Need input for HOT ROD Mag Story: Patina

Rat rodding is the glorious absence of pride. Patina comes with it.

 

[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.

Dave,
Readers of this need to remember that Calif. Patina is a lot different than Michigan Patina. I think Patina is a regional thing. The really best Patina is a barn find hot rod or old drag car that has survived it's storage intact, at some level. There's only so many of those out there and who knows the number. Its like automotive archeology...
If a car has history as a race car it has regional patina. and is of great value.
I think this is more than a fad or trend. Pro street was a trend. and a darn good one. I still know guys that use their pro street car almost daily here in Michigan in the good weather. 700+ hp and all. But this "Patina" thing is no more a trend than artifacts in a museum. Cars with "patina", Actual stuff that dates back to the day, are rolling artifacts. The museum is the highways and drive ins of America. Cars with real patina are Hot Roding History. History is history - it keeps track of fads and trends and is the measure of our roots and reminds us of our purpose. It needs to be celebrated and not faught about. Let guys like Todd Varble build a glass '37 that looks like its old. Maybe it's not safe to be on the side of the road fixing your vintage "Patina correct" stuff in 120 degree sunshine in the south western desert. Remember, mimickery is the highest form of flattery....
I love all this Hot Rod history and cars that show it. It takes me back to those "days" It is the essence of why this darn hobby is so big and why HAMB has so darn many posts and why some of us have so much old car stuff sitting around. Its so cool, that I won't wast evaluable time judging some dude that tries or succeeds at "Creating Patina". Knock youself out!! It just means this is still America and We're still free.... Besides, Don't some of your 20 or so cars have patina by now?
Meanwhile, all the midwest "Patina" you can stand will be on display in the basement of Cobo at this year's Autorama. NOT to be missed!!
Godspeed, bro and keep up the great work at HOT ROD

Bob Hiser
Painter, Body man and Lov'n Hot Rods and the mags that tell 'bout 'em

 

WOW!!! Just WOW!!!

 

I remember it too, but as I recall it was a reliable well built machine under that layer of original paint and rust, except for losing a nut off the 4 bar set-up on the way to some show. D'oh!!

That car is the one that set me down the road away from the smoothie pastel and Porsche Guards red rods of the day. Everything had begun to look so homogeneous that it stood out and really made me think about the soul of a car as opposed to change for change's sake.

 

The painted chickenshit fiberglass roadster that was on R&C's cover a long time back pissed me off, not because of patina but because it was so obviously contrived. They are abominable and should not be covered period, that is my opinionated opinion.

 

Dang Jim, you really know how to discredit the work and sweat it takes to do a beautiful NEW paint job.

Faked-out patina is one of those deals (like your article, you're putting together) that if made note of, or ask "is it OK", then yeah, it's kind of ridiculous. The Pat Barnharts of the world were not jumping on any "patina" bandwagons, they were just having fun, making their own version of what a hot rod can be. Fun is what this whole deal is about.

Real patina cars are survivors which is great, but I want to build my OWN car and it will have NEW paint....eventually.
Fake patina is played out, let's move on.

 

Yes, super reliable and well built. Did my truck the same way underneath. People would freak out and ask my why I wasted the first set of 18 & 20-inch American Torq Thrust IIs on such a pile of crap. Later people got it when they found out I was running a fresh 400hp 396 (rescued from a scrap pile before I rebuilt it) mated to a 700R4 that got 26mpg on the highway and hauled ass on the street. Sounded good too with a two-into-one 3 inch exhaust (they laughed at that idea too until the heard it). I changed a lot of my friend's stereotypes with that one, just like that '46 Coupe made a lot of people rethink what was really important- and it wasn't the latest shade of pastel paint, it was having fun with your ride out on the open road.

 

Yeah, I'm a little jaded right now because paint is one of the HARDEST things to get done no matter how much money you want to throw at it. I even went down to the WORST part of south central LA (yeah, where the riots were) and it looks like bombed out Iraq and the quote on a simple spray job on a decent pickup was $13,000!!! I know that doesn't reflect on the guys that can do it at home (my dad has nice ones that were sprayed in our garage over 20 years ago). But I'm talking about the high rollers that show up at the Goodguys events competeing for the "... of the Year" titles and all the guys have the matching embroidered shirts and you KNOW that paint job cost more than you will EVER make in one year. I prefer patina mainly because I'm lazy

 

word

 

i believe that ford was pat barnhardt's (?) after a season or two, they cut the roof off.

fake patina isn't much different than 'pro street', neither one is was it claims to be...

 

You think the guys that built cars for cheap have no PRIDE? I think they just had no MONEY. Sometimes you work with what you got, and sometimes what you got is junk. Doesn't mean it's not fun or you shouldn't be proud of it.

JimA, best sounding car I've ever heard was a '70 Camaro with a 2-into-1 exhaust and a 4" muffler mounted transverse behind the axle. Sleeper too.

 

Real wear is the only patina.

 

Yeah, the older guys thought I was nuts (the were "if it aint duals, it aint shit!")- then I drove over. It could have been a terrible mistake, but I'm glad I tried it. I will run it again in the future.

 

Patina being somewhat fashionable nowadays means I don't have to paint my car. I need to concentrate on the mechanicals right now anyhow...the pretty stuff comes later.

