Color ideas.

Well as some of you know im unhappy with the paint on my car, did not turn out like i thought, so im gonna repaint it, im thinking gloss black with blue scallops like the roof, but im worried that the body is not good enough for this color, i hear that it shows any flaws. I have stuff for a blue interior, so it needs to coincide with that, plus im taking the skulls out of the grill (im bored with them)and gonna try to save the front bumper chrome, its under the paint. Do you guys have any ideas that will give me a direction to take? I just want it a little cleaner looking, i thought this paint would help, but it still looks raggedy. Thanks guys.

sorry i forgot the pics.

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Originally Posted by hotroddaddy

Well as some of you know im unhappy with the paint on my car, did not turn out like i thought, so im gonna repaint it, im thinking gloss black with blue scallops like the roof, but im worried that the body is not good enough for this color, i hear that it shows any flaws. I have stuff for a blue interior, so it needs to coincide with that, plus im taking the skulls out of the grill (im bored with them)and gonna try to save the front bumper chrome, its under the paint. Do you guys have any ideas that will give me a direction to take? I just want it a little cleaner looking, i thought this paint would help, but it still looks raggedy. Thanks guys.

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If you are painting a glass black the body better be darn near perfectly straight or it will show as bad a cellulite in pantyhose...

I thought that for these rat rods, "raggedy" was the point of it all. :-) As long as every part on the car is bare metal, dark colors, and flat or semigloss paint, and you have no polish or chrome, that is going to be the result.

Black is the "real test" of a painter! Whoever is doing it had better be experienced in exacting high-end work, or you will not be satisfied.

Did you have this car here a while back in Winston Salem NC at The Saints car show? Does it have skulls in the grill, like about 5 of them? If so then I saw this car there with the same web hood idea and everything.
Anyways, if you plan to do it gloss black then you will want to have the body perfect or you will see EVERY little ding, wave, dent, etc. Prime it, use a guide coat and the longest flattest block you can use and use it correctly. As I like to say, it's not really all the painter that makes a great paint job. It's the body man, wet sander and buffer. I see a lot of people at car shows looking at the cars saying "wow whoever painted that car did a great job, it's very slick and no dents either". If they only knew who had the horrible job of sanding and sanding for hours on end... :D

Oh and as far as color on that, I'd do the main part of the car a metallic blue or a bronze orange color (I am sure you know what I am talking about) and then black scallops with a silver pinstripe. On that car I think it would look great.

Yep that was me in north carolina, What a drive that was! The body is fairly straight, but the panels are`nt the best, as far as lining up good. You`re idea sounds good i`ll look into some colors like that.

Awesome man, yeah I didn't actually make it to that show because my headers for the 66 never came in and things went crazy around that time but I did see it on the hamb forums and they showed it up there... Did you see that post? As soon as I seen your car I thought I seen it somewhere.

Yep, no question that lighter colors hide more sins than dark........especially gloss black. I'm even nervous to see my T body when it comes back from the shop, and he is a pro doing it in black. I've seen so many cars that just should not have been black over the years.

The other thing is black is hard to keep maintained. When I worked at the body shop and we did a black car, we would not take it out front until the customer was on their way in. Just sitting there with traffic going by would put dust all over it and the car would have to be washed and detailed all over again to look nice when they picked it up.

Gloss black is not for the faint of heart.


Don

Don is very right. I know how that is having to wait to pull it out when the customer gets there. 10 minutes outside and it's completely covered. Maroon or a dark metallic red is the same way and they also show swirl marks if not buffed correctly or sometimes if you use a dirty mitt to wash it then there ya go, it's all screwed then.

IMO black has been used to death on cars over the years.... Pick some bright colors and make it unique. Anything is better then standing around all day with your spray polish and rag to get the dust off your glossy black paint!!!!!

Some of the metallic blacks might be a good compromise. The metallic will help to hide the dust and swirls.

do something different , like a John D'Agostino " Jade Idol " or his " Golden Sunrise" or his " Royal Impress " .
He uses 2-4 colors and fades them to achieve a slick paintjob.
Look here ;) http://www.johndagostinokustomkars.com/bio.htm

Some like this effect some don't , it takes a skilled painter to fade and make it look Great ! ( But it can hide some imperfections )
I have had to do several here ( Wichita Ks.) when the hail of 1992 hit , as our GM dealership sold many Faded GM trucks new from Grand Vans and I got the job of re-finishing them all .

your Merc may be a cool candidate ;) :)
Spray

Hey spraytech ,have not seen you around for awhile, how you been? Those are some real nice rides, wish i could afford a paint job like that.

I really like the red i picked, but i guess cause i had it flattened,and no clear, it faded in a matter of days, and any spots it gets on it stains the paint, so now it looks real bad. I guess it would have been a good idea to have done it right the first time, thats what i get for going flat.


How hard is metal flake? I was thinking of black with flames, all done in metal flake, but ive been hearing the proccess is real tedeous.

What a great link Spray!!! Thanks a bunch!!! Makes me want to make room for that old '66 T-Bird that's parked beside the garage!!!! BTW, back many moons ago I remember seeing a muli-colored 60's Bird in some of the mags... Going by my feeble memory, it started as red, then faded on the sides..... Anybody remember the car, or other T-bird Kustoms from the same era??????

hotrodaddy, I like the Merc, and if Rat is your theme, I think you hit it pretty well with the paint job. Couple of things on the car that in my opinion are not "rat", is the butt winshield and the moulded lake pipes. You have a great start on a HotRod rather than "rat". Spend the time and money to get the body work perfected, then pick the paint you like. You are the one who is going to be looking at the most.
A friend of mine has a 49 Merc, with exact same pipes, windshield and chopped top, that is painted a wild, lime green. It gets a lot of attention and wins a lotta awards, such as GoodGuys, NSRA, and 2006 James Dean. He is the T-shirt car for James Dean this year.
As mentioned earlier, its the prep, not the painter that makes or breaks a paint job.
Good luck, and keep us up on your progress on the Merc.

Jack