Ok, here's where i'm at. I don't have much money to throw at the paint on this truck, but I don't want to drive around in primer stage for 5yrs saving up for a real paint job. Also, something about a new glossy paint job on a 1950's truck doesn't look quite right to me. I think i'd like something less glossy.

So far i've considered everything from tractor paint to rattle can to hod rod flatz. What have people had luck with in the past?

 

I know what you mean about gloss, but I don't think it's the gloss itself. It's the colors that clearly didn't exist back then. Stick with a pastel, like Meadow Green, that's not too dark. Bright colors like Chrome Yellow look good enough on a show truck, but a softer yellow (more mustard-ey) is more '50's. Nothing wrong with white, either...

 

I have been trying to figure this same thing out with my truck. I found Eastwood sells auto paint and it seems to be pretty good and cost efficient

 

Go to the loco parts co. DupliColor has a nead old style finish an some of th colors matched up.

 

The one here in OKC is long closed but they are still out there.

Car Painting | Earl Scheib - Auto Paint Body Since 1937

 

For a cheap paint Job google rustoleum paint job
There are hundreds of people painted their vehicles and a bunch of instructions and pictures of completed cars. As crazy as it sounds some of the cars look really nice. Most claim total paint job cost about 100 bucks.
Here is a link to a old HOT ROD mag. article
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/b...job/index.html
Just a thought.
Larry

 

I knew I couldn't be the only one that thought this!

The old school flat black with red rims and chrome hubcaps has been done to death, but there's also a reason for that, it looks good (and the curvy tattooed girl with red lipstick that's usually found standing in front of such a truck doesn't hurt either). And that's something I could do myself. But I don't think i'd want that for a daily driver.

Ok, so I found this and I just might be in love with the color, imagine it with less gloss, more like the rear driver's side fender is in this shot and black lettering instead of red - FORD 1952, PICK UP - León - Autos - pick up ford 1952

But I might want to do something different with the grille, i'm not a big chrome guy, maybe body color? Maybe something else?

Also, what does this truck have in the creases of the fenders and right under the front of the hood, some sort of plastic/rubber striping?

 

I would go to the local maco and get their 300 buck paint job in like a white. It will not be the best but it will hold you over till u save up the money for what you want. If you want it even cheaper i think they have paint jobs for like 200 also.

 

Well, this brings up another question I had. Ok, so a lot of guys do the body work and primer it, then drive it for years in primer and finally get it painted. My question is this, what if I did the body work and primered it and then spray painted it that silver color. How much more work would I be making for myself when it came time to paint it for real? Would I just have to prep sand it? I would assume you would have to do that to the primer anyway after years of driving, I wouldn't expect you could run it through the car wash and then drive right into the paint booth...

If that's an option i'd probably do that, then you'd be certain that you liked the color because you'd have had it for years already.

 

yea you can but i personaly would not do that. I may cause problems on down the line with the new paint. If you do that I would take it down to close to bare metal as possable IMO.

 

I could do that, wouldn't be hard, it's all going to bare metal before it's getting primered so far anyway.

 

If you do the repairs, sanding and priming, a Maco job can be very nice. It's the quality of the prep that makes a paint job look good.

In older vehicles it was common to paint the body parts disassembled. The piping you asked about in that '52 is made from vinyl fabric. It is a strip about two inches wide, folded and wrapped around a small cord. The used to be stitched but you can make it just using spray glue. It acts as a gasket between the body parts. The part with the cord protrudes just above the body surface and the flat part is cut to allow for the fasteners that hold the panels together.

It used to be important when everyone used lacquer paint which chips easily. very disappointing to bolt your freshly painted panels together and see them chip. You don't see it much anymore because vehicles are mostly painted assembled, using acrylic paints.

 

Dude, if you put on some fake tattoos, lipstick, and a bikini and pose in front of your truck for pictures, we will NOT speak to you anymore. I think we just got rid of our resident transvestite and we don't need another.

Seriously though, I am NOT a paint and bodywork expert by any stretch, but I've picked up a few things over the years. Most primers are pretty porous and will not separate the metal from the moisture in the atmosphere. They have to be topcoated with a paint. The paint is what seals it up. A bare primer will usually result in rust after a few months. Even the flat black vehicles that you speak of aren't finished just in primer. The flat black is normally black paint with a flattening agent mixed in. The exception to this rule seems to be the epoxy primers. They can apparently go without a topcoat for some time. If you intend to finish the bodywork and temporarily paint it, make sure that you give it a good coat of epoxy primer first over the raw, bare metal and them again after you've finished all the bodywork. You'll want to sand the paint off and give the primer a good scuff before you apply the permanent finish, though. Check out Summit Racing, too. They've got an inexpensive line of paints that they'll ship right to your door.

 

Are you in primer now? How cheap you looking?

I used a gallon of rustoleum's work paint. Takes like half a gallon to paint a truck with that stuff, I just brushed it on. Course this was only because it looked like it had leprosy and the bed was a different color, lol. I plan on going back and stripping it down to bare metal. If you already have good primer down you may not want to go this route.


You can paint it yourself pretty cheap, learn from it, wait till you have the money for some high-end paints, and then paint it again and still spend a whole lot less than if you paid someone to do it. Good paint, clear and primer and all that runs at LEAST $600, usually over $1000 after all the nickles and dimes get you (you'd be surprised how much you can spend on sand paper)

I wouldn't suggest driving it in primer, it doesn't always protect your metal as much as you'd like. You may look into putting down some sealer over the primer. House of Kolor has it in black, white and if I remember right also silver. It won't be shinny, more like a satin finish, but it will help protect things better than just primer.


On how much work it will be the next time honestly depends on how far you take it this time. If the car wasn't super clean and good paints where used, you may find you'll need to strip it completely down or risk it causing problems with your new paint job (like coming off)

Personally if I drove a car in primer for a long time and then went to paint it, I would check the crap out of it, sand it, and put some more fresh primer over it, maybe even strip it completely. The problem is it's making for a much larger risk of having sand, dirt, oils and bug juice in the primer, that have worked there way in... which leads to problems with paint over it. Paint doesn't stick to oil, even off your fingers will cause some serious problems. Maybe it's just my experience with it, but every time I've painted I was always very very uptight about even the tiniest bit of dust in the booth. So much can effect it.


But to answer your question, I would say go for it. The worst thing that will happen is you will have to sand it all off (use a good dual action sander, its the most used tool you will use on a paint job). It will give you what you want now and some experience with it, and down the line you may find you want to do you "real" paint job yourself. Nothing beats the feeling of when you first put color down, not even that first drive, for me anyways.

You might put it in primer and go the macco route (be sure your emblems are off). We had one of our cars done with it long ago and it lasted a very very long time, course we could have been the "one in a million" but still. I always look at temp paint jobs different than the "real" one, but I sand things all the way down when I do a "real" paint job, have to know what you have under it, nothing worse than putting down $1000+ in materials and a whole lot of hours to have it bubble or pop off in a spot cause of something unseen in the old work, a lot can happen that you don't know about when you drive it around, and when a good paint job needs to be so clean...

 

I know a guy who painted a car with rustoleum using foam rollers rather than a brush. it leaves a heavy orange peel finish (by spray application standards, think of the texture on a wall in your home that has been roller painted) but it look decent from 20' away. You could wet sand it out smooth and leave it in 600 grit finish for a mat look.
There are automotive primers that are designed for roller application, even body shops use them for small repairs rather than having to clean up spray equipment.