Patina? Love it or hate it?

Patina? Whats the deal with it? Do you love it, or hate it, or somewhere in the middle? Myself, I just don't understand it. When I was growing up, anybody that drove a vehicle that looked like what everybody calls patina nowadays was usually dirt poor and couldn't afford anything else, or an oddball codger with plenty of money but too much of a Scrooge to spend it. Nobody wanted to be like them, everybody I knew wanted a glossy paint job. I guess that's why I can't understand anybody wanting to drive anything that looks like it was just pulled from a junkyard or out of somebodies barn or pasture. I can go with flat paint, primer, or glossy paint. Faded paint and surface rust doesn't do it for me. I want to bring out the sandpaper and maybe even a spray bomb and make it one color.

Maybe I'm an odd bird, but I love a good looking rat, just so it's got some kind of paint or primer on it. Not talking down anybodies ride, I just see some rides and think, man, that would look good black, or red, or yellow.....

Just a fun observation on my part.

No right or wrong answer, what do y'all think?

I like natural patina. Hate fake patina, it's usually overdone.

Too me, it depends on what kind of shape it was in,to begin with.Some rides are just too far gone to restore,but its good that they are on the road again.

For the most part, its rooted in rebellion. The rat rod thing is about going back to basics. No frills hotrods. The most bang for the short bucks we have. No $100K paint jobs. Of course like any form of rebellion, there are those of us that take it a bit far.

I have to admit that I like my accidental "Cub Scout" paintjob just fine. A real paint job would cost twice what I have invested in what I hope will be a safe, feisty, and fun little toy. I could afford a paint job, but this is fun, and the money will be better spent on the next project if I ever get this one out of the work space.

That said, Bama, sometimes I have the same thoughts. I grew up dirt poor, and wanted shiny things... Now that I can afford 'em a little better, I don't care so much.

Some cars should be shiny, some others, not so much.

Todd said:

I like natural patina. Hate fake patina, it's usually overdone.

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What he said! [cl

I love it and got to have it, paint is overrated!

Toad

I'm not sure it's an age thing. I'm a 45 model and my ride is a 71 sprint, it's had a bit of cutting and welding done I don't do paint as much for the reaction of the looky lews and the purist that won't even talk to me. Even at seventy life is short enjoy the heck out of it. [cl

Nother nature took 65 years to make my chevy look like it does. My dad and uncle added some bumps and bruises along the way, each one having a story. Why cover it up with some coolie cutter paint job?

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Todd said:

I like natural patina. Hate fake patina, it's usually overdone.

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And this:

Skip said:

The rat rod thing is about going back to basics. No frills hotrods. The most bang for the short bucks we have.

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And this:

lowbudget50 said:

Mother nature took 65 years to make my Chevy look like it does. My dad and uncle added some bumps and bruises along the way, each one having a story. Why cover it up with some cookie cutter paint job?

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I appreciate a well restored classic, or a gleaming hot rod as much as the next person, but they are getting to be a dime a dozen, and usually owned by some rich guy that paid someone to make it that way, then paid someone to detail it the night before, then takes it to a show and says look at me. I have NO respect for those at all, and will walk right past them to check out something that someone built with his own hands that is creative and different.

Some rat rods are downright ugly, but others are real works of rolling art. To me, patina is history of a sort. Clear coats ruin that look for me, and fake patina is just pitiful. Most are done badly and look ... fake!

Examples of things I appreciate are random pieces made into some sort of sculpture like a skeleton hand that holds the side mirror, spider and web in a back window, stain glass side windows, antique glass knobs used for shifter knob or pull switches, vintage aircraft gauges, etc. Something different used in a way you didn't expect that makes you look twice! Things I don't like are rats and skulls. Over-used and a bit silly.

My rpu won't be painted. I will use as much of the original '52 IH cab as I have, no chop or channel, on a '54 Chevy car frame that I won't sandblast or paint, some rusty front fenders if I use any, and rolling on a crusty looking dually rear end with dirty wheels and the Chevy front end. I'll use "crummy looking" bucket headlights, rusty running boards, but not where you expect them, an old sun-dried and warped wooden tool box on the back with the paint cooked into the wood over the years and rope handles that are already there. It will have some old style tail lights, maybe some sort of bumpers, maybe not. I have been collecting doodads and thingamajigs, and will use some of those as well. It will be something that attracts like-minded free spirits, artists, and free thinkers, and the snobs will walk by thumbing their nose. Fine with me.

I think it has it's place. I , too, don't like the ones where they create fake patina or when they put gloss clear over it, I like it to look natural.

I am on the fence about my 46, I am thinking of satin clear over the entire car, including the bared by nature spots and surface rusted spots. But I plan on having everything underneath powdercoated and a real nice interior installed.

I am also thinking about doing it on the body of my rpu. It currently has brush painted dull black paint over some of it and bare steel over the rest. When I stand back and look at it I actually like it and am thinking of brush painting and scuffing through the black to show some red oxide.

