Technical How Old Were You When You Painted Your First Car?

I was 16 years old when I did my first complete custom pain job on my 1968 Chevy pick up.
Vic

 

I was 21 y/o
took 7 years to restore my 1929 Chev 4 door sedan
car won Best Vintage Car at 1977 Chev Nationals here in Aussie

 

I think about 19. A little before that,I was custom painting motorcycles. I haven't painted anything since 1975.

 

13 or 14. Can't remember exactly.

 

Does an Electrolux primer job count…16.

 

I was about 17 when I painted my first car a tired old driver that deserved better than what I gave it

Shot it in a buddy’s garage with borrowed equipment, learned the hard way about prep, runs, and sanding… lots of sanding. It wasn’t perfect, but seeing it all one color for the first time felt pretty good.

Been hooked ever since.

 

When I read this I laugh. I painted my Dad's then black Lincoln with Standard Brands black lacquer. Under a tree in front of the house by the horse corral. Yup 8 coats of black Standard Brands lacquer. Did a wet sand between each coat. Used a Sears air compressor and a generic touchup gun. Was that slow. Actually turned out rather well.

After that using the same compressor and small touchup gun painted a 56 VW with grey Standard Brands lacquer with a polyester green dye. Had to keep shaking the gun with a marble in it. Sold both cars to happy customers. Sure miss Standard Brands for Bondo, sand paper and paint.

 

Do you mean on the vacuum cleaner, one of those accesories ? Yup my Brother and I did that on a 1946 ford truck. Wiped the paint off the window gl*** with gas on a rag. We had FUN then ! Age 13.

 

I sprayed hoods, or fenders when I was in high school, but never attempted a whole car until about 4 years ago. So I was 72 when I painted my first whole car. The '39 Chev in my avatar..

 

14,,,Mom's ELECTOLUX,had a spray gun ***.*, I used on an old Crosley in the backyard gr***,no wind, two bugs got in low paint... Came out better then I thought it would!,Not super ,but kind of OK,only 3 runs..;
Almost a year later,I got a used yardsale aircompresser an a real spray gun $15. Needed a new fan belt,redo the bad cracked end of old air hose { So a little shorter }=Good to go

 

My Grandfather used to talk about "Powder Puff Paint". You applied this stuff with a powder puff. he painted his car in the street in front of his house with it.

 

I shaved my 40 Chevy 4 dr sedan's trunk with Soilo and painted a primer spot on it when I was 12 or 13.

 

Brush painted a 52 Plymouth in 2007; worst job; took it off with razor blades.
Spray bombed a few Falcons over the years
First actual spray gun job was a '63 1/2 Galaxie hardtop I changed to Wimbledon White from blue spots in 2021
I'm 63 now and still hate painting

 

Age 12

 

First paint job age 25 did it in our one car garage. Still have the car owned it 54 years so far its the Deuce roadster pictured in my avatar.
Ronnieroadster

 

OK so we mentioned "Electrolux" vacuum cleaner spray guns for painting and spraying bug killer on plants. We mentioned paint brushes and powder puffs ( popular now for home interior wall painting ) BUT we have not mentioned the good old Black Flag hand pump fly sprayers. I did it once as a joke because of a story from my Dad. In Fullerton, Calif., affter WW2 a couple of brothers from Oklahoma, moved to Calif because of the weather and job oppurtunities. Being broke needed money. A guy in town told them he would pay them $5 if they could paint his car, he supplied the paint. "Well shure we can do that !". So they went to Fullerton Hardware and purchased a Black Flag hand pump sprayer, filled up the metal can and proceeded to paint the car. Dad said it was actually not all that bad at about 30 feed. Car owner was happy.

 

Painted Schwinn stingray clone when I was about 8, dozens of model cars thru the teen years. First car paint job was when I was 17/18 which was a 68 Jeepster Commando convertible.

 

How about a live picture? 1968, 17 yrs old. Single cylinder, no regulator. Craftsman pot.
We called it the Red Bomb. Mom's '56 not covered.

 

I was a teen, old enough to drive but still in school. The church had a early 70's Econoline shorty, window van that needed freshening. Donated paint (green and white), turned out pretty nice really, used a siphon cup and cheap single stage obviously. I wanted to put Cragars and wide ovals on it, but my father (Elder at church) vetoed that plan as he thought the funds were best used elsewhere. If I remember correctly someone stole the van anyway. Probably put mags on it.

 

At the rate I'm going I will be about 79 when I paint my first car.