Customs Preserving patina but fixin' what needs it

Howdy HAMB Community,

So I'm pretty new here but have already found the site to be a wealth of information--thank you all for that! Apologies if I misplaced the thread, but customs seemed like the spot.

My dad is helping (actually doing most at this point--he's in Memphis and I'm in Austin) build up my '53 Chevy truck. Due to a half century of neglect, it has a beautiful patina. I'm of the persuasion that it has too many dents, dings, and rust holes to reasonably (or should I say affordably?) ever bring back to being a show car, so for the time being, all of the efforts are going into frame, chassis, engine, etc. Maybe one day if the budget changes, or I find a great body, that may change. I want it to be a daily driver though, so I like the idea of being able to park it anywhere and not have to contemplate murder over a door ding.

As I said, I love the patina. There are a few spots where the rust needs to be cut out, though, like the bottom/back of the cab...typical. Once they are in, I'm not to worried about matching it back. My question is this--as it stands right now, the truck is filthy and has lots of surface rust. What should I do to best preserve the look, but not have to worry about if anyone near it has had their tetanus shot or not? My guess is a matte or flat clear coat, but I'd love to hear what others say. If this is the answer, is there any reason to not use krylon to do the job? Probably most importably, what is the best way to prep it before painting? Pressure wash? Sanding? Or.....? Especially on spots like the tailgate.

Pictures below for reference

Thanks so much for your input!! And any word on whether the Hot Rod Revolution show will make it back to Austin this year? I've been to dozens of car shows and it was hands down the best I've ever been to!!!

 

There was a thread recently about saving/enhancing patina. Search it and you will likely find all you want to know. tim

 

What some call patina I call rust,,I see guys clear coating it all the time but I'm not a fan.

You might try using CLR. HRP

 

Yes, I've read most of those, but haven't seen an answer I feel fits what I really seek to know...lemme try to be more specific:

++According to many, I've seen it referred to as "patina," but I also seen many say patina is just the old faded paint...not here to talk about the semantics of whether it is patina or not, you can see the pics.

++Some say clear coat over rust, but others say it makes it look fake; does anyone have any experience or pics of a flat clear coat over rust? How did that go for you?

++I've seen folks say straighten it out and paint it. As mentioned, for money reasons that is not even an option at that stage in the game. I'd love to do it, but just can't right now...

++Others say boiled linseed/parafin/bowling alley wax, etc.; do I just wash it really well with soap and water before applying this? Also, does this not make it greasy or shiny? Just because I don't want rust all over my clothes when I lean against it doesn't mean I want a big grease stain?

Thanks again!

 

Thanks HRP. Yes, I'll settle for calling this one rust. The CLR is a good idea I haven't seen yet. Thanks. Have you had any experience using it on something like this?

 

I haven't used it myself but remember reading about it somewhere,it reportedly brings out the color underneath the surface rust.

It's relatively inexpensive and worth a try. HRP

 

If you're into it, CLR and then either keep it rubbed down with Gibbs oil. It looks like surface rust from the tiny pics on my phone. Is that correct or is it actually a rust whole riddled truck? In that case, buck up and start saving nickels for patch panels.

 

This has been kinda a theme on my old truck. #1 fix rust, it's not cool., #2 nice paint and body work can't be beat, but when you are building a budget driver/beater, sometimes you've got to work with what you've got. Cut it out and patch it if you need to, and blend the areas back in. If it's just surface rust try some CLR.

Don't clear coat rust, it's dumb.

 

no patina, make it pretty!

 

I agree with Danny, we didn't know the word patina, back in the day.

 

Patina has been around since the big bang - shiny things have only been around since you were seven months old and wanted to lick them.