Like most "trends" this one will probably pass and in 5 or 10 years we will wonder what we were thinking when we did it.


Don

When I was younger, I put killer flake/pearl/candy paint jobs on everything I built. I also spent most of my time watching out to make sure nobody scratched , or even touched, said paint jobs. When I built my '57 Plymouth Belvedere, I left it as found behind a garage. No fancy paint, not even a scuff and primer. I loved the freedom that gave me. I could park anywhere, walk off and not worry about it. At shows or gatherings, I let kids get in and pretend they were driving. I put a sign in the window that said "touch me... I'm that kind of car". My '56 Ford is painted, though not well. I'll probably wet sand it, but a used-car cheap coat of paint on it, maybe some sill lettering, and call it good. My days of spending thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours to do a work of art on a street-driven vehicle are over. I don't want to watch my vehicle sit around, being ogled by the crowd. I want to drive it, park it, and walk away with no need to monitor its condition. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I'd rather have fun than spend all my time worrying about shiny paint.

I wish I was a good paint and body man. I'm not and the cost of slicking a car out (any of mine anyway) would be a lot more than I had into it. I do wish every car I owned had nice paint but in reality, I kinda like the low maintenance of not. But I sure as heck would never scrunge up a nice straight car just to fake a patina.

Lots of good opinions and ways to look at it. Personally, I've literally fought my whole life to keep any vehicle I own from the dreaded winter salt and the crippling damage it causes to metal. The sun bleached paint and bare metal look never happens here, certainly not naturally. Our vehicles don't, and didn't ever take on a 'patina', never lasted long enough for that to happen. They just plain disappear, and turn invisible....and lighter. My daily is a 93 GMC 1 ton crew cab and it amazes people that it's still around. And I fully expect this up coming winter is going to finally kill it off. I have a unique perspective to both sides of the coin. I've worked part time for the last 5 years at a restoration shop that only does older vehicles. Most are high priced gleaming jewels when done and going out the door. They look gorgeous, but they wouldn't be what I would build for myself....even if I could afford to. A lot of the people that have us do their work simply can't do it themselves, or don't have the space or time to devote to what a build involves. I'll admit, I used to look down my nose at these owners and dismiss them as 'wanna be's'. But....have softened my outlook and see where most of them have been coming from. The jerks in the crowd, are the ones that take the credit for the work involved and have never touched it or learned a skill from it. But then....they paid for the privilege, but they are still jerks. Now that I've really wandered off track, the patina thing isn't for me. I want my cars clean, neat, shiny, dependable and affordable. It's special to me, and not just a daily driver, it deserves nice paint. And if my baby makes me happy, it gets the best I can modestly provide.

i prefer shiny paint, but it doesn't have to cost a arm and leg either. home depot rust oleum, lots of colors and about $12.00 a quart. i seen some hammered look paint from them too. if your a rattle bomb type all the same colors and they cover very nice. i still look at patina car as well as all the others too.

The paint isn't the expensive part IMO. It's all the prep work to get a car worthy of paint.

Paint or natural patina, both can be good depends on the how it's done and to certain point on what. A natural patina on a '50 Apache can be every bit as nice as one of Big Daddy Roth's creations.

I don't care for fake patina because it always looks fake. I'm also a bit tired of seeing everything being flat black with pinstripes.

I'm not opposed to someone shooting clear over patina to hold the aging in check.

Mostly though I'm a big fan of cars that actually get driven.

"you can teach a monkey to paint, it's what happens before and after that makes a paint job." Charlie Hutton

In my mind it's like a leather Harley jacket. New, it is stiff and uncomfortable and just like every other one on the rack. Might as well leave the price tag conspicuously visible on it. But well worn it is comfortable. It's scuffs and wear tell a life story. More about the ride than trying to impress at the destination.

I think rusted out old cars are cool for the same reason I like Zombie movies. I don't know what that reason is, but it's the same idea. Not big on fake patina either. It kinda depends, a high dollar fake patina paintjob just seems foolish. A low buck fake patina job can hide a lot of dents and holes.

Some cars deserve full high dollar paint, some don't deserve any.

What can I say that hasn't been said?

Oh, yeah... before I heard the terms "rat rod" or "patina" I always liked a working work in progress and by that, I mean a running, driving "project"... often primered, sometimes not, but tearing up the street or strip regardless. (It's what's underneath that counts.)

In a sea of show cars or race cars, I still find myself drawn to the "unfinished" and often think they should stay that way. Hot rods of any variety should be "Evil, Wicked, Mean and Nasty" and many lose that with an ill-planned if not gaudy finish.

All that said, some really nail it with a beautiful paint job and I'll always appreciate a dead-nuts straight BLACK car.

Did I say evil already?

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I get you Doc, when I see an unfinished car/truck there are all these possibilities. When it's all shiny and nice, that's just what it is.