Need input for HOT ROD Mag Story: Patina

In the April issue of HRM I'm doing a story on patina rods. At the risk of over-classifying, it strikes me that these cars come in the following basic types:
1) Pure barn-find, untouched cars
2) Cars with legit patina that have been modified with other old speed parts with patina of their own
3) Cars with legit patina that have been lettered like old race cars, and the lettering is distressed to appear old
4) Rods with a lot of real old parts, but also with a substantial volume of new stuff that has been allowed to rust in order to blend in, or with stuff that's intentionally distressed.
5) Full-on fake fiberglass cars with not a single old part, but with lots of painted-on rust and phoney wear underneath clearcoat.

I seperate it out that way because it seems that everyone has a different tolerance level for the faking of patina. Most of us are probably ok with 1-3, but start to call foul at 4 and 5 because it shows that the trend has gone so mainstream that millionaires are paying guys to build new cars that look old.

So is it cool that the barn-find look has gotten so popular? Does it suck that fakes are being built? And, most of all, what's your opinion of the full-on, all-new faux-patina rods that are popping up everywhere?

I'm actually looking for quotes to print in the mag, so know that before you post. If you want your real name printed, then give it up. Otherwise I'll use screen names.
DF

 

Hey Freiburger, I thought you did some cool shit with Car Craft a few years back.

 

a fiberglass car with fake rust and startegiclly placed bird shit has no patina whatsoever.

 

Patina is cool- but I think only in some instances. The only reason I would keep extreme patina on a car is if the car has history- i.e., it was an old hot rod or some other significant car that would be sacriligious to change. When I got my coupe I painted it (with spray cans, but painted it nonetheless)- I simply wanted it to look decent, I wanted to make it my own. I certainly don't polish it or wash it, and I drive the heck out of it so it doesn't look that perfect, but I don't want it to look like it's rotted for fifty years. I think the vast majority of hot rodders want to create their own history and want to start fresh, creating their own patina as they go.

The full on fake cars are just that- fake. If a car never won the '51 Oakland roadster show, why would you paint that on the side? If the car was never rusty- why would you let it rust? If a car is physically UNABLE to rust, why in the world would you paint rust on it? It definitely has gone way too mainstream.

 

every rodders dream is to find a genuine old hot rod thats been buried in a barn for fifty years and to dust this treasure off and get it on the road again in all it's faded glory. to fake that is like faking a wet dream. you might enjoy it but it's not the same ......Jim Arnold

 

I dig legit patina, especially when it's on a culturally significant car like a '32 Coupe or a '55; doubly when it's on a competition vehicle with some history. I think we like anything with real history and like an archiologist, a well preserved example is something to marvel at. Faked patina, like any novelty, is novel only once. After so many examples, I become jaded. It's like a "made you look" prank. Funny the first time, cliche everytime after.

Todd Tacey
aka DirtyTace

 

Todd used his name, he wants to be quoted......

and deserves to be, he summed it up pretty well

 

Let us know when this issue come out. I am a subscriber, but I mostly save my mags for later reading.

 

You can't spell patina without Pat or Tina.

 

Finding a old car untouched in a barn,garage is the Holy Grail and it has a Soul and a story to be told.
I have always felt that old woodworking tool have experience built into them. When the finger marks worn into the wood or the iron worn in half shows you it was a great tool and did it's job. Were a old car has it's patina , worn paint, ripped seat , bald rear tires .. I feel that fake patina is just trying to fool someone and I don't get it and don't like it. Just paint it and make your own history.
thanks John


.

 

My take, as long as it's safe to drive on the road, and the owner likes that "finish", it's fine with me. Who am I to judge someone elses taste in the appearance of their hot rod? To each his own.

Denise Sheldon AKA: HotRodLadyCrusr....a shiney paint loving hot rod chick

 

If you have to make patina, it is not patina... Simple Enough

 

I'm OK with it as long as the majority of the patina on the whole car is legit and not fabricated. When most or all of the patina is new, the whole car appears phoney to me. My 32 roadster is dripping with patina but only about 90% of it is legit. There were several missing pieces to the puzzle when I got it and I had to fake the patina on those parts to get them to blend in with the old stuff. Details on how I went about this are on my web site.

http://www.donshotrodpage.net/Project-32/Page16.htm

 

Patina is like crows feet on a beautiful woman. It has to be earned.

