Hot Rods Patina or paint

Jeff, Pandora, it sounds like you might like patina’d cars as an onlooker, but, maybe because you’re 75 and from a different generation, you might prefer your car to be a little more finished? More like a car might have actually been in the 50’s or 60’s? I could be wrong here, just speculating.

If you have the time and $ to do the paint job you want, go for it. It will be bitchin’.

Personally, I like old messed up things. Patina. Rust. I like Mad Max more the the Duke of Earl. I would keep your car just the way it is, drive the wheels off. The person that built it did a good job, had a vision. I don’t care if ‘that’s not how it was in the good old days”. A lot of people here get their panties in a wad when anybody wants to do something that they frown upon, something outside their box. They’re just like the bitter disapproving old prunes that they were rebelling against when they were younger, they just don’t see it.


(Also, there are two guys in my town in New England rust country with Roasters FAR rustier and messed up than yours, they bomb around here every day and their cars haven’t fallen apart yet.)

In the end, it’s a great car, be happy and rock on

 

Needs paint.


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To have a patina look, you need some old weathered paint.
Where's the paint? All I see is a rusty body needing paint.
Looks like someone who doesn't give a crap what his car looks like. My 2¢

 

Patina none there just rust.

Patina is just a word used to describe broke, lazy, or to justify neglect.

There’s nothing good about that.

 

Don't be a rectangle?

 

Patena - especially extreme patena - isn't "art", it's just a way to avoid doing the hard work of building a nice car...and be considered "an artist" in the process. In short, it's an excuse for laziness. Honest people will admit that extreme patena hot rods look like dog shit. IMHO, of course, just to satisfy those who find it offensive for somebody to have an opinion which differs from theirs.

 

I see a really nice perfectly executed rod at a show with brand new interior and all rechromed. I think “why the *#% don’t you just buy a new car? I’m as impressed as if I were at a Ford dealership”

Just my humble opinion as not to offend you


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Betcha can't guess my answer!!

 

I don't get it...isn't this a traditional hot rod forum?

Right now he has is a 29 roadster that gives the impression that it is a "survivor" with history...perhaps a barn find form the 1940s. Isn't THAT what everyone of us here dreams of stumbling across ?

But NO, 68% of you guys want to turn this into a street rod. You can't just paint it cuz the interior & engine, etc. will look like crap...so they will need attention...and pretty soon you have a "cleaned-up" detailed street rod with a flathead and wires...that looks like it was built yesterday using some old parts.

In my opinion, this hot rod is perfect the way it is, and the only thing it needs is some preservation/maintenance to keep it from further deterioration.

I lightened up the pic to see the condition a little better

 

based on your photo-(not the best), looks like it needs more than just paint. But I think it is a great looking car. I would drive it as is and be damn proud of it. You can't build one that has that look. Very Cool !
The only protection it needs is a garage.

 

I'm with Squirrel also. Work the bugs out of it first then decide when to paint or until you get tired of people asking "When are you going to paint that thing"?

 

If it was mine, I'd leave it just as it is, and shove it in the back of my shop for about twenty years. Let's call it 'investment grade rust'. Then, I'd pull it out, find an old barn, let it reside there for a couple weeks and 'miraculously' stumble on it. I'd do the standard media blitz with all the expected bullshit, then send it off to a TV auction site and let some 'more money than brains' future owner fund my next 'painted' hotrod project.

 

I would never run a car with that amount or rust on it because the first mouthbreather that said "nice rat rod" would end up with a broken nose.
That said, I think I have to go with what Jim said way back in about the second post. Drive the crap out of it this year get all of the mechanical things squared away and when you have that part taken care of and you are tired of the rat rod comments paint it.
To me that is not "patina" that is rust and what little is left of dead and gone paint. Real patina is old paint that is still good enough in most spots that you can rub it out, polish and wax it and it has that soft glow of an old but very well cared for saddle. The primer might show though where it was rubbed though in a few places but you can tell it was cared for and not neglected.

 

Make it safe and drive it for a while. Maybe a small decal in the corner of the windshield - single finger - "Built my way".

 

Rust is not patina, patina is the result of a car being lovingly cared for, maybe the paint, yeah paint getting thin from rubbing on it for years, possibility a little primer showing through, the paint may be crazed & crack, some chips here and there.

Again, Rust is not patina. HRP

 

I've gotten over the patina thing, myself. i see too many cars & trucks with zero paint, & all surface rust. Some natural, some induced. I still like seeing vehicles with most of the sun baked original paint, & spots of surface rust. seems like the rat rod kids took the whole idea, & pushed it way too far over to the other side. So, paint for me, i guess

 

Whether you agree with them or not, there are a lot of good points in these two posts.
Nice car by the way.

