roller painted decklid, color opinions? (big pictures warning)

[Guest 50Plymouth]

Okay, this is my incomplete somewhat redneck'ish roller painted decklid. I'm looking for a poll on the color: 1) Go with it 2) No way!

The color is rustoleum's "hunter green". Honestly, I'd like something more exciting but this is uh, no beautiful hotrod here so my favorite amc Big Bad Orange type color might be best left alone. This green reminds me of modern mini-van or forest ranger but it was available locally and the rustoleum orange or a shiny black might only insight further laughs.

Yes, its pretty bad (matches the car over all note the dent and rust:o ) orange peel because only 4 coats there, I stopped at 600grit wetsand. Wasn't sure if I wanted to continue.. This is certainly less messy (& money) than spraying, but takes an awfully long time for all the needed coats. Since the car isn't so great I was considering going with this sorta similar to stock color and slapping it on so it was a little better looking for a time. Anyway, what do you think - should I move forth, or find a new color?

Yes, you will note a seemingly mismatched front clip at point. '52 maybe?

Opinions welcome.

Ryan

[eric wissing]

Ryan,

I like the green and I think it looks to me like a color it would have come in. How did you get the black paint on the licence plate? . One thing nice about a driver like this , you do not have to worry about every bump and scratch. I like your car. I'd go with the green. Eric

[55 Fargo]

Ryan, so far not too bad, you could always work panel by panel, do the bodywork, hammer and dolly, fillers etc. Then paint it panel by panel, thin the paint10 to 20 %, with mineral spirits. Apply 2 coats, wetsand with 600, paint on 2 more coats wetsand 1000, roll on 2 more coats wetsand 1500. You can then poish with elcheapo trutle wax polish, the white stuff, not the wax. Or use Meguires swirl remover and buff and polish to a nice shine. If you did this polished up the chrome, sand blast and paint the rims, you could have a nice little driver here, and heck, when you have more time and bucks you could sand down the car, redo or refine body work and have car professionally painted. But in the mean time you could takle all the mechanical, brakes engine, frontend, wiring etc. The interior, the chrome, the dash painting. If the car is painted nice, then you could enjoy the car, yes I know it will not look cherry like mega expensive bodywork and paint, but heck it ain't gonna cost you the farm right now either, I say go for it. What do yall need to make this vehicle safe and mechanically sound for the road..........The Rock

[Guest 50Plymouth]

... The interior, the chrome, the dash painting. If the car is painted nice, then you could enjoy the car, yes I know it will not look cherry like mega expensive bodywork and paint, but heck it ain't gonna cost you the farm right now either, I say go for it. What do yall need to make this vehicle safe and mechanically sound for the road..........The Rock

I'm thinking of going for the "old, used, working tractor" look

I don't plan on keeping this car forever, (or probably even in a move). I replaced front coils cause the tires hit (but then I realized they were oversized tires, not saggy springs), all brake hardware is done; now its front power, dual mc, disc Needs exhaust and good tires, needs fixed the removable floor pan I tore up, and front seat anchored down better -with that should be nearly 'local area street errand worthy'. (I need to figure best tire size with the mixture of rims). Interior is shot. In hindsight now, I'm not sure I would\should have bought it with other projects, but I've never played with something so old ..and this forum really is by far, the best I have read let alone interacted with. Hopefully, if life circumstances require me to let it go within a few years I can do that even with the little mods done.

So what'dya think of the new green, a "go" or a hmmm "no"? If I make up my mind soon I may break open the jar yet this weekend. It would look better sitting in the driveway with shinier paint. Its on a rotating schedule for the garage

edit: BTW, rock - what color(s) do guys paint the plain style rims? I'm thinking red would look uh, kind of weird with green paint.

[jimwheeldon]

I'd mix a 1/2 pint of rustoleum black with each quart of hunter green...it should give you a color much closer to stock. I'm not trying to be mean, but it does look a little too "John Deere" for my taste. Even though it's a stop gap measure- With all the elbow grease your planning to expend warrants a color you're really happy with. Your car looks like a very solid ride(Much nicer than my 50!)..I really like that body style. Keep posting pictures-I'd love to see the progress:)

[55 Fargo]

Go for the green, with dark green rims or for the John Deere look, yyou could have yellow rims. Hey man it's your ride as long as you like it and it's safe to drive, maybe some white flames on the hood and fron fenders too.