 

I think when cars are given a faux patina, the owner is simply trying to fulfill/create a fantasy or dream, i.e., "a most excellent barn find, etc.". I personally don't care for faux patina, fake rolex watches, fake body parts on women, etc. That being said, I would think that a truly excellent faux-rod could very well take more effort than just building and finishing the car in typical fashion. Possibly a design excercise turned into little more than wasted time, effort, and materials. Just my nickles worth. Bill Bowman

 

My car has the paint job on it that my Dad did in '64 when he first got the car. Alot of the missing paint on the fender, is from me using it as a slide when I was about 4 years old. The rest of the paint missing on the fenders is from it blowing off from driving the hell out of it. (seriously, I have pics from a gas station somewhere in Indiana).

I like the soul that the old paint has. But someday it is getting painted because that is what Dad has always wanted, for it to be as nice as it can be. For now, he is just happy that it has been on the road for 2 years after a 30 year stint in of barn hibernation.





Chad Hill
Chicago

 

That's perfect, I couldn't agree more. This is one of the reasons I love my wife. You absolutely nailed it.

 

I am too busy worrying about going fast to sweat patina. I am a hot rod builder not a museum curator for crying out loud.

 

My sentiments exactly. If the patina didn't occur naturally, its NOT patina.

If you "faked" the patina, its just an expensive paint job that looks ugly.

Phil Maynard, aka AZAV8.

 

Faux patina is simply a passing fad.

Done by someone who's trying to be different without being truly different.

Seems to be a rule in life, the non-conformist is the most conformist of all....

 

I think a car is cool, or it's not. If you can tell the patina is faked then it's not cool.

When I saw the Rolling Bones Coupe out at Bonneville, I couldn't tell if it was faked patina or not. I thought the car was cool. Later when I found out it was faked and rubbed out that way, I still thought that car was cool.

Gus

 

If your car looks like it has been in a barn for 30 years and you still use one of those car duster things at a show... well that's just forked up. My truck has patina, I think I'll try to do a fake nice paint job. WTF, but it makes as much sense

 

I came up with the term "Faux-tina" a few years ago. If you do a patina story you MUST include the '46 Ford Coupe from Texas that crashed the scene in the early '90s. That car with it's weathered paint and lack of glass, interior or gauges set the street rod world on its ear and was a huge refreshment from the overly smooth pasteled billet rods. I know it was a Gray favorite. That car inspired that ratty '68 Chevy truck of mine that used to park in the Wilshire parking lot and had the same effect on the overly polished show truck world that I saw as completely useless. Every panel on my truck was a different color of "as found" paint. I never had to wax it or polish it and at a truck show it got a bigger crowd than any of the smoothie jobs. I wan't looking for that- it was just my personal thumbing of the nose at useless show trucks. People still ask me about the "Circus Wagon".
Today I would love NOTHING more than a '56 Chevy truck wearing all weather worn original paint, but I will have to make do with the 3 I am putting together from mixed parts that do not have any rust or damage. I refelect it as a nice patina shouldn't really add any more cost any to the vehicle when you are purchasing it, but then you never have to baby the car worrying about that first scratch or dent because who'll notice? Also I am at the finishing stages of walking a '56 GMC through a complete build that will be a very nice driver truck- magazine quality, but the paint job cost over $18,000!!! I could buy 3 running trucks just for the cost of that paint!!! I will NEVER do that- I can't get my head around it. But the person already had the truck before I was involved and I would have suggested buying a nicer truck to start, or buying someone elses finished project.
My last 5 years have been crammed with show after show looking at gleaming just finished high dollar rides while working for Goodguys and Rod & Custom, but nothing would get me more excited than the old weather worn, rubbed through patina'd survivor parked way in the back away from all the power parkers with their matching embroidered chairs.

My quote- "Real patina tells a story of true survival, new paint is like a financial statement- really nice paint equals a huge amount of money and just goes down from there." -Jim Aust, former magazine hack

 

I think Jay Leno said-"It's only old once"

 

i think Germ came up with the term "FAG-TINA(tm)"...


SAMMY FURLONG,,lover of rat rodZZZZZ

 

In your article go with (1) and (2) only. Forget the rest. Genuine patina is real like "aged" Jim Beam.

 

the rodder's journal is solely responsible for the fake patina craze...









'cuz we all want to be that guy that found that car

 

ill never forget that car,,,someone laid a valvecover on the front fender to paint it .and it left the outline,,