Technical Primer/Satin Paint Jobs

I just want to throw something out here for the sake of discussion.

Maybe y'all can 'splane something to me. I see lots of folks on here who build "traditional" Hot Rods with primer or satin paint jobs, and they say that is the desired end result. I just don't get it.

I was around the Hot Rod scene back in the late 50's/early 60's, and it's a fact that a lot of Rods back then hit the streets in primer. That usually was because the cars' builders were great mechanics/fabricators, but didn't have the skills or the money to get a finished paint job. Those builders weren't proud of their primered cars' finish, they just wanted to drive their cars while they were getting the money together to afford nice shiny paint. So they did. But as we all know, those "temporary" situations often go on for years. I get that.

What I don't get is that some folks today put primer on their cars and declare them "finished." Some even add pinstripes or other graphics, as if the primer were a finish paint job. I don't understand that mindset at all. Primer/satin paint jobs remind me of a rat rod, which I consider to be a cop-out. I say finish the car and make it nice, or don't bother building it!

Perhaps someone can enlighten me.....

 

I remember a 50 ford tudor in the early 60's that was black and when it was nosed and decked the hood and deck lid had black primer spots but the rest of the car was always waxed and clean. Couldn't afford to repaint but kept the car looking great until he had the cash. I'm not a big fan of the unfinished look either.

 

Pretty simple actually. It is the owners right to do whatever they want with whatever they have. If you were influenced by, or have memories of a car at a point in time that it may have been unfinished, and you want to duplicate that look, that's what you do. It is not a cop out at all. We all die, and somebody gets our stuff, and things change. Primer finishes included. It is not limited to traditional hot rods. There are a million primered Camaros, Chevelles, Mustangs, trucks etc etc. Who cares? No need to rant about it. Telling someone to paint their car is no different than telling somebody to put wheels on it that you like or an engine that you like or ride height that you like. Build what you like and let the others do the same. Because God forbid, they paint it a color you don't like……

 

I used to be guilty of the unfinished ( or work in progress look ) but I'm done with it.
It was fun, looked kool for a while, but most people don't get it.
I'm moving on to shiny after a very long ride.

 

This.

 

I would love to have shiny paint on my car, but that isn't going to happen for quite a while. It needs quite a bit of body work to get everything lined up properly...and I need to hit the powerball to have the scratch to pay for it all. But, I didn't want to leave it in plain grey primer either. So I painted some scallops on it, and had them pinstriped. It's not "finished", but it's "done", for now.

 

I like shiny, but I also like to shoot paint. The metal finishing or prep work required to go shiny instead of primer would keep a lot of cars off the road for a long time.
Now that I have a family and also trying to build cars, I applaud anyone that actually has a running project. Time and funds are what they are.

 

I'm probably in the minority here.....but I can see body lines on satin cars better than I can on high gloss cars.....add to that duo-tones, flames, glass and chrome...... all i see is glare and colors. Give me straight bodies, consistent gaps, satin paint, clean glass and nice chrome........yeah!!!

 

Well said!

 

I think every generation always tends to over do, or over engineer what the previous generations actually did. We tend to make everything too perfect.

Plus, we don't paint with lacquers any more. Most use chemically hardened paints and clear coats and can't get the same results as back then. I don't get it either.

Sort of like the restoration of an early Corvette. You never sand it smooth or buff it out, don't paint the axle shafts, leave the undercoating drips and over spray on the chassis and mufflers, etc. etc. etc. Don't over restore it or you'll get docked!

I do remember semi-faded paint, bumpy fenders, large or uneven door gaps and foggy or even cracked glass, but I like everything to start out nice and straight and shiny.

However, everything gradually gets patina as we drive. Just like it did back in the day. But, then there are those who like to make them look like they found some very rare survivor barn find worth tons.

 

Some like red some like blue ,green, brown, black , rust and even primer! the only thing that matters is that you like IT! Rust is my favorite color! I don't like rat rods myself but there's a lot people that do and I understand that. I had so much fun with my old coupe in the 80s when it was rusty. some thank they don't need glossy paint or fenders to have the HOT ROD that they want that's cool and I get it! just say n.

 

My first job outer school, was as a car detailer, so I've always liked shiny paint, but also know the grief shiny can give, (chips, scratches, etc) verses the freedom of primer etc....
My main take on it, is it's only paint.
Paint it how you like, to please yourself.
If others like it to, bonus.
If they don't, sell it to them, and they can paint it how they like.

 

My 40 pickup has been in primer for years because I can't stop changing things and can't decide on a color. And my 49 Fleetline is matt black because one I like it and two my body work is not the greatest.

 

I appreciate your opinion as well as many others, I have reached an age of not giving a rip what others think of my paint. I've seen 6 yr old kids standing on running boards of show cars with 15k paint jobs and just cringed. " Look but don't touch" signs make me just walk on by. I cant say that I don't like a shiny paint job,[ my wife stays on my tail about never "finishing" a car] , but finished may mean one thing to you, and another to me. No, my 34 or my 55 is ever going to see shiny paint in my stable, and I assure you, neither is even close to "rat " rod status. I think what it boils down to is , paint is just iceing on the cake, and some people like plain cake.

 

I drove my car in tinted primer for 7 years- I just wanted to get it on the road after working on it for a long time. I didn't have the interior done either at the time. I got asked a lot when I was going to finish it-usually by non- car people who didn't get it so to speak. I did take it apart - smooth it out and paint and upholster it so to some I suppose it is finished now.i just see it as the current next phase of the evolution of that particular car.

