Technical DID YOU PAINT YOUR HOT ROD OR CUSTOM?

I am pretty handy at building hot rods but I am not a painter, believe me I have tried but the results have always been disappointing, back when I was building Harley's I could paint them and the finish product always looked great, I suppose with the motorcycle as a canvas it was considerably smaller.

The moniker (hotrodprimer) got stuck on me a long time ago because I always used primer and could afford to buy paint and screw it up.

I can paint small parts but when it comes to a car, I leave it up to someone with talent, I can't imagine having left Brenda's Ranch Wagon in primer. HRP

 

I got started painting cars for other people when I was 14. My dad taught me how since he painted vettes for other people in the late 70’s. I started mainly because I couldn’t afford to pay anyone to do my own. But, driving my own around daily, I figured out I could make money painting other people’s cars and could work whatever schedule I wanted while I was in high school instead of working at some fast food place like most of my friends. I haven’t painted an overall in several years now, but have two major jobs ahead of me for my boys where I hope to teach them how to paint as well.

Like lots of painters, I haven’t painted one for myself in almost 30 years...

 

No one is mistake free when it comes to paintwork, The pro's just keep at it until looks good.

 

paint ain't right if all of the body prep work is not done right - people try to rush stuff and try to cut costs and it shows - plus, like anything, painting with correct products takes time to learn - don't expect perfection with first paint job - even the well known pros admit to having to paint a car more than once to get it right

 

I painted my 37 back in 1992 It took 16 hours to do the flames . The paint was Dupont Cromabase .

 

Yup.

 

I've painted a few of them, but I'm over that now....I'll just leave the rest that I will build, as they are.

 

Bodywork and paint. Some of the most tedious and physically demanding yet artful work you can do. Might as well give somebody a big lumpy rock, tell them to grind it until perfectly spherical and sand and smooth and paint and sand and buff until it shines like a mirror.
Most people hate it. Those who do it well probably don't love it... but taking something from cruddy to custom is gratifying and worth the time and effort.

I like shiny. I like primer.

 

I specialize in painting the parts that aren’t really seen.

 

You have been watching me! HRP

 

<<< Yes in avatar. I`ve painted a few and the older I get it seems the worse I get. My excuse will be it`s the first time I shot straight urethane single stage. Results, heavy orange peel. Sanded down for 2nd go, fine orange peel. I gave up, hey it`s protected... Hey at least I didn`t get any runs
This car taught me, I`ll never be a good body/paint guy

I`ll just settle to be a decent welder.

 

One of my must haves when I look for cars to buy is it already has a decent paint job. Not show quality or anywhere near it but decent.
A painter I ain't!

 

I was a production automotive painter in the 60s, painted dozens of other cars for friends, family and myself and eventually moved on to industrial airless spraying. I retired in 2001 but still had side gigs going up until a few years ago, until a shoulder injury required surgeries and a long recuperation period.
Last week I shot some some small parts and a few panels in epoxy primer with a cup gun and found that after 10 minutes it was too painful to lift the gun to chest height. I am going to paint my ongoing project using a pressure pot with single stage urethane with as much of the car disassembled as possible and will be sure not to hang the parts too high.

Fitty Toomuch - A lot of painters who are new to painting with urethane are victims of habits formed with other finishes. I'm just taking a wild guess here but if you just fog on the first coat and apply two more coats after with urethane it is more likely to cause orange peel. I normally lay it on fairly heavy from the get-go and subsequent coats. Just seems to lay down better.

 

My paint job sucks but kinda gets the job done. It's single stage and easy to fix. Full paint job cost me like 600$

 

I have more understanding of those that say they can't ,if I also had not learned how. Pre prep is super demanning on out come. You can't be lazy on pre prep! No amount of high cost paint can fix bad prep.
But do ,do my own ,an that has made me,get roped in to doing same for a few buddys over time.
Early on in the mid 1950s,did start out with motorbikes an MC with spraycans,then tryed a rag of a car.Used a Vac clearner spraygun. Got that to work kind of OK for what it was.
Did finiely get a real air set up an gun.
I look at a car with primer,an as long as it don't look like the owner thinks it's finished,I'm OK with that,he working on it!
But if he thinks it is a finish,then to me,it looks like a lazy owner who needs help. An that is how ,I often ended up painting a few buddys cars over the years. Putting my help,were my big mouth was. Killed a lot of grass in the backyard now an then.< sometimes a bug gets in the paint,no bug deal LOL

I like enamel,maybe cuz it's what I worked with the most an is cheap,plus buffs up very nice!

