Hi All, I am a recent member. I have a 55 Club Sedan. It has a newly rebuilt 272 which I am in the process of reinstalling. It is an auto car. It is also lowered 2 inches and has shaved trunk, hood and bumpers. It is currently grey primer with no intensions of painting just yet. I like the crude look for now and will probably paint it down the road. I painted the roof with tremclad using a 1 inch roller. 3 coats and wet sand leaving high spots gives it a good patina look which matches the primer look. I have taken advantage of all the good info provided in the discussions. I look forward to all the good discussions. Later, Roadagent
Welcome! Your car reminds me of the majority of the cars in the parking lot when I was in high school in the late '50s/early '60s. No high-buck paint jobs then, mostly gray or red oxide primer with bright painted wheels. Some of 'em got painted...eventually...but most were left pretty much alone and just driven...a lot!
Welcome to the best bunch of car folks that you may never meet!!!! I wish several of these folks lived next door to me.
Roadagent , welcome to the best group on the HAMB ! I like the way it looks . I also like the way the turn signal lamps turned out ! I haven't seen any done like that before either ! When I took my 55 to car shows so people could see " a car in progress " , and really had a lot of people like it because they only saw the finished product . Everyone asked me the same question about paint too . I just said primmer is just fine with me ! All I want is a reliable car to drive and the paint is the last thing I will do ! The engine , trans , good tire , brakes and gl*** is the most important things to me . All the rest is just cosmetic ! Now get out and drive it and enjoy the car ! Jim
Hi all, Thanks for the great welcoming...I am beginning to beleive that this IS the best string in the HAMB! FYI, the signal lamps are stock units using the lenses from a local auto parts store, they are aftermarket generic truck lenses that match the fit. You are convincing me more ( not that I really needed it) that I will leave it primered. At least you can walk away from your car at car shows and not worry about people touching it. Roadagent
Roadagent2: You are convincing me more ( not that I really needed it) that I will leave it primered. At least you can walk away from your car at car shows and not worry about people touching it. To me, this is a huge consideration. I frequent Friday Nite Cruise Nights here in the DFW area along with lots of small, local shows in parking lots, etc. These events have a very casual atmosphere as they are open to the public who can walk up close to the cars and peer inside at the interior and engine. These are also very much family events where kids of all ages come to look at the "cool old cars". Some of the general public, usually but not always the young ones, lack the common courtesy to respect the property of others which we all take for granted. That is human nature in The Big World of 2010, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it. As one might expect, some of the cars which turn out for these events are show cars, painted and plated to high quality standards - but not so different from any new-ish import sedan in the eyes of the general public, who have not the foggiest notion of the amount of work and money invested to bring these jalopies up to show condition. It is unfortunate that many of the owners of such cars spend their entire evening "on guard", poised and waiting for the unwary civilian with unruly children in tow or, heaven forbid, an ice cream cone in hand, to venture too close for comfort. They then bound from their lawn chair and pounce on the civilian as if he were about to commit some unforgiveable sin. Over-reaction? Probably. Understandable? Of course. But why set yourself up for so much stress in the first place? I can't think of a good reason, can you? I've been though the gotta-have-a-perfect-car psychosis, and learned a valuable personal lesson: My ego isn't so delicate that I can't be seen in a less-than-perfect car. I don't own anything any more that can't withstand a coke being spilled on the interior or a canine co-pilot's infrequent, but sometimes unavoidable, indiscretion. I'd rather wander around the show, looking at other guys' cars, licking an ice cream cone and watching the gold-chainers tense up as I approach their absolutely beautiful, but highly unapproachable, works of automotive art. Am I being mean? Well...maybe, but perhaps "smug" discribes my at***ude better. After all, I'm having fun with cars, and they're not. BTW: There are highly noteworthy exceptions to the above discussion, my hero Racer Ron is a prime example. How he can take six grandkids to get ice cream cones in his gorgeous hardtop is a complete mystery to me. I don't have whatever he's got, believe me. I love my rugrats, but there are limits...
When I go to the same type of car meets that you describe, my favorite line is after I take a circular look at a particular car with the proud owner sitting in his lawn chair behind his ride, I say 'nice car, too bad about the big door dent on the other side'. As his face shows signs of stress, I then tell him to not worry, I'm kidding. I usually get a nervous smile but most people laugh too. Gotta keep the spirits high!
The Jalopy Journal