 

Wow, what an exciting World it would be if we all did things the same way!
House paint has been made in several different finishes since you were "knee-high to a grasshopper"!
So what's the big deal?
Declaring your project is "done", when it's not all shiny and pretty, is completely different than declaring your
project is "traditional", when it's not all shiny and pretty. I've never heard anyone boast the latter.
And, in my opinion, it takes more skill to lay-down a beautiful satin finish then a shiny one!
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I appreciate ALL customs.

 

As long as you have the title to your ride in your name and in your possession you can have whatever kind of paint, primer, flatz, cleared metal you want. The important thing is to keep it on the road, operable and safe! Everyone has in their own mind what they like and it's their car not yours. I would rather see anything out in public and drivable, than sitting in a garage!

 

I understand that one would question satin paint when everything we have aspired to in our younger days included shiny paint. No argument here.

But we have to admit, the 60's through the 90's variation of style and popularity changed in every decade. We also loved large metal flake, scallops, and even ghost flames. Just think of it as a new fad for these old cars. I for one love the look of satin paint. Grew up in the 60,s and never seen a satin paint finish on a street Hotrod. Traditional in the truest sense? No way.

 

"When ya gonna paint that thing?"
"Why did ya pick that color?"
"You gonna leave it like that?"
I'd rather be driving my car with a big ass grin as I drive past those people

 

I wouldn't blame somebody one bit for leaving their ride in primer or some type of satin finish.
Especially on a "driver". Because nowadays with every other nitwit on their cellphone, and not being able to watch your vehicle while you are away, shit will happen. My best friends brand new off topic car had scrapes on the door before it was a year old. No shortage of imbeciles on the street today. I'm strongly contemplating a satin finish on my 31 Willys.

 

Well, anyone who tells what I should be doing with MY car should have their private parts burned off with an acetylene torch. I plan to paint my car in a sealed flat gray for now, I have a lot of sorting out to do and a nice finish would probably take a beating in the process. NOW... I'm considering a little pinstriping.

 

I like to piss people off. A fun side hobby to the hobby. Just think of how much mileage I can get with my "not painted" ride. When are you going to paint it... like it has fur or feathers on it now... dumbasses...

 

I think that it's massively dense to worry about it. You think they all need to be shiny & finished? Cool. Everyone has a price. Buy 'em all & finish 'em your way.

Otherwise, there's absolutely no sense in wasting bandwidth on the HAMB to start a bitch-fest. Let's move along.....

 

BrandinNC
Show a pic. of your 31 Willys...I have a good friend with two of the very, very early Willys...mine in the Avitar aren't that old.
g-willys

 

For what it's worth,.......way back in the late 50's, as a kid, I had a part time job in a body shop. Mostly sweeping and running for coffee, etc. The youngest (in my eyes anyway) bodyman was working on his own 50 Mercury. Chopped, frenched lights, etc. It was in the back corner of the shop in bare metal/lead, and needless to say I was fascinated to no end. Jimmy (young bodyman) was building it to cruise and show. His plan was to have the car completely finished in white primer, full interior, etc., and in his words, be able to enter car shows in the "unfinished class" because of the white primer. His "plan" was to avoid showing heads up with the "professionals" and guys with deep pockets, yet still be in contention for a trophy.

Not that it makes any sense today, this is true traditional thinking from the 50's. p.s. Don't know what ever happened to the Mercury. Jimmy got drafted into the Army, about 1961, and sadly, I think he did not return alive.

 

With my 34 getting close to on the road I can't imagine blowing it apart for paint and having to wait any longer. I wanna drive the damn thing.

Im not concerned with what people did in the past. I draw inspiration from the cars of the past and use only early Ford parts but Im building a car in the present.
As far as not bothering to build a car if you're not going to paint it? Come on man

 

A old friend of mine Clive (R.I.P) showed me a picture of his 32 three window from the early 50s. It was in primer. It was his high school car and his car until his first child was born years later. He owned it for 9 or 10 years. I asked him why he never painted it. His answer to me at the time that in his day, " we spent the money on going fast, why spend good money on paint when you could buy a better cam or a intake etc. with that money.

 

For the most part satin or flat paint is newstalgia.

There were some primered cars running around, gawd knows that I have driven plenty of beaters in my time that did not have a finished paint job while I owned them. For some I think it is their style to run a primered rod, just like for me my style has always been beaters, fast more often than not but a little rough around the edges. For others it is not style at all it is a fad, like red wheels. One guy does it than all of them must have been that way.

after all that BS let me say this, there is a primered deuce here in KC that was built that way back in the later '50s or earlier '60s. Old powered, chrome reverse oxblood leather rolls and pleats and with genie signed Tommy the Greek pinstripes. It is one in a million others that you ( @Late to the Party ) and I have seen in paint.

 

I've done both shiny and matte and a wagon with the roof and horizontal surfaces matte and the lower doors, fenders and tailgate shiny. I liked them all but I think the matte/primer thing is nearing the end of its rope. Remember the graphics and tweed interior craze of the nineties? Thank God thats over with. My shiny 64 Biscayne. Original paint btw.

Gary

 

You pretty much answered the question for me. Guys who could do the mechanical stuff were not necessarily body and paint men. The ability/money thing drove a lot of that. It really isn't much different today. I've personally reached a point where I don't have the "feel" for the body work, where I once was very good at it. Then, you go and price paint!!! A while back, I priced a gallon of plain old lacquer. At $400 a gallon plus all the other stuff. So, for $60 a gallon, I was delighted to shoot some Kirker satin primer on the old girl. It let me know the car isn't quite ready for paint! I could, but refuse to spend 4g plus on body work and paint. BTW....has anyone priced really high end paint lately??? What's that add to a build? If the reply is, if you can't afford it why do you mess with these cars? then you've lost site of the whole vibe anyway. Tim