 

I took my first car to One Day paint in high school, I got what I paid for. Now IF a car or parts get painted, it’s by me. I really liked single stage acrylic urethane and I've used acrylic enamel, a small amount of orange peel (think of a production car, but a little better) is fine with me. If I go for a glass finish, I'll freak out on the first scratch. I haven't had to color sand with urethane, but enamel is a different story (maybe it was because I was younger with less knowledge).

 

I signed on for the messiest thing I have ever done.. putting a V8 in the back seat was not hard. Working with an engineer on our home made suspension wasn’t hard.
Then came the metal flake. I now have metal flake in my clothes, my car, our house….in places I did not know I had. But I sure do like the way it looks

 

Dana, I always planed on paint my cars in the future, but most of the time it never happened,.

I have had a lot of people ask me am I going to leave the old beater in primer for ever, and my reply is as bad as the finish looks the car has paint on it, it's just very old paint, the last time the car was painted was in 1963, the fenders do have some black primer to cover up the repairs that were made, the top is original and it's still in surprisingly good shape. HRP

 

I have painted some drivers that looked good, so with more time and effort on my part they could have looked great. I am planing on painting my next car. I will be going with solid black so I can color sand the hell out of it or repaint the panel until I get it right.

 

I painted my wife´s truck. I used every technique there is, brushing, rolling , spraying .... it looks kind of decent.... from Mars, hahaha. She loves it, and thats all that matters. She chose the color, a dark grey-brown epxoy primer , which is very forgiving... that´s just what I was asking for.


But I have a frind that runs his own paint shop. That´s where I go if I want something done nicely...


A guy needs to know his limitations... mine are exactly where it comes to shiney paint.

 

I've gotten as far as sealer with some dirt, some orange peel, some sandpaper areas, as well as where I drug the hose through it a couple times, but I'm learning fast. Hoping to have color on it later today, or first thing in the morning. One thing I've learned about this, being my first paint job by myself is there is always a tomorrow. Damn it this is a shit pile of work. I've been sanding and fixing high and low spots in the metal for 3 weeks now, and that was after I figured I had the metal work dead straight.

 

I had my Model A painted by a guy who painted and did body work for a friend who owns a waste hauling business. He did it in the company shop on his own time and I bought paint and supplies. He did a pretty good job. I am pleased. Still, 5 years ago or so it still ran past $6K when all was said and done.

 

I did all the body work and prep on my A and had a guy spray it as a side job at the body shop he works at. I'd have sprayed it myself but the HOA where I live is just itching to bust my balls over something. I think it came out pretty good.

 

Yes. And all the internal fabrication, fitting, bracing, gapping, metalwork, patch panels, filler, high build and more blocking than you'd ever believe. Started with a fair condition Henry Ford steel body that somebody else had butchered that didn't have a straight panel anywhere. But I did it, myself, with no outside help, in my little home shop behind my house. And I'm damn proud of it. Thanks for asking.

 

A few.
I still do touch up and small repaint now and again.
No more bodywork for this guy.
This was my last full body and paint job.

 

I do all my own paint and body and I hate it. I lack the skill, so I have to quadruple the effort.







-Abone.

 

I have been painting cars since I was 15. Worked in 2 different bodyshops and learned a lot from the pros. I have painted cars for friends, customers and for about 10 years did used cars for a local car lot. I have a video of painting my 49 Buick here at post 65. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/painted-my-49-buick-sunday.1244990/
I am NOT by any means a pro show car painter. But I can make a daily driver look great.

 

I started painting cars before I could legally drive. All my experience was with acrylic lacquer and enamel. In the late '90s I could still buy lacquer and the last car I painted was my 3W. That was 22 years ago. I was taught the correct way to spray and always used a cup gun. I've never had any problem with the durability of acrylic lacquer and my car has held up very well. Not interested in painting with the catalyzed paint now available. I've painted my last car.

 

Does rattle can count?

 

No yet.other than odds and ends for on topic stuff. I have friends that don’t do fab work so ive traded fab/sheet metal work for paint labor a couple times.
Maybe a few for other folks
But I do prefer the “as found” look.
My wife wants my 49 painted do I guess I will.
I do all my own work. Haven’t needed any interior beyond a blanket and duct tape. But I ain’t skeered.