[Guest 50Plymouth]

Go for the green, with dark green rims or for the John Deere look, yyou could have yellow rims. Hey man it's your ride as long as you like it and it's safe to drive, maybe some white flames on the hood and fron fenders too.

... yellow rims, oh my. Hmmmm.. Actually, maybe with some nice John Deere logos it would suddenly be worth a fortune The farmers in my church would sure find it a gas. A Mopeere?

[eric wissing]

"Nothing Sails like a Plymouth" eric

[D25_Steve]

I'd mix a 1/2 pint of rustoleum black with each quart of hunter green...it should give you a color much closer to stock.

I think I have to agree here. Not the colour green I'd do with.

[randroid]

50 Ply,

Reading between the lines of what you're writing I think you're getting sucked in to a resto. Not a complete resto but more of one aimed at a resto of some dignity to the old girl; one who's been driven around the block, rode hard and put up wet, deserves a little social security. A lot of us got here that way.

You mentioned you haven't worked on a car this old, but you'll get scarce chances to do it again in your life. You half-finished the painting you tried, but you have a dual mc and disks? The sixty-year-old front springs are new? Very few of us put new upholstery in line before road-worthy because you only take one place in the car and anybody who wants to ride in a car that has literally gotten Japanese tourists to stop my car in the middle of a packed street for a photo-op can bring what they need for the privilege.

Family comes first and old cars don't come second unless you don't have a family and are socially unacceptable, in which case you're on you own, although I doubt such is the case.

Get it half-painted and enjoy it then sell it then regret that for the rest of your life. You get to pick what to regret. There is no logical explanation for what we do, and the glory of our hobby is that we can enjoy it without explanation.

Sorry, just my two cents that evolved into a couple of dimes.

-Randy

[Lou Earle]

You might want to go to a local paint /wallpaper store or wall mart or home depot etc and get a bunch of their sample green cards. pick your color then get white derusto (BTW there are several other commercial brands of this type paint) and have the paint store mix up your color. I am going to do this on my pink?? 54 plym- I got their color cards and found a close color and will be getting them to tint to my color the close one. I talked to Zeegler paints here - they are commercial painters here- do water towers etc and the manager said that tinting or matching a color does not impair the paint- they do it allthe time for customers.

Lou

[claybill]

enough talk...paint the darn thing.!!! green is good !!! when done go over it lightly with fine rubing compound to take that nasty edge off the new paint!!!

bill

[Guest 50Plymouth]

Started on the hood today, will finish up the deck lid this week unless my second child decides to arrive first. Paint was drying faster than I could work. Makes a huge difference working with it in a building & out of the sun. I'm new to this but since I was working with a sun baked hot surface I think the mixture ratio needs were different than before. My poor foam roller was just about drying before my eyes.

Theres a certain odd novelty in painting it so cheaply, with off the shelf walmart stuff, even if color options are so limited. If I had gotten a tintable oil enamel from the city, then I'd probably be more picky on color but I think I can live with this. I was looking at the door jambs and really this hunter green isn't terribly different than whatever the factory did. The current worn outer color doesn't at all represent well the fire wall and door jambs. The front clip was painted over black. I'll post more pics as progress continues.

[Guest 50Plymouth]

50 Ply,

...

You mentioned you haven't worked on a car this old, but you'll get scarce chances to do it again in your life. You half-finished the painting you tried, but you have a dual mc and disks? The sixty-year-old front springs are new? Very few of us put new upholstery in line before road-worthy because you only take one place in the car and anybody who wants to ride in a car that has literally gotten Japanese tourists to stop my car in the middle of a packed street for a photo-op can bring what they need for the privilege.

-Randy

Randy,

Am I being unconventional? Seriously, didn't quite track where you were going with that exactly. The springs I thought were needed, the brakes needed doing anyway, and the conversion is one of the things I've actually done before. Bodywork and paint are just not my thing, I enjoy the visual change certainly.

BTW, I see you are also into r\c air; are you gas or electric? My Plymouth has assimilated what was once my airplane time and re$ources I've got a webpage picturing my earlier feeble airplane constructs from a few years ago:

http://www.weeklypapercut.org/rc/index.htm

Ryan

[bmt47p-15]

Deck lid looks good, can't wait to see the hood!

[Young Ed]

Interesting to see I'm not the only one to give up Rc toys for real size ones! I still have a bunch of Rc cars mostly 10th scale that I haven't touched since I got my 46. I have both elec and nitro and 1 1/8th scale mixed in.

