I ain't trying to start a pissin' match,,, I know bare metal shows of a really nice body and is a way to showcase excellent metal working skills,,, In my ol' graybeard mind,,, if you drive the car in the real world it's gonna start to rust,,,all the WD40 or Gibbs or whatever ain't going to prevent that from happining. So,do you guys that run your cars necked (southern for naked) ever plan on painting your rides? HRP
I think guys out west have a very different expierence with bare metal than we do here on the east coast... Espcially down in the humid south.
Personally, I just think it looks neat. It's also kind of a slap in the face to the guys who have a bunch of money in their fibergl*** rods.
Tom Branch's car was bare metal for while, he was driving it while working on it. They just painted it recently and it looks bad ***. So I guess the answer to your question is: Yes, sometimes they do get painted.
I think it looks pretty killer on "some" cars. I would do it for a while... but as soon as it started rusting, i'd paint it. Maybe some guys strip their rides down to bare metal in prep for a paint job... and just say, "to hell with it, it looks good." hmmmm... sounds like something i'd do....
Oh yeah Im going to run bare bondo and slap both of them in the face. Im not even gonna sand it smooth. You know like one of those home jobs a teenager does on his honda. Just slap it on in all its lumpy glory. Yeah thats the ticket! Ill show them......
Maybe in your neck of the woods. I don't see very many bare metal cars around here at all. It's probably easier to keep the rust off of 'em in Tucson though.
It's cool in the short run to show off your medal working skills, after that get off your fat *** and paint it. A good sealed primer would be nice if that's your thing................ CRUISER
Oh I disagree with that. Which is why bare cars happen, to show off the quality that REALLY lies beneath. I can make a nice looking paint job with bondo, a gallon of allis chalmers orange, and 2 weekends of color sanding & buffing. Kinda neat when you only see one or two a year, and those 1 or 2 are in a temporary state getting a mechanical shakedown before paint. Kinda p***e when a popular question becomes how to convey bare-metalness in a rockabilly tattoo.
I think that's your answer HRP. I also think that anyone running that style for any period of time would probably clear coat it.
It looks to me like it was started by the real craftsmen to show off their metal working skills and follow the leader from there. Larry T
Seems a lot of stuff gets real screwy with time,some new punks tell this old greaser[me] that there flat or bere met or even rusty cus that's the way it was done? WTF,when,last week. I didn't see that stuff around the south east at lest. In fact any one showing up at our hang outs more then just a few times would of been looked down on big time. First few times they would of been offered help to get it done,but the look wear's out with some time and becomes a drag down insult on all the other rodders. Or if ya didn't get,it was thought to look bad,and was not a finish,at lest not in Fla. in the mid 1950 to mid 1960's,rust never sleeps here.
"Kinda p***e when a popular question becomes how to convey bare-metalness in a rockabilly tattoo." ^^^^^ Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!^^^^^
I never was cool enough to "get" the bare metal thing anyway. Except for maybe a very temperary condition to show off your skills or a short pause in the finishing process it makes no since to me. The thing that get's me is every now and then you'll see a guy running around in a car with clear over bare metal. I don't get that at all.
I have to agree with that. It's rather neat to see a freshly built car show up at a run the first time out of the box in bare metal to showcase the metal work but then it needs to go back for the finish work and paint.
It just looks good if the rest of the car is right. Simple as that. Not many cars have enough right about them to show up in bare steel. The argument should be about whether the car is worthy of being seen bare...not the metal work alone, but the whole car.
I also shook my roadster down for 18 months in Bare metal , after 600 hrs of body work it was 1 to showcase what sort of work we do (I really got sick of people asking if it was a Brookville body!! & 2 to drive it without tearing it apart to prime , then drive. I put 3000+ miles on it , modified the rear floor as it did settle on the Model A rear spring .No other issues come in the body so now I can get it painted without cracking or leaded repair issues (hopefully). Now its at the painter being prepped for the GNRS & then the street. Similar to Tom but no Bonneville for me I have seen what it did to other cars I took there with paint .The bare metal was a convenience thing NOT a fashion statement .
I would def. rock bare metal for awhile if i lived in an arid climate such as So-Cal, Arizona or the like.
In the late 80s someone came up with the idea that Black Cod (fish) were attracted to WD-40, so while chopping bait we had to spray wd all it. It didn't seem to help but it didn't hurt. It has nothing to do with cars so I don't know what to say anymore.....
Whoever your local WD-40 rep is deserves a medal, that guy's a f-n marketing genius, and apparently without shame. Fish "oil". LOL. I've heard of snake oil salesman, do you suppose WD-40 works on snakes too
Because of Jimmy Shine and The Rodders Journal... that's why (we have it). I think it looks cool... you can see what went into a car. After that, it needs to be painted! Sam
First thing that comes to mind when you mention baremetal are feature cars in The Rodders Journal. I like the look, proves you know how do body work, and why the black paint job turned out so nice.
The Jalopy Journal