 

You can't fake patina it is earned. My car is only in rust right now not because it is cool too have patina but because I am in the middle of metal work and then off tho body work with final being paint. If you have a true surviving car then show it off that way. The people who are faking it are doing so because either they don't want to drive the real thing or don't have the effort it takes to find the real thing and leave it alone. Patina is cool but can be really unsafe at the same time. Our four fathers of hot rodding did not have the all the cool tools that we do now to help make something a safe and a true road warrior.

 

Patina?

I'm gettin' ready to paint Zach's track AV8, and if I use 'modern' paint, it's gonna look goofy as hell - waay too shiny. the paint's gotta be 'cut' with flattening agent to replicate a single-stage nitrocelluloce lacquer. Technically - that's patina.

Is is wrong to add flattening agent to modern paint to get it to look and act like old paint?

I think that's better than a plasticky finish on an old car.

 

I'd say "no". Trying to get the look that a car originally had or that's period correct isn't patina. If you go over the car with Bar Keepers Friend scouring powder to make it look worn and old, that's different. Your intent is a finished appearance that's right for the time frame of the car, not a finished that looks time worn.

 

oh how I long for the days when patina wasn't a fad.....

I seem to have a thing for original paint, in any condition. my 61 dodge has original paint with a decent shine to it. it's cool to me because it's the paint the car came with from the factory...

cool to me.. which is all that really matters.

 

That pretty mutch says it for me. Build the best you can and let it age while you drive it.

 

I hate kit-cars. To build one and make it look old is nothing more than an overgrown Revell model to me.

 

Mine is just old.....the car pretty much matches the grill, Old lacquer.....the funny thing is it still shines like new.

 

My truck looks old and I like it that way, for now. I want to drive it and enjoy it just as it is. It will, however receive a new paint job when time and money allow. Some old cars with real historical significance deserve to stay that way (REAL patina). Patina can be faked, but does not deserve the respect that a true survivor does in my book. Furthermore, if someone is going to fake patina they should do the job completely. The interior should be old, the drive train etc. The 37 Ford featured a few months ago sucked for me because of the street rod interior and the late model engine.

David Tanner

 

Just my take...

The patina craze was started by a couple of guys having fun without spending a ton of money, which is really what it's all about.

That's something you really can't fake, but it was getting attention and people liked it, so the high-dollar guys wanted in.

Now, patinas are diluted with money and, like most things, that takes a bit of the fun out of it. Overall, though, it's steered hot rodding back towards its roots, which is pretty cool.

Casey

 

I couldn't agree more Jim, I've enjoyed driving my 'unfinished' Rods and hanging out with friends at cruise ins, etc. who do the same a lot more than I ever did doing the whole shiny-paint show-car california duster deal. Looking back it just seems like it was a lot of work, where as wrenching on and driving my Hot Rod or old truck is more of a 'Zen' kinda deal, at least for me.

And as for the original question, I really dig patina, but fake is always fake.

 

Ok so here's the deal not that it makes a hill a beans in the whole scheme of things.

I've always driven beaters, I guess you could say they had patina but we called them beaters when I was comming up. Nothing I have ever driven would have ever been welcome at a main stream car show. And to be entirely honest with you most have been sleepers.

I said all that to say this, all hot rods are imposters, period. Was there ever really an A V-8 or a Duece with a 392 between the horns? If someone wants to emulate my style by makeing a new car look like one of my old beaters more power to 'em. I don't really give a flip what someone else builds, if it makes you happy it tickles me plumb to death.

Benno

 

I think faux finishes/patina and fake rust belong in Disneyland where that "art" got perfected anyway. Our cars look like they do because #1-we aren't done with them.......#2-they would probably look stupid with mile-deep clear coated bitchin' paint........and finally #3-I don't paint that good anymore anyway. As an addendum to #1, they probably will NEVER be done. I suppose since we drive the crap out of our two cars, they will get "patina" as we go.

Retrorod & Flower

 

Pretty well sums it up for me.

This is my patina, I'll work on a paint job after I get it running.

 

I agree with Jim A, the cost of present day paint jobs goes completely against what I am building. When you see the cars with the $20K + paint jobs the paint becomes the only thing you see. Usually these cars are not home built but from one of the pro-builders and pretty soon you see their cars and they are all the same except for the color of the paint. No originality just shine. Now if you look at a good home built car, many of which appear on this site, you can see the builders ideas and how he did things and not be overcome by the paint and chrome.

I am building a new "old look" car, it has disc brakes because I think drum brakes suck, it has a econo box 4 cylinder engine, because I wanted a 4 cylinder, not another Chevy V8 or to spend thousands on trying to get an old Ford banger to run, it will have a paint job that will consist of a couple of heavy coats of good primer and a single coat of enamel which I will buff through in some areas, becasue I LIKE THE LOOK! My general building guide was to build a car that might reflect what a 40s rodder would have built if he had 2006 parts. I want people to look at my car and be interested in the things that I have made and modified not a $20K paint job.

Rex

 

The people with the fake patina paint jobs are just spending a lot of money trying to make it look like they didn't spend any.
Jimmy

 

Patina is the wear and tear that happens over time to an old car... faking it is just that... faking it.

Faking patina is kinda like a rich man's ol'lady faking an orgasm when he's a wet noodle in bed... it's cool the first time, but then after a while you begin to catch on that she's only with you for your money.

Sam.