd get pissed because those black SUVs were always perfectly clean even after a car chase!
Anyway. I like lookin' at 'em. Nothing finer than a lazer straight car with mile-deep black paint.
But I'm done with owning 'em.

 

Do flaws and dirt show less glaringly on semi- gloss black?
I think I kind of like this "60%" semi-gloss black.

 

I use Adams detail spray all others leave a film from the sun. Black 32 Roadster

 

Los Control, having had a few Dodge trucks of the era your truck is, I can tell you the glass in the cab is going to put more heat into the cab of the truck while its sitting in the sun then any exterior color will.

That said, my coupe was originally black (very poor condition), through that 1st month of summer, driving up her in northern IL, it was hot inside, an inside thermometer gave me an inside temp +20 degrees hotter then the outside. Around July, I painted the entire car white (before the blue was added). That same inside thermometer gave me readings of +10 hotter then the outside, the only difference was the white paint. At 90 degrees outside, how much difference does 10 degrees make? It cools off faster when it gets moving. A silver or white would probably make a bigger temp difference then a red, or blue would.

A left open vent, and under the roof insolation (one layer on the metal, and then a headliner) made a pretty big difference for the inside temp, those things probably had a lot more impact then the outside color.

 

It’s a love/ hate relationship with my coupe…….but mostly love.

 

There isn't anything that compares with Black. ,That said, I took my pyrometer on my Caddy hood 177 degrees. White hood next to it: 152 degrees.

 

My ot black pickup gets insanely hot inside sitting in the sun. If it's garaged no biggie. My ot sports car that's black is heavy tint on everything but the windshield, and the difference that makes when sitting in the sun is huge. It still gets hot in there, but nowhere near as hot as the truck.

Also, Jeff said he digs silver rods. My shoebox is silver-ish. Some sort of silver/gray/gun metal blue? But it hides dust and dirt incredibly well, so I second Guthrie on that....

Also, my wife's cousin in Chattanooga is married to a black car guy! Lol. He builds some awesome stuff. Currently building a big block in his garage for a mildly ot Chevy. Hell of a good wrench. He just came up and hung out with me this summer. We did some cruising in the box and hit the rifle range. Fun fella. Damn good cook too. He made us dinner one night, lol.

 

A friend says “I love to see black cars, in someone else’s garage!”

 

I like black cars. Especially when they belong to someone else. My '34 was black, I regretted that choice as soon as it was painted. All the character lines of that graceful roadster body kind of disappeared. The color soaks all that up.
For an occasionally driven specialty car, keeping one clean and looking it's best is not near the PIA that a black daily driver is. I have a 2019 RAM pickup that's "Brilliant Black" pearl, and it looked awful all the time until I bought a subscription at a new local car wash that allows me to have it washed as often as I want. They supposedly have some kind of "nano-particle" substance that, I kid you not, leaves it looking like has just been detailed. Which is great since I dislike cleaning and detailing a car.

 

I have had one OT black car. Nothing looks better than a clean black car...... But leave it outside for an hour and it is covered with dust, drive it and it is not clean. Every Fing spec of dust and dirt shows.

 

No, you ruined that one for me. Talking her into Starchief trim….

Now it has to be a two tone.

 

Had one black car and two black pickups. Car wasn't too bad to keep clean, first pickup stayed dirty since it was 4wd and I worked it a lot. Current 4wd is black, cleans up nice, but has dents that show up like moon craters. Some dents I put in it, some the grandson did by beating on it with various objects. It gets washed every once in a while, never wax it . Why? Because it suffers from newer paint breakdown, bare patches on the top and hood. Plan on shooting it from the bottom of the windows up to keep it looking good. If it doesn't match, so what. Not trying to impress anybody with it.

 

It is definitely a "Love/Hate" relationship!

Boy they look great in the shop all polished up, but the problem is you have to drive them to the cruise or show & Viola....they look like crap!

I currently have 4 black vehicles (one of my transporting trucks, 2 other OT cars & my winter beater pickup) I am forever washing or wiping them down with detailer. The one that was not a pain was the 56 Chieftan I sold 2 summers ago, because it was painted Matte Black.

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

I've never had any trouble at all keeping a black car clean, and looking great...because it's always someone else's car! never mine. I wouldn't own one, on purpose.

 

Was getting ready to paint my latest project, the Arin Cee Roadster, glossy black. Nope. Changed my mind. It'll still be black, as Henry intended, but with a bit of flattening agent to cut the gloss. I'm just not into heavy maintenance any more...

 

Man, I dunno. Lots of hate on the color black, but like Mark Moriarity said, when they're clean, ain't much more beautiful than a black car....

They're a pain, hell yes. But absolutely beautiful when all prettied up.

 

That’s what I say about flathead powered Hot Rods!

 

I like BLACK for Hot Rods. Shinny or not.

 

I have said in other posts, "BLACK is not a color, BLACK is a JOB!"
Done right, nothing looks better.

 

The tricks to keeping them looking new. A crayon is what the show car guys use. Get a scratch grab the Crayola and fill that bugger right up.

Black is no different to keep fresh than any other paint. I like to use dark primer under black. Black primer if I can get it.

Hot rod mag did an article a few years back that said that black cars need to be buffed every year. The truth is that this would apply to any color paint if it were true. Keep it waxed and clean and enjoy it.

Or you could paint it red. I have own a couple of red cars I like 'em red. I have owned more black than red though.



NOTE: I did that just to muddy up the waters. My bike currently has 14 coats of hand rubbed black lacquer. You can walk into the paint.

 

The whole post was very useful for me gene thanks for your input.
Really does put my mind at ease with going solid black.

 

I love my black car. Its no lie though, it’s a pain to keep clean.

 

Hey EZI, that black paint sure makes them jack stands look good, black IS beautiful.

 

I've painted my last 3 rods with Valspar/J.D. blitz black...mainly because I'm lazy, and hate washing, wiping-down, waxing, polishing, buffing etc.
A bucket of water, some Dawn, a sponge and hose it off...and it looks like brand new again

BUT BEWARE, your bodywork has to be absolutely perfect to use semi-flat black paint.

With shiny black paint, you are dealing with reflections, which will show big "waves" but those shiny reflections can also hide some smaller imperfections.

With semi-flat black, you are seeing the actual SURFACE of the paint without any distraction (reflections)...and every pinhole, pit and sanding scratch will be visible...and there's no buffing those imperfections out.

 

Let's see...

Shiny tan roadster
All souped up
Like vanilla cappuccino
In a styrofoam cup

Uhhhhh... maybe not.

 

I’m on the fence anyway. I have a first choice color in mind. It seems to be the one I gravitate to most often, but I am always open to other options.

I have been taking note of the amount of black cars today here at the Gathering at the Roc. There are tons. Now, with that said, I have noticed that is is more prevalent with a certain era of builds, which tend to be the early style. Sort of the late 40’s early 50’s build. I am feeling a 1959-62 era for my stuff.