[Guest youngnovice]

Hey I like the rambler in the backround. 63 Classic right? Ive got a 63 Ambassador. Was my daily driver till friday when the rear end went out now im on foot. So whats the story on your rambler?

[Guest 50Plymouth]

Hey I like the rambler in the backround. 63 Classic right? Ive got a 63 Ambassador. Was my daily driver till friday when the rear end went out now im on foot. So whats the story on your rambler?

Yes! I think AMC\Rambler qualifies somewhat as Mopar now right (poor mergers and sales) Background story: I found that locally in a farmers shed, parked in '90, adopted it because floors, trunk, rockers were so solid. Unfortunately engine was stuck, I have a rebuilt dinky earlier 196ohv cast waiting for her, but it has no side mounts so that is an ongoing engineering nightmare. I put front disc brakes on her. You can see my Rambler classic, and my other favorite past AMC here: (I was tempted to paint the 50Ply the same Big Bad Orange as my past 69 Amx I liked it so much, as discussed above)

http://www.weeklypapercut.org/automotive/index.htm

I had hoped to continue my roller painting today, but unless weather clears I may have to wait; I don't feel like moving the cars around again for garage space, we'll see. I am taking pictures after each coat & wetsand so you can see the progression.

[BobT-47P15]

Not saying anything negative about the car......but it looks like one of those sort of cars you can practice on and experiment---just like you are doing. You will probably learn some things in the process, regardless of what shade of green you paint it. You can leave it in the "beater/clunker" style like you said, or can slick it up later. Probably need a set of better, size matching tires....likely 6.70x15 on your model. Or go with radials of 2.15 x 15. Look foreward to seeing further reports.

[AJ Johnson]

I like the green. Maybe I should have become a farmer? Have you considered a two tone paint job? I personally like the look of a different colored roof. I don't know what the would be with the green. Maybe black, tan, or another shade of green?

Just my thoughts.

AJ

[Plymouthy Adams]

I like the green. Maybe I should have become a farmer? Have you considered a two tone paint job? I personally like the look of a different colored roof. I don't know what the would be with the green. Maybe black, tan, or another shade of green?

Just my thoughts.

AJ

How do you say John Deere..yellow top of course...is this what you had in mind. We have two vehicles around this area in John Deere motiff...one a truck..not so bad..would be right at home at a dealership as deliverly truck...the other a big Impalla...just a tad over the line...lol

[Guest 50Plymouth]

I like the green. Maybe I should have become a farmer? Have you considered a two tone paint job? I personally like the look of a different colored roof. I don't know what the would be with the green. Maybe black, tan, or another shade of green?

AJ

Hmmm.. An interesting possibility, I'll ponder this one. I don't know that I'm brave enough for a yellow top

I've now got two coats of green on the hood. Honestly, rolling and sanding is such a slow process compared to painting - I am considering trying out a harbor freight hvlp gun I got on another panel for comparison (using same paint of course); but my current compressor doesn't have a regulator with built in filter\water trap. I'd have to post photo's for comparison of course

[AJ Johnson]

As cheap as a Harbor Freight HVLP gun is, it is worth a try. That being said it may be just as much sanding and polishing in the end. Let us know how it works out. An post pictures! I am paying for cable internet access and would like to get my money's worth.

Here's a picture of my 54 Coronet - notice two tone. Painted by the previous owner. I am planning on painting the top white this summer & I am awaiting your results to limit my trial and error process.

The baby blue top is the original color, the previous owner tried to match the lower part of the car but it is off by several shades. It was supposed to be more blue. Now it is more turquoise.

AJ

[Young Ed]

As with any paint the prep work is the key. The harbor frieght HVLP gun works well. Painted various parts of my 46 & 48 with one. Plus part of an S10 and the interior of Dads 84CJ7.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Sharpe is making a very affordable smooth operating spray gun now that can be had for about a C note. It is the Finex line, easy to use...nice aluminum cup and the easiest gun to clean Ihave ever owned. It is gravity feed...as with any HVLP gun the secret is in the input air supply...volume is the key, larger supply line, gun base will be marked with inlet pressure for the at gun installed regulator you will provide...this is what makes the gun work..the inlet pressure maintain and ensures that the tip is not exceeding 10 PSI per clean air act etc etc...not only will this keep you within EPA regs, it also prevents bounce from the surface from too much pressure.