Art & Inspiration Earned Patina - How Did Your Vehicle Get It ? - Tell The Story Here …

Here's my heap. I bought it from a flipper who got it from the original family. Bought new in '28 from a Ford dealer in Cherry Hill, NJ. I have the original dealer's envelope with the price written in pencil on the back.

Bought new in '28, took it all apart in '40. For some odd reason, had not place to keep the cowl, so cut the subframe about 2" back from the A pillar and that portion sat outside.

Had to replace the gas tank, but I still have the original one. It's a blast to drive. Every now and then I think of painting of it, but then logic prevails and I just coat it with Gibbs oil.

 

In my mind patina is old weathered paint that has stood up to time, without rust. This paint was on this car, from the first time I saw her in 1968 as an 11year old. The first pictures are 1972 and 1973 when my ownership began. The others are current:

 

Our '56 Pontiac wagon. Story was it was parked under a tree behind a bar for a long time. Bought on eBay in 2005 from @Mule Farmer and shipped from Holland, Michigan to Maryland and eventually onto Atlanta where it was originally built about a half mile away from our home in at the now gone Doraville GM plant. It had been painted a grey green over the original baby blue and the PO wet sanded it back to the original paint leaving some dark paint in dents and around emblems and trim. We do not have enough garage space for it so it lives in the driveway under a harbor freight carport that keeps it dry inside as all the windows leak. Runs and drives but needs lots of love. The paint, especially on the roof, has certainly gotten worse under our ownership, I have a few pics from many years ago where it was more paint than rust. Once I gave it the CLR treatment and the rust came back with a vengeance. The CLR operation just exposes raw metal and makes more sites to rust if one does not seal the surface. My wife loves her car and has named in "Vivian." She removed and rebuilt the engine herself with the help of a friend. It needs lots of lower body rust repair and a bit of chassis repair at the rear X. When my '40 is done it will get the full treatment. Its a huge job but I should be mostly retired by then and the kids will be off and I will have the time to do it right.

 

That is a battle wagon !

Here is a 1959 Edsel Villager
station wagon that I hauled
about a year ago from one
brother in Kansas to another
brother in Michigan …



It had an interesting life
and patina - the story is here …

@


Jim
Transporting To Travel
Traveling To Share
Stories From The Road

 

Wish I was lucky enough to say I got it from Ken Schmidt.
Sure miss that Gentleman, Hot Rod Legend!

 

My 51 was painted in the mid 70’s…bodywork and paint in exchange for a Yamaha 360 Enduro. It spent most of the time inside until 2006 when it was relegated to sitting outside. It is showing its age but I don’t think it will ever get a new coat of paint now.
My “new to me” 58 Dodge was painted in 2003, has less than 1000 miles on it since then and has been stored inside and regularly polished since paint. The paint looks great…seems odd to have a shiny old vehicle in the garage to be honest.

 

I don’t know much about the history of my 47 Chevy. I think it was fixed up and painted in the 1990’s, based on the wheels that were on it, which I removed. It think it has seen a whole lot of Florida sun. It does have an old bumper sticker on it from Clearwater, FL.

 

She spent a few years in a pasture. See the tree in the bumper

 

Said it was found in Broken Arrow Oklahoma and it wasn't me that found it.

 

"Often imitated; never duplicated".

Mine got that way by sitting patiently in a single stall garage for 40+ years. The day I picked it up, vs present day. Was painted sometime pre- '74. Every time I drive it (which is often) a little more paint flakes off. Seems me and the car have similar bald spots...

 

I've known this car for a while....15 years ago I "judged it" in the roadster class at a car show I was asked to help out on....I remember making note of how cool it was like it rolled out in the mid 70's and was never updated.

Fast forward 13 years and the opportunity fell in my lap to buy this actual car!

I've been working on car with new motor (283/292 replacing the worn 307), trans, new wiring & new interior (thanks to the mice), rebuilt rear-end (old corvette rear end), etc.

