Art & Inspiration Creatures of habit

I was talking with the wife about color options for some of our projects and I noticed a pattern. We always pick the same colors. I always tend to look at light blue metallics, silvers, and light shades of sage green.

I had a friend that built a lot of hot rods and his were always white. He had 6 or 7 at one time, all white.

I have another friend that always tried to do something different, but every car he has ever built is black and shiny . Beautiful cars, but very predictable. He will tell me that he is just gonna throw together a driver and leave the patina on it…..”OK, we will see”. Never happens.

Old habits die hard. I may end up with multiple projects all the same color. Oh well, if you like it…

 

As long as your current cars don’t clash too horribly it’s all good

 

I am.
I leave mine as found
Never painted anything for myself

 

I like blue , grey primer, some greens. Only had 1 black and 1 white . I don't really care for black.
I would never own a red car.

 

I'm basic and not flashy......blue, green, white and black. The closer to factory colors the better......all though I do like jade green on the right (customs) car. I had a yellow (hated it) and I have a maroon (on the fence) but it's factory color at least, I find myself looking at the same body style but in a more muted color.

 

I have always liked orange hot rods, not a fan of red . Had one black car PIA to keep clean... Problem is after I paint em I tend not to drive em too much . My daily 56 is patina "real" and the vette has 1970s primer on it. I drive the **** outa them.

 

I can never stay decided on a color. What I liked last month, always seemed to get replaced after seeing another example or color combo. I limited my choices after selecting and buying my interior materials. That was enough incentive to pick what I called "the color of the week". It's sitting on a shelf in the garage now waiting for more favorable weather. No changing my mind now.
At one point I even tried spinning a color wheel (a hundred or so times) for ideas.
I always tried to stay with solid colors that are more in character with the build, staying away from Easter egg colors, pearls, too much augmentation or contrasting colors. Every car develops its own character and it all boils down to personal preference.
When the wife is involved, her choices trump yours.

 

Color is secondary to prep and style.
A great color looks bad over **** body work
A modern metallic can look strange on some older cars.
Not a big fan of pearl white.
But pearl white with candy panels on a custom can look great
It’s nice not having a favorite color.
The first and hopefully last show I judged our best paint raised questions with other attendees.
“It’s green” is what some said.
The metallic was laid down very well. The clear didn’t look plastic. Excellent prep and detail.
I guess that one guy that complained the most ignored the very poor prep work and fingerprints bubbling up on his.

 

For about 10 or 15 years, everything I wanted to buy that I could afford was blue, with a blue interior. I wound up with two pickups, a full size mid '60's car, and a mini van all with that color combo. I went out of my way on my latest project, it's black over pale yeller with a black interior, YES!

 

I have never been a guy that demands attention. I guess that’s why I tend to lean towards muted colors.

 

My first car was green. Avatar was green. This one is…
Why ????? Green isn’t high my list. Go figure

 

The 38 was done in silver and gray, the Stude is black (wife wasn't thrilled--it's going to Florida tomorrow-the Stude, not the wife and the 27 roadster is blue, Bronco Area 51, she picked that. If there is another, not sure what color, depends on what it is

 

Says the guy who did a swan dive off a ladder onto a measly 301. If it had been a blown Big Block Ford, now that would have gotten you some attention.

 

I've painted cars maroon, blue, red, orange, white, and turquoise. But right now I have two red cars and an orange truck. (one was already red)

 

See, that’s what I am talking about….

 

The wife’s 56 Chev we painted in Dusk Plum and India Ivory (factory colours), never regretted it, still as appealing to us , and others it appears ,as it was 25 years ago when painted.
Myself, I can’t get my head around paint costs so the loot goes into driving and fun, I’ll never have a nice paint job myself as it comes second to not being to worried about where my cars go.
That being said, I do appreciate a nicely dressed car.

 

Colors,seems too be the theme!
In my case,my colors conected to $,an love shiny.

I guess there is a bit of a pattern,thinking about it !
Early on,learned the simple way is most often best,always find out/look up as much as you can,before learning by mistakes only.
Don't let $ stop you,find away.
Well ya,I mowed lawns an stuff like that.paper root so on.
Built my first hotrod out of junk parts ,draged home from old junked cars in the woods n left on deadend dirt roads=any thing for free that can be used.
Took better part of three years of ,to get running,an then X time for finish NICE=shiny;
Gloss Black was the low $ best shiny.
Later years an other cars,become what color wife liked some times.
I still love nice an shiny Gloss Black/even though it takes being extra smooth work to be good.

