i recently purchased a car that i "think" has a pretty strong history. not a famous history but a strong one... i go back and forth in my head as to what should be done with the car. its half updated and half left alone... should I "fake" patina it and regress it to a perfect example of how it was? should i leave it alone and enjoy driving it? should i restore it? these are the questions that run through my head daily all in all i just love the feeling of sitting in it, driving it, holding it wide open. and knowing someone did the same thing in the majority of this car for quite some time and thats what makes it all worth while so.... "Shit man… I love traditional hot rods… Don’t you? " YES I DO!! Zach
Sounds like you love it as is...so drive the hell outta the thing until you don't like it any more then change it. It's only original once. Whatever you do, don't go the fake patina route. glenn33 www.carartonline.com
Yeah, man... I sure do. What ever you do with that Car, dont Fauxtina it. I's sort of cool on Cars that have no History that can be traced, and its the perfect gimmic to make Fiberglass Phantom bodied Street Rods look interesting. I'd only use that to try and match a replacement panel to the rest of the Car that has real Patina...
I read Ryans complete journal entry and I am torn. I guess it really is best that way. I love cars with real patina, as Zach has posted an example above. But when reading Ryans entry I came to the conclusion I have been growing in my mind. The car's "soul" is really the builders soul. I have no problem with the Myers or Oroscos of this world restoring original hot rods. I can guarantee you the original builders intent is represented in those restorations (they wanted them as nice as they could be). Remember someones "patina" is another persons dirt.
i ran out of time to type at work....so now at home heres my thoughts and problems with it first off the car obviously has a history, the interior is all aged to perfection, the motor is rather "worn in" looking but the body has a nice new coat of gloss black paint. it just doesnt match...i doubt I'll do anything other then letter it up once i figure out its history a bit more defonitely...but i do think about it alot now i have built a car from scratch (all old parts) and went the "fake" patina route on it...i kinda like it..it looks old and out of the barn but its not real and that bugs me. i just tried to carry out the entire car to match the sum of the pieces...old worn out/worn in parts some day im gona rip it all apart and make it nice...but for now it was a quick and easy way to make it look kinda cool rather then try to polish a turd i guess its all in what makes you happy i just hope that people keep preserving the ones that they can rather then smoothing them over to look like fiberglass... new paint and new upholstery or old "looking paint and upholstery" is still better in my eyes as it still "looks like an old hot rod" either way heres my new/OLD car and heres my "fake" car both of them are cool and both seem like going back in time just the same i guess in the end all you can say is to each their own Zach
People freak out when I tell them I want to paint my car. "you're nuts, it's perfect!" This paint job was done in '64 after my Dad bought the car. He always wanted it to be repainted after he gave it to me. I am torn too. Running my Dad's car in the paint when he was running... that's kinda priceless. But at the same time, the car is in such good shape, it really deserves to be as nice as I can make it. HotRodChassis and I are beginning to plan the full teardown within the next couple years... a different frame with a P&J front end, and the HRCC rear end, and if he gets his way... a 5 speed (which Dad is stoked about) But when it does get repainted, think of the patina and history it will have in the next 40 years.
EXACTLY! As I posted before, the soul your Dad put into the car will always be there, especially palpable to you. Maybe you can leave the glove box door unpainted just polish it up to the best of your abilities and you can have the best of both worlds.
This weekend, he told me for years he wanted to take off the spare tire, and my uncle wouldn't let him because that's what seperates the 35/36 from the 37-40s. He still hated it and left it on because of my uncle. When he gave it to me, he let me fill the holes. Now though, he's decided that it should be put back on for the same reasons my uncle wouldn't let him take if off years ago. I told him the spare looks good on the 3 window, and I will leave the spare on the cabrio, but now since he told me that he wanted it off when he was 16, it will NEVER go back on the 5 window. hahahaha
I dyed my hair gray, wear 'fake' glasses and walk with a cane. Just trying to look OLDER than I am..............hahahahaha!! Really, why take a car with nice paint and make it look old? Patina is EARNED.
Great Editorial I am on the fence as well. With my truck,....I prefer to carry the torch and make it breathe again....a tribute of sorts to the original owner.... but my car. I am just happy enuff it made it this far...
Funny, my Dad and I were just talking about this topic over the weekend. He was telling me how much he is getting tired of the "rat rods and field cars"(his words). He said the whole time he has been doing cars(40+ years) the goal was: getting it on the road, then continuing to make it look better until it was nicely finished painted and upholstered. Now it seems like if you have a nice car your critisized and labeled a gold chainer. I see many of the "finished" ratrods and think how cool they would look with paint and an interior. Everybody tries to make them look like they were "back in the day", but if you ask most of the guys who really were there, the ultimate goal was a nice FINISHED car like they saw in the magazines... I say finish it nice!
and heres my "fake" car Both are very nice cool rides!! I love the fake one. ha . It is awesome. Probably just need to switch the interiors like was said before. I'd vote for leaving it alone this has been a funny day with Patina being the key word. There is a post on a 32 3W that had been stripped and made rusty! An original 32 that had good patina and now your cars.
