Projects Painting your rod or custom

Seems like every time I go and mix a bunch of colors together, it always comes out "moose nose brown"!

 

Getting the car to the point that it ready to paint is the fun part for me, applying the color is sort of a let down, project is over deal. For everyone that disliked bodywork I bet you understand electricity and enjoy wiring your car, don't you? Bob

 

Did a Black vette once , where you could see the second hand on your wrist watch move , and it stayed in a perfect straight line as it went around, and when it drove buy you,you just couldn't see it , it mirrored the surroundings so well it dang near disappeared.

 

Ah ya, don't let yer wrist watch, or your meat loaf, or your rubber tire, and or your lip stick... ahHa...lol buy bye

 

But the absence of any color at all... that can strike some deep thought lol!


"Keep on keepin' on"

 

Twenty years ago, I sent my 36 to a body shop full of students, ultimately to be painted orange, but with the cheap price came an agreement the students could play around with the truck to get what they needed for some experience. Got a call one Saturday morning, come look at the truck, one of them had mixed up some metalflake in some black basecoat, loved it, been that way since. No uv protection has left it faded a little but still beautiful.

 

It's the single most important decision you'll make, what color. We all have a favorite color, organic or applied, there's always one that we like. I like green. It's best to look at every version from pastel to nearly black, metallic or opaque, candy, variants that are on "each side" of the color. In my case yellow-green to blue-green. Reds have shades that are more blue than direct red, more orange too. Whites and black, silvers and darker grey metallics. Fads are dangerous and can be expensive in the future when they fall from grace. Pastels and even pinks come to mind. What the hell were we thinking! Fun topic...

 

Thankfully I never subscribed to the Easter Egg colors & tweed interiors,I suppose I was a resto rodder back during those dark days. HRP

 

I did my avatar black on a weekend, five odd years ago.
It looked so good, that I almost decided against doing the planned flames, the next weekend.
I'm sure glad I did go with the flames, as it gets some warm color in, to balance out the cold black.
Paint is all about balance. The right amount, in the right places.

 

And if you really cant make up your mind, just put the PRIMER on it and drive it around like that for a while..
Sorry, couldnt resist.

 

Black is NOT a color.... Black is a JOB!

And yes Danny you are right about that, I think the bee's see the yellow, orange and red in my Flame job as a flower, you should see how angry the bee's get when they try to pollinate it!

 

No way a body shop or painter pro, but have spent time and efforts at it in years past. Working on a race car restoration that I'm going to paint myself so I can say, just like the in old days, I painted several of my racers back in the day. I do agree that color choice can make or break the "Look" of a car, but it's about personal choice and that's what makes our Hobby so interesting, the diversity of style, cars/trucks/rods/engines. HRP talked about changing mind on paint color and at today's material prices, labor costs, IMO, you better choose well because to change it is a deal way beyond any sense of practical, but the car hobby is not about being practical anyway.

 

Like to change your mind on color ?
This relatively low cost, very low on commitment, looks pretty good, and user friendly.

 

Color change for Higher end fickle consumer who can't decide .

 

Take a hard look in person not pictured renditions of your style car at shows. Don't just pick a color to be different like purples, oranges, pinks and yellows. You'll likely grow tired of the flash even of it looks good on the car. Can't tell you how many times I've heard a guy defend a pastel or pretty color on a car that just looked wrong with the statement
"Girls like it".

 

I've painted three cars now.
Mostly because I'm cheap.
I am proud of the fact that I did the work. Won't ever paint another though. I didn't enjoy the countless hours of bodywork and colorsanding and buffing.
Now, I tend to enjoy the original muted colors the best. My choices, I am sure are driven by the fact I am shade color blind.


..

 

...as said by a guy with a white car...

 

Paint?

 

Probably because he let the boss lady pick out the color.

Case in point,when I joined tri-city rod & custom in the early 70's one of the older guys had a beautiful black 39 Ford coupe with a wicked flathead he had owned since he was a teenager and I would have given a arm & a leg for the car,

Then along came the street rod craze of mono chrome and Easter Egg colors and he painted the car that way to appease his wife who unfortunately passed away shortly after he took delivery of the pepto bismo pink de-chromed abortion with splash graphics,the poor guy still has the car and rarely drives it. HRP

 

My last pant job was black. HRP

 

I think "moose nose brown" doesn't look bad...

 

rusty1, the white car is a just completed nut and bolt frame off restoration and is a for sale. The paint on it is truly show quality. It doesn't have anything even close to an imperfection. Its too nice to even drive. If it was a car I was going to keep it would have been black.

Gary

 

A good friend of mine has a 32, 2 door sedan ,chopped ECT.,but can't make up mind on color. Almost 40 yrs. Building car and last 5 wondering about color.

Sent from my K88 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

painted mine black.with thinned out 1shot and a brush.tough as nails

 

My condolences.

 

This reminds me of when I was finishing my roadster and decided that since I was painting quite a few flame jobs at the time , I'd do mine as a sales tool . The finished product looked good and I sold a lot of flame work from it . However since my own taste is a bit conservative , over time I grew tired of the attention and decided to go back to a single color. So after about six months and considerable effort I now have what I've been driving for the last few years . About a year ago I did add a single color double pinstripe down the belt line . Here's a few before , during and finished pics .

 

Damn hot flames Philly the Greek. One fine deuce there.. ultrafine

 

I vacillate over this shit all the time. I dunno what's gonna happen. It'll be ratty up first anyway probably. The stock colour on my car is a weird pastelloid 92+white, coupla % blue & yella, plus a good lil' whack of black. Kinda like a pale stinky french cheese. I may just go with that.
However.. maybe use that cheese in the jambs , int etc, with black 2 tone, and a metallic deep green body exterior (good drop o red in it). Kinda like '56 Ford colour . My car is a '56.

 

That's how Richie Evans painted his modifieds. A friend of his worked for the Department of Public Works and had access to large amounts of orange paint they used on their fleet.

 

Paint takes the fun out of enjoying the car, at least to me. No more sitting on the fender, resting tools or a beer on it. All last summer I drove around with a spilled beer stain down the trunk lid and some ring marks from cans.

I have the car cut in for Wimbledon White, so white it will be one day. I may do the roof for now just to cool the car off and get the window trim back on, possibly shoot some clear pearl on it. The rest I may do in grey sealer and put all the trim on the car.