The time you put in to smooth under your paint,is key.
No matter how much you pay $$$$ for the paint,with out smooth*,it's not going to look good.
High Gloss Enamel,around $20 Qt. on a smooth*{ lot of smooth}out ,old 28 body..

 

{ Jonny Gee } That's a great 50's color. I think the car should dictate the color. Our Nomad is Turquoise, and Ivory. Those colors wouldn't look good on the Hot Rods. I've had about every color car. I'd like to say that I don't like the attention our old cars get. But I do like the thumbs up, and the Hay buddy cool car! We do have a little P.T. Cruiser for bad weather. So our old cars are drivers. The delivery is Torch red. The model A's are both Black. The Hemi glossy, and the old bare bones UFO is rattle can flat. My O.T. Vette is blue and O.T. Bonnieville Conv. is white. The projects are rust, So I like all the colors!

 

I’ve always loved blue, but strangely enough only ever had a couple that color. Second choice seems to be black and yellow, I’ve had 4 that were black and 4 that were yellow. Don’t care for red, green or white, yet have had a couple of each. Had a few browns and grays over the years, too.

To me, some cars can wear about any color and look good, while others seem to look better with more subtle shades. I could never paint my Lincoln yellow or red, it’s a more dignified car so it deserves a more dignified color like a gold or light bronze or a stately black. Color should complement the car, not overpower it.

 

Started with greens, then went for a couple reds. one nice blue.
Now I want to go back with dark green

 

I agree with you! I enjoy mine more now that it has a few [?] chips and scratches.
But to get back to the question, I believe all are "creatures of habit " to some extent.

Ben

 

I love colors, picking them, mixing my own custom ones, using different ones. Some of MY cars have been: Porsche Red, Tropical Turquoise (no, not a 57 Chey, a Regal!), Baby Blue, Teal metallic, a custom mix Candy Cobalt, Lavender Pearl and Candy Purple (custom mixes), custom Candy Fuchsia and white Abalone flake, and now, a copper/orange Pearl and Beige pearl. I also do custom colors for other cars I shoot. I try never to do the same color on my cars.

 

To me, I tend to look at production cars of a certain era. Most of my colors are mid-late 60's metallic. Something you would see on a nice Chrysler or Buick. It really narrows down to 59-62 era for me. I may try and do something out of my box, but they kinda all end up in the same vein. The Produce Truck was out of my color box. It turned out OK.

 

Being as poor as I am, the next car is going to be the same exact color as the previous one. Need to do a bit of paint touch up so when I mix the paint and hardener to spray, I might as well fix the old one at the same time.

 

I have always been a fan of primer (I know that's a big shock) hence my moniker, HOTRODPRIMER.



Having the lack of talent and funds primer is what the finish look was on a majority of hot rods has been over the years.

When it comes to paint I prefer black. HRP

 

I struggle with color. I've pictured a few different colors of the period on my coupe but I always come to black. I believe black is best for my vision but there are other's whom are savvy with color whose vision would likely see the "perfect" color that fit a 60s hot rod. I admire those folks.

 

I paint a lot of model cars so the risk is low. I like to do something different on each one for variety.

I doubt I’d be as adventurous if I was painting real cars. A lot more invested and a lot more at stake. They’d probably all be different shades of blue.

 

I like a little variety, but generally speaking, the style of my cars tend to fall into a specific era, and the paint sort of goes along with that. Even if the colors are different, the style is similar.

But the paint goes along with the style of the car. Conservative colors for conservatively styled cars. Wild paint for more aggressively styled cars. Old paint and primer for beaters. Shiny paint and chrome for the show stuff.

 

Hmmmm,
33 Ford - Teal
Taboo- Blue
55 Chevy - Blue/White
O/T 68 Camaro - Blue
O/T 68 C10 - Blue/White
Modern Daily - Blue

I dont see any pattern here, lol. I am a ****er for blues, greens and teals. I blame it on being a kid in the 90s when teal was everywhere. There are other colors I would paint a car, but I usually have blue laying around at this point and I prefer saving money over changing colors.