 

I consider this patina. HRP

 

I have both, i side more on the original patina. It shows character and use. I give many utmost respect for perfect paint and dislike anyone who criticizes someone else paint. Not easy on 50,60,70 yr old bodies.
I have more fun in the bare metal car showing rust ,scratches and the good times, Than worries of a stone chip...

 

I think that most cars (if not all) deserve something to protect them from the elements.

my thoughts on patina itself are not going to align with everyone else's I think. Patina on some materials is actually a coat of corrosion that protects the material, for example aluminum becomes dull, as does stainless, copper and brass becomes green. other materials the "patina" does not protect it very well at all. Iron or steel for example gets rusty and continues to rust away until the oxidation completely destroys it (which may not take very long at all). For those parts to have "patina" they must still have a protective coating like paint or chrome for example. Once those protective coatings are gone that is no longer patina it is rust.

my disclaimer here. there is a new-ish type of structural steel (iron if you are a union employee) that is designed and created in the mill that does not get paint and forms its own protective coating.

 

Paint... because the car deserves it.

 

Rust sucks. look at all the old really dated photos
of rods built by guys back decades ago. they were often
crude or compromised in various ways that reflected
budget or lack of budget. on these vehicles rust is
seldom scene. As a youngster in the sixties my buddies
and I often bought old beaters for cheap and breathed
what live we could into said vehicles. Rust was often
present but mitigated with rollers brushes and what
ever paint could be obtained. Several years ago I worked for nearly 3years constructing a truly
magnificent bridge over the Mississippi River near
Hahnville Louisiana. Two 500 foot soaring towers
and nearly a mile of giant steel sections hung from
a cable stay system. the thing was and still is it is
unpainted in any way! Total rust from one end to the
other, including the towers. The bridge is lovely in
shape and form. However it is butt ugly in its streaked
rusty presence. It looks like a Giant Lake Michigan ore
carrier gone to seed waiting to be cut into scrap!
The steel used was designed to rust on the surface and
then self seal to preserve the base metal below. Louisiana politicians being notoriously negligent in
road and infrastructure spending were sold a bill of goods regarding this type steel. The bridge would be
beautiful with color rather than the rust appearance.
Google a photo of the Hale Boggs bridge and you
will see the affect. Also there were
corrosion issues appearing even before we finished hanging the members of the bridge. Rust offends me and always has!

 

Rust and most patina are simply neglect. Faded, thin paint is age showing through. Decent paint shows you care enough to try and protect something, even if it isn’t the best job. Even cheap rattle can paint is better than rust.

 

I never started building cars on my own until '68. But what I recall from the time I was very little until the rat rod craze was that cars were finished to the best of the owners budget or skill set. There were always cars that I called Cow Cars because they reminded me of a Holstein milk cow. They where whatever color and had primer spots where the body work was being done and waiting for money to paint.

RIP (Rust In Peace) was never an acceptable practice in the circles I ran in and I was never one of he rich kids.

@mickeyc you are spot on my friend.

 

WOW...Tell us how you really feel. The ironic thing about that tale is that every one went along with it until a child spoke up. Wouldn’t that story be more appropriate from the other point of view. I’m crazy, so my opinion ain’t much but I say to each his own.

 

Love the car. Opinions stated here seem to vary. That’s natural. I’m good if you leave “as is” or blow it completely apart for a mile deep mega straight paint job. It’s all good


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I’m with drive as is and go from there. Mine is similar and I wouldn’t have it any other way. A blast without the bling.

 

Hey HRP...I gotta respectfully disagree. Patina is the result of time and environment/exposure on (mostly) metals due to oxidation. Copper, brass, bronze, aluminum etc. form a protective layer (patina) from oxidation. Iron and steel also form a protective layer until moisture is introduced, at which point that "layer" become corrosive. That's why "desert cars" have surface rust but no holes...lack of moisture, so no corrosion.

 

I’m not choosing. Your car, you decide.

 

Needs some TLC and paint. But drive the damn thing as you work on it. Start with some good de-rusting a panel at a time and if you can't spray primer/sealer buy the roller type. Bite off a small piece each week and before long you will be ready to lay down some paint. Coachbuilders still brush on paint if want to research it. OR You can buy a $15 HVLP and spray Industrial paint with hardener for pennies. Maybe by the time you reach this point you want to up your game and move up in materials? Your call.