 

True story and I suspect typical all across the country. Avondale Mills Community, Birmingham Al late 1950s...
A young boy jr high age, admires an older highschool age boy's car. Like young boys do, the older boy was a hero to the younger kids, although he may never have known that. It was an old car, kind of beat up. He did the basics first, wheels tires, got it to drive well, souped the engine. The car was covered in primer spots. Every week the number of primer spots would grow.
Then came that fateful day; a day that that is still in the young boys memory although now he is in his 70s, when a beautiful, shiny honest to goodness hot rod pulls in the drive where the former primer spotted "beater" had been. Even the Moms and Dads took notice. The young hot rodder had cemented himself as a hero to some of the boys on his street creating memories that are still fresh many decades later.
The truth is, the car may not have been all that great. It may not have been a show winner. Who knows what the builder really felt about it? He obviously took pride in it and done his best. To the younger boys though, before the age of artificial or cyber entertainment, his every move was watched. When it was finished, that first look as cruised down the road, had a lasting impact. He was a hero because he took old car, one that was tired abused and gave new life. In that day and time it was nearly every young man's dream to do just that.
Work toward the goal. Patina although it has it's place is at times is just a cop out by the lazy in most situations. Do what you can to improve it. If a body panel is too rough to save, run it until you can replace it, but do repair or replace it. Try for the finish line, not the halfway point. It may wear patina for a little while but that should not be the finished product. Fake patina I'm not even going to talk about it.
Your truck body looks really good. CLR is good to remove rust stains as some of the paint may be intact underneath. Where there is active rust, wire brush it sand it off try to kill it as best you can. Rattle can primer it and find as close a match to that GM Juniper Green as you can rattle can those spots until you can do better.
I hope you are planning to run the original frame because if you think the body is too expensive to repair correctly, you have not seen anything yet if you are attempting a "craigslist special" frame swap.

 

There's that "P" word again.

If "P" = rust, dents, faded paint etc, why do ANYTHING to it? Leave it alone and you will just get more of that wonderful "P"!

 

That looks like a nice solid truck. CLR and a 320 grit pad will clean that up quite a bit. At that point you could put a thin rattle can clear on it (Eastwood sells one) or you could put “Ospho” ,which is a acid etch, on it the rust. That would darken the rust areas somewhat. Then just keep it garaged when not driving. Here are a couple of links to read on the subject:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/how-to-reveal-patina-under-surface-rust.953854/

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...d-gold-108k-original-miles-patina-rod.520460/ (scroll down to post #15)

The truck looks like it’s disassembled. If you plan on painting it eventually, I would be tempted to get it de-rusted (preferable media blasted) them coat it with epoxy primer. Labor intensive but not expensive. You can prime it in the driveway. That will keep it nice for quite a while and you can do your bodywork right over the epoxy primer.

Oh, and don’t let the resident HAMB opinion posters tell you what you should like. Do what you want…you’ll be much happier.
Whatever you do, post some pics of the results.

 

Thanks for all of the feedback, especially to F-ONE, flthd31, and fourspeedwagon.

To fourspeedwagon: yes, a lot is surface, some is deeper (the tailgate in particular is really rough), and there are the typical rust holes at the bottom of the bed.

To F-ONE and flthd31: yes, that story sounds familiar...and I grew up with that same dream of a hot rod. I would love to paint it one day, but as I mentioned, the big push now is going towards making it a solid daily driver that handles great (fat man mustang2 kit, four link, etc.). I've been able to stomach all of that, but there are enough small dents and such that paint will look like crap unless it's a great paint job, and you wouldn't do a great paint job without great bodywork, and unfortunately that's not in my skillset and the whole thing will just spiral out of control...one day I might bite that bullet, but not this year. For better or worse, it's either suspension/motor OR paint/body right now, and I've chosen suspension/motor. I'm not "copping out" so much as prioritizing the drive-ability. Furthermore, though it clearly offends many on here, that "look" is conveniently in style right now, it's not bothering me how it looks, and I already have it (no "faux patina" here...)

For the Eastwood clear--are you talking about the "patina preserver"? It's the only one I've seen that doesn't have a gloss effect. I've seen several folks in this and other threads mention the Gibbs oil: which will be easier to overcome in a few years when I begin on the body phase of the project?

I mentioned I know very, very little about bodywork. Any good places to recommend? Keep in mind its a hobby, I already have a day job and don't need another!