i think I'll just leave them both alone...i didnt mean to start anything about fake patina or not i have an old 32 coupe race car that has the original paint on it from 1962. the frame is kinda rusty and the paint is flaking off. all thats here is the body, roll cage and frame. this car has stood the test of time sitting in a barn. but all the parts have gone missing. this dilema is the opposite to most...now its a matter of do we find old grungy parts and put it together how it is...or do we restore it, repaint it etc. its only going to have that original paint on it once. its not like the so-cal coupe or the pierson coupe. where a 100 point restoration was necissary to bring it back to how it was this one is how it was...just showing quite a few signs of mistreatment and lack of care... and no, i didnt sell any....dont have the heart to do it! who knows.... Zach
I'm probably the exact wrong person to ask but here's my thoughts anyway. I would treat the interior so it doesn't go to crap some sort of leather protector. Stop it where it is so to speak. Keep it clean and leave it alone on the outside, the paint will age on its own if you don't spend a lot of time makeing sure it doesn't. Make you own history in it. Then pass it on when the time is ripe for someone who you know and love to own it.
thanks now if i just had my own place to keep them for the winter...they're going in different peoples garages so that i can have my one garage bay to work in and finish this little track car Zach
This is a "if you have to ask" situation. Your black roadster looks great with the weathered interior. To me, even better than if the rest of the car looked like a clapped out jalopy. Just my opinion though. The whole fake-tina thing is kind of silly. Most people that do this, I'm sure, have there tongues firmly planted in their cheeks. Some do it, as mentioned, to match a couple of small newer panels to the existing field car essence present on the rest of the car. The whole phony shop truck 'livery thing is kind of cool, if you ask me, but can be over done just like EVERY other thing we Americans do. That '37 everybody was talking about(?), I'm on the fence on that one. I saw it up close and the aging techniques used were awesome but...... It's all fun, supposed to be anyway, and for those of us who are concerned with using "just the right " fastener or just the right texture of hammertone grey should maybe get into restoring old tractors or Ferraris.
I made some cracked and tearing leather upholstery useable by taking it off the seat and glueing some model airplane wing covering silk to the back of it with some Duco household cement. Did it just like if I was laminating it with Epoxy and fiberglass, but with the glue and silk instead. Then I put sone leather conditioner on the front side, Monk oil or somethng like that from Tandy leather. I don't know if any of that stuff is available any more but it worked and made the seat useable for the 12 years I used it, a '55 Olds, as a daily driver.
That's a great looking little roadster. I wouldn't do anything to it but drive it, fix stuff that needs to be fixed, and drive it some more. I love how Ryan has such a level head and a clear way of saying what he means. I totally agree. I love original cars and barn finds because I can respect them for what they were. This is how it was done, it's got the wear to show it's been around. And when it comes to fake patina, it just doesn't work. That just about somes it up. While it's no deuce roadster, my '47 coupe was done in the day, and although I've made some changes and redid some things that needed redoing I haven't done anything to modernize it. The yellow paint is older than I am, it's got cracks all over, and the chips I touched up the best I could to make it a little more presentable. Some people love it as is when they see it, and some people ask when I'm going to repaint it. Honestly I go both ways myself sometimes. Originally I planned on repainting it, though I was content to get it safe, running, and driving again. Lately I'm content with how it is, I wax up the old paint best I can and go. If someone doesn't know why, then they obviously don't *get it*. I may repaint it someday, but no time soon.
I think it is a privilege to own a car with patina and history. We are just curator's of these types of cars. Famous or not. As someone said earlier in the post "it only gets to be that way once". Fake patina has it's place in todays assumption of a traditional hotrod. We see it because we are all looking for thoes same cars. IF you can't find it make it. It has it's place because it is all and expression of what each person likes. That's what this hobby is about. The thing that I have a problem with is all the repop parts and then making it look old. If a person is going to make a car look old with patina, use the good old parts. Don't open you speedway book etc and build a car. I am only talking about the parts that the eye can see. As far and making changes or creating patina on a car that has had some freshing up. I say no. It is a part of that cars life. I have a 32 ford that is an old hotrod. I was not the person that uncovered the car. I am the second owner after that. The previous owner did some things that were less than desired. I have changed some things that he did back. Like a Fucking gas door in the rear quarter! That was the major item. It is now filled. The thing that I am having trouble with is if I should feather the yellow back and make the spot job look old. I don't know. Or should I leave it metal and it will be a reminder of who not to sell these cars to. What ever the decision that is made we are lucky to have these cars. Drive the shit out of them. I don't come on here much, just my thoughts. Thanks Steve
Am I the only one that thinks the word "patina" has a total art fag ring to it? It seems more like a word you would hear coming out of an old gay antique dealer. I know there is really no better word to describe a time worn old original finish but "Pateena "just sounds gay. Call me a knuckle draggin neanderthal but I am what I am.
Damn Zach, I wish I had the dilemma that you do. That's such an impressive stable of cars that I would be worried more about how I was going to store them all rather than doing the patina thing. As stated by the others, it looks great the way it is, maybe just make sure you protect the leather from deteriating any more as suggested by porknbeaner. One last thought... leave it as is and you have a well rounded collection, patina it and they all start to look the same. Chris
I didn't read all 30 posts, but if it were mine, I'd put in a new interior, and either sell the old interior to somebody with a car with an older exterior finish, or keep it for a more appropriate project of your own.
The Jalopy Journal
