After seeing a lot of cool cars with fantastic paint in the Detroit Autorama gallery earlier today and then the little mini-feature on the 1954 Chevy we say at Famoso, today has been filled with beautifully painted stuff here on BangShift. On the flip side, we have Project Buford T Justice (update coming soon!), Chad’s “Rusty” wagon, and other projects that seem allergic to looking nice. We love our fair share of patina and maybe even a little primer here and there, but all of a sudden, killer paint is becoming more of an obsession.
We’re wondering how important good paint…or any paint is to you and your personal ride or tastes in hot rod. Do you want Ridler quality work on your stuff, Maaco quickie action, or spray bombed driveway art on the flanks? Do you like flat colors, murals, multi-toned jobs, or traditional single color work combined with chrome trim and stuff. What about wheels? Body color wheels is something we really dig, especially if we’re talking about larger diameter steel smoothie pieces.
Buford T Justice will eventually get painted. In my mind, Maaco is probably the route I am going because frankly, anything is a step up to where I am at now and its probably the budget level I can afford. That may be a violation to come who like the grubby looks and a violation to others who think that their work isn’t up to snuff. There’s lots of drama in paint, eh?
QUESTION OF THE DAY: HOW IMPORTANT IS PAINT TO YOU?
Probably going to be in the minority here, but paint really doesn’t fuss me very much. My car’s in satin black, looks a bit more matte than regular paint but still has a slight shine compared to full on flat paint. (theres a pik of my car, 2 door XB Falcon on Bangshift somewhere) – crazy thing is, everyone stops in their tracks to check it out and I get heaps of really positive comments about how much the paint suits it etc. Truth is its just cheap anti rust paint I sprayed cos I got sick of grey primer. End of the day my car gets used every day for everything. I can’t go losing sleep if it gets a little worn or picks up a scratch. If it gets too bad, quick sand and blow on another coat. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the skill involved in a nice paint job but I can’t see the point when fear of getting a mark on it dictates how you use the car.
It depends on what I’m building. I want cars that I drive on the street to look good without drawing attention from the wrong (cops) kind of folks. But none my drag cars have ever got past the primer stage. With them I let the go be the show.
Fancy paint jobs are for show cars that don’t get driven. Who want’s to worry about some clown in a jacked up pickup putting scratches on it?
It all depends. I drive a ’57 GMC pickup that sports original paark bench green paint that’s worn through all the way to the original primer in many places, plus it has plenty of bumps and bruises. The hidden mechanics, however, are all new, all hot rod.
I also drive a ’35 Plymouth coupe with high gloss Laser Red paint. I’ve driven it all over the U.S., including two visits to Bonneville’s Speed Week. It looks great with its polish but no matter what i do, the Ford 302, 447 horsepower engine, can’t smoke the rear tires due to the ride’s highway friendly rear end.
It is not that important to me. Sure, I would love a killer paint job on my rides, but as they are my daily drivers too there is a certain comfort in knowing I dont have to fret over every little rock chip, scratch or parking lot rash. A nice interior is much more important to me than shiny paint.
For me, a good paint job is a sure fire curse of bad luck.
Every single car which I have invested the blood, sweat and tears to get perfect body and paint, has met a heinous demise.
Now, I just don’t paint ’em. What is on it is what it is!
I like my rides to have a respectable paint job,not a 50 footer. I painted my Duster myself at the Hickam AFB hobby shop in 2001, and the paint still retains it shine.
Nice shiny paint shows pride of ownership. Doesn’t have to be show quality, a good Maaco job is fine. Flat or primer says it isn’t finished yet.
in your opinion…..
Never really care for the “perfect” paint job. Performance is the name of the game so whats under the hood is better than whats on top of the hood!
I think all hot rodders would LOVE an awesome paint job, even the commenters here saying such a thing is not important to them. My point is that, they have set the paint aspect of their project to a very low priority, opting for speed, performance, etc. Sort of like, they will get there, someday, when they are OK with freeing up some cash to spend on paint, cash that isn’t already committed to speed parts or college tuition for kids. Everybody gets there if they live that long
I don’t know jack, I’m 66 and have built several cars over the years. I’ve never wanted an expensive paint job on any of them. I don’t have to worry about some idiot scratching it that way.
agreed – don’t assume everyone wants or likes the overrrestored shiny as all hell look….
I’m a fan of affordable paint and plan to drive in the real world, complete with near-sighted old folks in parking lots, kids on bikes, giant goony birds taking dumps from a thousand feet up, gravel roads, things falling off transport trucks and all manner of other opportunities for expensive paint to be reduced to crap in a second. So for me MAACO-quality paint is fine — my current project will soon be in the local MAACO shop.
I can go either way. I spent 4 hours prepping and respraying the satin black on my ’59 Chevy PU Sunday afternoon. On the last shiny project I sprayed, I spent 75 hours blocking, spraying, sanding, and buffing. I’ve probably spent at least half that time again telling the kids to stay away from it, to use the handles, and spent plenty of time in the doghouse for asking my wife not to lean on it.
I’ve had a little of them all. Primer, patina, and finally nice paint. While it’s certainly not a necessity I do like bitchen paint. However there is a place for it all, wether its a look you are going after or the budget just doesn’t exist for it. Variety is the spice of life!
Had my 68 400 firebird conv in primer for a year or so, Drove it everywhere. My neighbor up the street who I didn’t even know offered to paint it to keep moisture out. He did it his shop in a couple weeks and only charged me 500 bucks ! The car looked so freakin’ good I was afraid to drive it!! It’s earned some chips but It still looks awesome 20 years later, and I drive it!!
I wish I could find that guy….