Technical Can paint jobs be too beautiful ?

Jnaki that is a beautiful car.
Dan

 

“there is nothing about nice paint that makes a car undriveable....” @Moriarity

4000 mi round trip.. killed a zillion bugs & got a few rock chips as well - proud of every one of them!
Photo by drdave (thanks Doc!):


-Dave

 

I have felt that way for years. I have never liked the base coat/clear where the clear is a foot deep. I doesn't look like the old lacquer jobs. In my book old cars should look like old cars including the peariod coreect paint. just my op

 

Nobody has EVER accused me of doing a "too beautiful paint job".
Just about every hot rod I've built in the last few decades has been painted with Valspar Semi Flat/John Deere Blitz Black. Besides the obvious cost savings (under $200 in materials), I've always just preferred that low maintenance primer look.

 

This custom 40 Ford got the paint just right, anybody have a guess as to what the color is? It's a beauty.

 

I knew a painter who would scratch his cars in a location hard to see, touch it up. Always said I get first scratch, then others are nothing.

 

Can your paint be too beautiful? NO. For that matter can anything be to beautiful? Not really. If you enjoy a mega dollar paint job, or like a trailered show car, that's cool. I can't afford that, and I like driving them much more. My Hot Rods have never been judged by anyone but me. But like they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Actually Ron, everyone of your cars gets judged. We all look at other peoples cars and judge them, and sometimes we even issue an award by acknowledging that we really like the car. Sometimes it's the acknowledgement when someone asks you to stop so they can just get a picture of your car. Personally I find that kind of award much more desirable than trying to jump thru hoops and hurdles to meet the standards dictated by some organization. It's pure and unfettered and unsolicited recognition given for no reason other than to show appreciation of how you did something.

 

Well, the Bell Roadster's paint is probably "too good" because you can clearly see how ugly my brother and I are. We went into the Suede Palace at the GNRS last year and dayum. That paint was so deep I couln't help but take a mirror picture. Fun day. In looking through the photos posted elsewhere it's amazing how many gray haired mofos were there wearing black shirts and Levi's. I admire the perfect paint jobs but haven't owned or laid down any.

 

WOW
Dan

 

El Camino in my avatar. Twelve coats of rubbed out black lacquer. Got to go back to college and it just wasn't the right car for college parking lots. The reason for my break in enrollment is standing next to it.

 

This is why I love lacquer. One of my first truly fun cars was an OT black Challenger. Being young, I hand rubbed every coat of black lacquer we laid down on the car. Every coat of black and every coat of clear. The car looked like it was always wet. But, as much as I tried to be very protective of the paint, the car was driven hard. But when I was young, it was just a car and I could rebuild it or repaint it. If I put that much time and effort into a paint job today, I'm not sure I would drive the car hard nor do half the things we did with and to that car. When I sold the car after joining the Army, it still looked good, but nowhere near as perfect as it did after we finished the paint the first time. The fun had in that car, helped me to realize that no matter how nice the car looks, it's still a car and the fun is in driving them. I wouldn't want one with perfect paint for fear of tainting the fun. Remember that first ding in a new car or new paint job. It hurts, but to what lengths would you go to avoid that hurt? And how much fun would you skip to prevent it?

 

Sure does!!

 

I can appreciate a beautiful slick paint job and have had a few cars in the past that had presentable finishes but as we all know building hot rods is not as cheap as it use to be, In my case I love driving my Deuce still sporting the last paint job from 1962 and it's really showing it's age, I have considered shooting it with Kirker semi-gloss black but I just don't want to take the car apart.

It makes me happy just as it sets. HRP

 

I like nice paint. There is a difference in top tier show quality paint and top tier going to use the car paint. Both have great shine and attention to detail, but to show the difference, I will post two photos from this thread. This is not intended to slight either of these cars nor their intended use as I don't know what the current owners of either plan to do with them. But, anyone that knows anything about paint can tell you how much more labor went into the show only paint and prep as opposed to the amazing but going to be used paint.
As posted, this car is driven. And it looks amazing. However, look at the reflections in the body panels versus the bumper. Notice the slight distortions in the reflections on the body panels. They are not perfectly flat nor perfectly rounded, this could be age, or flex from being driven, or any number of root causes but they are there. The car does appear to be extremely well done and I'd love to have that quality on any of my drivers.

This is a show car finish. Notice the paint looks like a mirror and there is no visible distortion in the picture. I don't know if the owner of the show car plans to drive it, but the cost to get that level of detail is way more than the extremely well done done driver. To give paint depth is one thing, to give it mirror like reflections takes countless hours of preparation and detailing. The question implied by the OP was if you shelled out the bucks for this level of paint, is it too much to consider driving it? Is it too beautiful to take it down the road and risk flex and distortion or road rash?

 

This is Cheetah number 1, owned by Brit Duncan Pittaway. It is the real deal and worth a LOT of money. He knew how he wanted to drive the car and so he spent around 1,000 pounds getting this paint on it. He has a TON of fun with the car. Different strokes for different folks!

 

This 50 Olds was painted in '96, and cut and buffed a week later, never waxed. I live on a short gravel road, and the longer it sat in my garage untouched, I couldn't bring myself to finish it, because of the paint. I longed for the days, of my '49 fastback, that my brother Jerry painted outside in 1965.

 

If You Are Uncomfortable With A Nice Paint Job Then Just Leave It Outside...Problem Solved...