Im replacing the fiberglass fenders that were on the car with steel fenders for the roadster I got from Dave Simard.

I cant touch the body. It has some "war scars", cracked lacquer, and pin-stripe loss here and there, but to remove and re-do would be a sin. This is the story of the car perse.

On the back over the license plate is a the date and the strippers name that stripped the car in detroit at the "mini-nats" see attached....Id be a fool to erase that history.

That patina is staying! I even managed to get some lacquer paint for the fenders (hard to do in the bluest state in the union)......

* The first picture is the day I bought her. I hired a flatbed to bring home.
* The second picture is the pinstriper's signature and location of where he striped it.
* The last picture is from a few weeks back bringing it to the upholstery shop with some updates I've done.

 

I'm the third owner, first one outside of the family to own it. Its an unrestored original, with a few touched up places. This is what looks like now, and how it should look in the spring.

 

One of my all time favorite cars! It is just right!

 

sittin' outside in primer paint

 

Sat in a barn for 50 years. Someone painted over the orig black with red in some places, had holes drilled in hood and rear fenders, two bullet holes from the glovebox out thru the firewall, so maybe cop car at some point? None the less, repaint of the dashboard, and had to make a makeshift top for now, orig running boards etc. Fenders have had tinted flood brushed on to protect. Honestly the fenders need some work, may give them some straightening and paint one of these days. But right now she shows her scars with pride.

 

It spent most of its existence in the elements in North Dakota

 

“ She shows her scars with pride “


Jim
Transporting To Travel
Traveling To Share
Stories From The Road

 

Hello,

We had to park our cars in the overflow area of our Westside of Long Beach backyard. We knew that the constant daily flow of ocean air comes as usual around 1 p.m. The prevailing west winds always kicks up a good quantity of wind. And, with that wind, it picks up salt air moisture and blows it everywhere, including everything. Being back from the ocean about 4 miles helps, but we could just feel it in the air.

Remember when drag racers said the Lion’s Dragstrip always had an advantage as the moist air covered the whole area including the dragstrip and if one sat in the bleachers, it was usually on you. We all knew it and just accepted it as a way of life where we chose to live. But, the whole idea stems from moisture of any kind left alone in any location. It was just that the Westside of Long Beach, back then, and now anywhere along the coastline gets if 365 days of the year. It is “a given,” as the slogan goes…

Jnaki

Every time my wife and I go out on errands and check out the waves, we see this old Ford truck. It looks as if it has seen better days. But new tires accentuate the rusty patina that covers almost the whole truck. No, it does not sit in a garage. It is usually outside in the salt encrusted air that floats around late in the afternoon/night and sometimes as it comes rolling in during the middle of the day.
The roof and rest of the patina is now “rustier” than a year ago. The location is within a half-mile of the salt air infusion coastline and if one drives by late in the afternoon, the salt air has already started its daily job of a layer of moisture on the surface.

When we owned a 327 powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery, after several months of work, it was road ready and safe. The handling was great and it stopped on a dime, without any steering wheel shakes. But, while driving on the coastal highways, sometimes the fog was so thick that a windshield wiper just did not clear the window. "Slow and steady wins the race..."

Plus, the salt air fog on many occasions was super thick and we had to slow down to a crawl. So, in placing a single yellow light on the front bumper, we ventured out at the next round of thick as pea soup fog. The normal lights lit up the fog bank and created a bright glow of a wall. When we switched on the separate yellow light, now the huge fog bank wall was so yellow and bright that driving through it was a hazard. Instantly, we turned it off and when we got home, we took it off and gave it back to my friend.

Fog is not a good sign to be on the road at anytime. But if and when it is a necessity, the regular low beams are good enough to light up the road and fog that is swirling outside of the car on the road. No bright yellow single of dual lights are necessary. And for coastal folks, what is in the air... yup, salt air moisture ten times over...
Note:
One time in our Westside of Long Beach neighborhood, driving the old flathead powered sedan delivery late at night, I ran into some thick fog. It was like driving into a huge wall of white water rolling into shore during a big ocean swell/surf days. It seemed as thick. So, I slowed down to a crawl on my side of the street.

