Upon advice of one of my good pals I stopped at the local Ace Hardware & paint emporium to talk to them about color matching some enamel for "the old utility trailer" I'm refurbishing. (If you tell him you're going to use it on a car or truck they won't do it.) The guy who runs their ****yzer wasn't in, so it was suggested I arm myself with color samples in the meantime . . . might find something there that would fit the bill. Fair enough. I selected a half-dozen cards that looked like they'd bracket the green on the bolt I'd removed from my truck to use as a sample. (I'm not the one who'll be making the decision; I'm leaving that up to someone with an unerring sense of color matching, like Vern Tardel and my youngest daughter. When Tardel eyeballed up a match of this-and-that from leftovers in his paint shed for the 15-inch wheels, I was thrilled to pieces with the results. Not Tardel, who commented "It needed a bit more blue." When I got home that evening and called my daughter outdoors to see the new wheels she allowed as how they looked great, " . . . but could have used some more blue."!) The new paint will be for the interior which wasn't repainted when the truck was given an inexpensive re-spray many years ago. That, along with the new motor, suspension, and trans is part of the Fall/Winter program. In the meantime, there are some bits of exterior ugliness resulting from that old cheapy re-spray that I want to correct, along with some areas of the engine compartment that has not received any paint since it rolled out of the Richmond, California, ***embly plant in 1948. With that in mind, I hit the rattlecan shelves for some gloss-black Krylon, found it and was about to walk away when I noticed a row of Krylon cans with dark-green caps that were, well . . . damn near identical to the color on the bolt I'd just put back in my pocket! Out comes the bolt again, and sure enough it's awful close. Now, I know you can trust a plastic cap for being a dead-nuts match to what's in the can, but at $3.69 it was an affordable gamble. The punchline is that the Krylon dark-green is close enough to almost escape detection in the areas I'll be using it. I've already sprayed the rear bed sill (below the tailgate) and it looks terrific! Although I doubt it would fool Tardel or my daughter . . . BTW, the mismatch isn't nearly as pronounced in real life as it appears here.
Hmmmmmmmmm........needs a little more blue in it. See ya in a few days. Look for a white pith helmet with an old NHRA sticker on it.
[ QUOTE ] Actually I think you should just paint the rest of the truck with the Krylon color [/ QUOTE ] Naw, it doesn't have enuff blue in it...it's too green. I think he should paint the bumper with that $3.69 cents worth...probably enuff left in that can. R-
That's the color I have on the engine block and water pump in the blue truck. When it fades a bit it'll look purr****t!
A little "character" ding in the tailgate is what makes it real.....[enjoy it] rather than be obsessed with "too good to drive"- perfection...thats the spirit Man!
That ugly agricultural-lookin' rear bumper is just a few weeks away from being history. Had a new 10-gauge stainless one broken a couple of weeks ago and will shape, TIG, and grind the ends and polish it after Speed Week. Gonna locate it about 2 inches higher than the existing bumper. I'm thinking about a bumper-mounted license plate with an interesting swing-up frame that would also hide a hitch receiver.
looks sharp. if your building a new bumper and the plates going to be preety much no visible when trailoring why dont you just make a license plate frame that plugs into the hitch square? tim
Good idea, Tim! The hitch won't actually connect to the new rear bumper, just the main frame rails and rearmost crossmember. I'm also thinking about relocating the spare tire from under the rear of the bed to inside the bed; with a good hitch system, the original spare-tire location makes it a real ***** to get the spare out from under the truck. If I mounted the license plate on a plug-in for the receiver it would cleverly hide the receiver, and then when I needed to tow something I'd just unplug it and take my chances with The Man. I don't see that as any big risk. Like I said, good idea, and one I'm going to work on right away!
The Jalopy Journal