 

I'm in the no such thing as paint too nice to drive. The average economy bucket sold new today has paint hot rodders would have called to nice to drive twenty years ago. Paint is paint. It can be repaired if needed or redone if a type that doesn't look right blended. And a wild paint job can hide flaws. One thing I remember reading years ago was that the psychedelic paint jobs of the sixties grew out of the factory supplied drag cars. Like the ones with ultralight aluminum panels. Stuff like the areas around the door handles would start to sink in from use and being weaker than the normal steel. So they'd do crazy paint jobs to disguise it

 

"If you want to be happy for the rest of your life,
never make a pretty woman your wife"
Perhaps it works with cars too.

I wouldn't know. I married a beautiful woman and drive beautiful cars, and I am very happy.

 

Not if I paint one, it isn't...

 

I respect their decision for that type of very high end paint job but I always gravitate towards the stock type (or less) paint job. Something I can see myself owning or driving. I even like primer at times. It allows me to look at that car or truck and allow my mind to apply the color I would want if it were mine.

 

Some people do drive cars with show quality paint, good for them. I’ve entered a car in a local street club show, would you say that makes it a show car? Anyone that has a top tier show car would probably say no. Just like anyone who paints cars knows if the paint job they did is truly top tier show quality or not. Anyone who pays for a top tier show paint job can decide if the want to drive it or not as they know how much they paid for the paint and if it is worth the potential degradation of the paint in their opinion. And in that case, it is their opinion that matters.

 

I like nice paint KK

 

I enjoy the posts, however I think this discussion has gone on to long. If you are a true traditional hot rodder, or simply drive your car , and I mean really drive it, chips, bumps and what not are all part of the experience. Well I suppose you can avoid that and just have perfect garage art........ Rant over!

 

Hello,

Nice El Camino. College and El Camino was right up our alley. When is sold my 40 Ford Sedan Delivery and 1958 Black Impala to fund going away to college, I was leery about having to park in the lots, too. College kids are not the “most aware of the surroundings” folks. Aware of the part of society and future of what is required? Yes… aware of what really lies ahead? Well, not really… so, yes, there was a scare from those parking lots.

I had bought a new El Camino in 1965. I had a heck of a time ordering what I wanted from several dealers. The factory had what I wanted, but did not make it available for El Camino buyers, that year and the year before, when it was the newest Chevrolet on the factory books.

But, when I saw the red El Camino in the dealer’s pick up driveway, I knew despite all of the h***les, it was the car/truck for me. Of course, being brand new, I was instantly leery of parking it anywhere there might be any damaging idiots around. So, that left out 90% of the parking lots in So Cal and especially vast college parking lots.

I was lucky in Northern California. I was one of the only cars in a covered parking garage attached to my apartment. There were about 10 apartments and enough spaces for a car or two for each apartment. Being so close to the campus and poor college students, there were students, but plenty of parking spaces in the apartment garage.

But, in two years, I was now back in So Cal and our old stomping grounds. The local campus was high on a hill top overlooking all of So Cal from the beaches to the mountains on a clear day. Plus it was about 8 miles away from our Westside of Long Beach house. But, as anyone can see or remember, those campus parking lots were large, usually full of traditionally “in a hurry” students and usually full the closer to the cl*** starting times on the hour(s).

Jnaki

Long Beach State College 1966

As rare as been mentioned about the amount of woody station wagons during our time as teenage surfers, here is a great example of one in a thousand cars in a Long Beach State College campus. (even when the majority of students were from the local coastal cities and the surf beaches were a few miles down the PCH highway) But, as rare as the woody wagon is/was, so were black 58 Impalas in the same parking lot and/or 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery hot rods. Only one 58 Impala and it looks as if it is a convertible, also one El Camino and it is a 59 version.

There were plenty of station wagons in the lot and all around the locale. Of the nine wagons in the crowded lot, there were two Plymouth wagons. But, the obvious, front and center, a two door sedan with surf racks. It was a common site in most large parking lots everywhere along the coastal areas.


By the time we (my wife was there since 1963) got to the same college campus several years later 1966, the amount of woodies to sedans to station wagons was about the same. Now a red 65 El Camino was prevalent in the lower campus huge parking lot, along with a funky blue 62 Corvair. But, in the last year, my 65 El Camino without the surfboard was in this exact upper campus parking lot, daily…

Why daily and not in the lower campus lot? Well, I got injured playing Rugby, had surgery and was a hobbling mess for several months. So, I was able to get a medical permit to park anywhere I wanted to park. In the photo above, the medical exemptions area was in the first row, closest to the main cl*** lecture buildings.

Yes, I had the medical exemption p*** for the last two years. Most saw me on crutches getting out of the El Camino, so, that justified the close-in parking space. But, later on, when my wife and I got out of the El Camino and walked to our cl***es, some su****ion was evident. Why can they park there, when there is no medical emergency evident?

Note:

I had a secure wrap on my left knee under my Levis. That was not evident to most students and the walk to the stairs and/or elevators was a modified limping activity. My wife (girlfriend at the time) was just along for the ride. She has been along for the companionship, long ride ever since… 1966 to today! Yikes…

Yes, the knee still hurts and gives me wobbly situations when least expected, especially going downhill on sidewalks or stairs. Old rugby injury, re-injured with a sailing injury… But, boy was it and has it been some great times in and out of the water in So Cal... YRMV

 

I’m with you on this. The paint can actually hide the features of the body lines and other points of interest