 

Check this one out, Squeeg's Epoxy Clear.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=521125

Maybe any industrial clear type epoxy, I don't know where he get's it but I'm sure it is just repackaged.

I have a project truck that looks just like yours. For now I'm going to leave it just as is. Then, maybe a light cleaning with CLR.

https://plus.google.com/photos/114095074910870950966/albums/5946522328274747281

 

Nice project! And you even have a helper!

Thanks for the tip in squeeg's, I'll check it out.

 

If you wore the same wore out shoes for 50 years and someone finally gave you a new outfit and kept you old crappy shoes on you how would you feel? Give that girl a coat of paint

 

Not sure how many ways to say it, but right now this girl's not getting an outfit or some shoes. I'm going to give her a sexy new set of legs so she can run around like she's 18 again, and she'll have to wait for that outfit…she's waited 62 years, a few more is it going to hurt her…

 

Yes, that what I was thinking but I have NO experience with it.
If you are eventually painting it, using any product with the word "oil" in it gives me nightmares...fisheyes comes to mind. My thought is that a thin coat of clear could be removed easily. You have to remove the rust anyway. Oil has a tendency to sink in deep.
That said, a lot of bikers and gun restorers swear by Gibbs oil. I have no experience with that product either.

 

I have had the best luck giving it a clr bath and a nice rub down with a red scotch bright pad. then wash and wax. If you want to get rid of primer over original paint. I have used a little reducer on the pad and some elbow grease.
I turned this

into this

maybe spent $30
1/2 gallon of medium reducer and two dozen red pads

 

I am got going to get into the patina rust debate here. It is not worth my time.

I am gong to tell you something that we did when I was a kid and that they were doing clear back into the '50s that I know of. When we had a vehicle that we were going to drive and it had rust that needed repair or even places where the paint was so thin that it was getting rusty was to primer the bad spots. Some times the cars got several different colors of primer because we would use whatever someone else had at the time

it was certainly not the perfect paint job that everyone wanted but it was a way to keep a car from rusting away as it went through various stages of repair.

 

Im keeping this one like this for now. Going to paint thr fire wall and frame only. Will CLR and wire brush the rust and use gibs oil. I tihink its perfect just like it is
But in case I decide to paint, the underneath stuff will not have to be messed with.

 

@chstitans42 posted a good video working to remove the surface rust from his 1956 Caddy:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...surrection-thread.835425/page-8#post-10521973

 

Pdunn, I like it better in the 2nd picture.NICE! Bruce.

 

CLR and scotchbrite will show you what you've got. On the areas with basically no paint evaporust will work quicker.
Buff johnsons paste wax onto it, it's made for floors, but it's a heavy carnauba and holds up better than regular car wax.
On the areas with no paint and the patch panels, get them down to rust free metal. An idea would be, get some color matched paint, add flattener and either shoot it with a gun, or reduce heavily and wipe it on with a rag. The entire truck will be scotchbrite finish, so rub the "new" paint with scotchbrite to blend it in.
I wanna see pics as you go. That truck would also look good in epoxy primer tinted to the original paint color.

 

I am an older fart on here, but IMO you truck certainly has what I consider Patina.
Clean it up as described on other posts with vinegar or other stuff, then clear coat it and you will have a really cool truck.
I do not care personally for fake patina, so don't mess with it.
Also total rust is not patina, it is junk....
Your call, and it looks like you could go many ways on that truck, so your options are totally open.....
So as I have told way too many friends over the years that have divorced....
Listen to what everyone tells you...think about it, then do WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT...
Good luck

 

Get some Dupli- Color touch-up spray can paint that matches the original FADED color of the truck. Patch the rust holes and spot in those areas with light grey primer and the Dupli-Color spray can paint. A friend of mine does this, and he fogs the paint on, and sometimes even fogs a little primer over the color paint while it's still wet.....he says you just have to play with it, and fake it in.

When you decide to put a real paint job on it, just sand blast off the Dupli-color paint and surface rust and do a proper paint job.

 

TTT

 

Paint the tailgate and bedside. It's beyond patina, looks like it was stripped bare and allowed to rust, almost looks like heat-fire damage, it needs something.