I am unable to make up my mind. I have a 54 F100 that is in pretty good shape, but has some dings and the box is well used but not rusty. The truck is purple and I am not a fan of it. I was going to have it stripped to bare metal and repainted, but I am not wanting to spend the money to fix all the dings. I want this truck to be nice, but a daily driver. I have a 56 that I plan to make the nice truck.

My question is, do I just paint over the other 3 layers of paint or do I strip it down and paint it? What color hides the dings the best?

thanks,
Todd

 

The lighter the color the less the dings show. An off-white or light gray would be good.

 

Here's what i do.... I sand the old paint with about 150 grit. I random orbit sander works well, and by hand where you have to. Anything that's loose and comes off, feather it down around the edges. I usually use rustoleum paint and primer. Rattle can primer is ok and covers anything, even purple. I use rustoleum enamal for the top coat and mix my own colors to suit. I just make extra for later touch ups.The important part for me is this.... I use their flat colors like flat white and flat black in my mixes. This reduces the gloss and your new color looks very much like faded or oxidized paint. To me, glossy paint over dents and other imperfections looks bad. Many people have asked me over the years if that's the original paint. I am also a somewhat decent amature body man and I will tell you that my body work looks way better under my semi-flat paint. I have sprayed and brushed my trucks and sometimes a combination. I know this may not be for everyone, but I think it will work well with the description you gave in this post. I can dig up some examples in my photos and post them later today or tomorrow. Hope this helps...... Ok I found one of my rice burner, but it shows it well. Royal Blue Gloss, mixed with flat white and flat black. Dead ringer for Toyota's '65 horizon blue, but without the shine. I'll get a picture of my 59 with the dull 'meadow green'.

 

My first rig was a 65 Landcruiser in that light blue - always hated the color. That is why I kept it covered in mud most of the time.

Yours looks good, paint-job wise.

 

I once had a guy come into my shop with a root beer brown metallic paint job on his Toyota station wagon. He lived in the country and was tired of washing the car but was even more tired of seeing it covered in dust. He asked me to paint it the color of dirt...to each their own.

IMO nothing looks worse than a new paint job over the top of body damage. If you are going to paint the truck then fix the dings. It doesn't have to be a 100 point concours job, but at least fill the dings and block sand them out. Spray/roll the inside of the bed with bedliner and your DD will look very presentable. Good luck.

 

The color on the Toyota is a long story, something to do with losing my first one in the divorce and later being able to 'recreate' it down to the last detail. Here are some fords I have painted with my semi-flat mixes. The 38 as found was already faded red on the cab, but I found a bed that was metallic blue so that's when I was forced to invent 'oxidized red'. Flat white and gloss red, ok back then I often added corn starch to the paint to kill the gloss. An old guy in a paint store taught me that one. The first pics are my 'meadow green' test patches for my 59. They arent dry, so they are a bit glossy. Like the 38, the cab and bed were from different trucks.. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a beautifully painted and restored vehicle as much as the next guy, but I work my trucks and live on a long dirt/mud road so they just aren't for me.