No one was coming toward me and it was getting harder to see the parked cars on the right. No center line for directions... So, I moved over to the left of the narrow side street and now, I could get as close to the other parked cars as I needed. If headlights popped up in a glow down the street, which it did not, I could always move over to my original side.

As the closer I got to home, it was dark, super thick fog all the way home to our driveway. But, in thinking of that moment, who the heck would be in that thick fog late at night, except for a teenager coming home safely? Getting caught in thick fog is different than choosing to drive in a foggy day/night. Normally adjusted headlights give the best of a bad situation if one has to drive in fog.

Note 2:
As far as that old rusty truck is concerned, we did see it safely off of the street and into a parking space, in a driveway. Now, at least it is safely off of the road, during those thick coastal fog days and night scenarios.

The red primer of our own 1940 Willys Coupe build was so we did not have to worry about a finished paint job and extreme care had to be taken when replacing something or doing more work on the overall car. My brother’s goal was to paint in in primer then when running well and becomes a great representative of our work, get it painted, detailed and finished. Luckily, it was in fairly good shape, the primer kept the surface pristine while sitting outside during our after school build foggy days and constant moisture late into the night.

Then jump up many years and one day my wife saw this cool old Ford truck sitting by the side of a coastal city street. It looked rusty from across the on coming traffic lane. Upon closer inspection, either the salt air was already attacking the paint, or the rust was covered in some clear solution or preservative oil. A closer photo proves some solution was sprayed on to preserve the “old car” look. Or, some early morning salt air moisture was having fun.

We weren’t at a car show, so being a possible daily driver, the old truck had the look to be preserved in any way possible. It had moved several parking spaces on other days we saw it, so it does get driven.

Normal protection for any paint has numerous ways and products available. But, if anything is left outside, especially in “salt air,” it has no chance for long term survival. YRMV “Rust Never Sleeps…”

 

My old C10 earned its patina by sitting outside and being used as a truck.

 

Best I can tell Maude still has her 93 year old factory paint with much of her faded Apple Green pin striping.

 

20 years of neglect?

 

Built it in 2005, drove it for 18 years, lives outside and has 35000 miles on the build. Single stage enamle and never got around to waxing it. Paint is much
More worn in person.

 

Basking is the Arizona sun for 30+ years will do it...

 

It's only metal, fix it, buy a cheap MIG welder some 20 or 22 gauge steel scraps and give it some patch panels and while you have the holes opened up clean out the body cavities spray in some asphalt in a can type stuff (AKA rubberized undercoating) then spray in some fluid film in that same cavity and weld your patch panel in, put some filler on it to make it smooth then go to eBay or your local paint and body shop and just buy a can of color match rattle can and your rust repair Will be almost unnoticeable to the average person.
I am a weirdo I don't think cars actually die unless they are So badly destroyed from either a car accident or rust that they are not worth fixing but generally they just need various amounts of TLC.

 

My car sat out in the weather for a few years but it may have overshot the patina target a bit.

 

HOLY EFF THAT IS KEWL!!

 

My DD had been sitting in a slowly -falling -apart shed for around 40 years.

 

Legendary Home Hot Rod Builder
Lynn Bird’s 1925 Ford Hot Rod Shop Truck

I picked this up from Lynn & did an interview with him in his home - he sold it to his long time friend Jim in Auburn, Washington who hired
me to transport it.

This is one of three Ford trucks Linn has
built over the years …





Jim
Transporting To Travel
Traveling To Share
Stories From The Road

 

Here is when I first purchased my '57.
Originally a white truck, then painted multiple times over the years.

Since this pic was taken, I removed the front bumper and added some amber foglights, and [painted the wheels yellow with trim rings.

I hope to get it on the road soon.