1938 plymouth black paint

[38plymouth]

Unfortunately my paint is getting pretty thin and the more I wax or buff to make it shine again I'm starting to hit primer. One half of my hood is basically gray now. Most of the car is still good but I would like to try to paint the hoods. Does anyone know of a place I can get spray cans of the original black color? Or any thoughts on a black spray can that's available anywhere that is very close? I do have spray guns but I don't have a great compressor anymore. I feel like the hoods aren't that big and I could pull this off with spray cans. I don't want it to be absolutely perfect because then it isn't going to mess the rest of the car.

[Ivan_B]

I never buff old paint, just use quick wax for UV protection. In case you can find the OEM-like paint in a regular can, you can just do the good-old paint and sand technique with a regular brush

Also, do you have pictures of your hood, so that we know what you are dealing with?

[38plymouth]

The main part of the car was painted a very long time ago I was told in the 60s. The four fenders had been redone at some point in our great shape. The two small hoods and the trunk lid are where I'm having the problem. The morning sun used to hit the trunk and the afternoon sun would hit the hoods. Even though it was in a garage I didn't keep it covered I do now. If I just repaint those three items the car would look so much better. I almost don't mind the trunk lid I like the patina on it honestly but one of the hoods gets surface rust now because the pain is so thin.

[desoto1939]

since we assume that the car either has been repainted or not the original color black that is on the car currently has faded over the years because if was probably as single stage paint and they did not use any clear coat.

 

People think that black is black, but this is not correct. When they mix paint colors to get to a specific color there is a mix ratio.

 

A rattle can of black might work but suggest that you try this on something then compare the color. Also you should strip the old wax off the metal that you are going to respray, if not then the new paint might not be smooth because of the oil and wax on the metal.

 

Talk to a body shop guy to get their opinion on how to match the color.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[Los_Control]

While I have never used their service, some NAPA stores have a "paint center" and can color match paint and put it into a spray can.

My local napa does not have the service, the napa in the next town does. Certainly not cheap but is a option.

 

Would be ideal if you can find something close enough at a local hardware store.

 

A $15 HVLP from harbor freight does a great job of spraying paint, you do not need much of a air compressor to run it either.

I used a porter cable pancake compressor .... a small portable compressor for construction job sites .... it sprayed fine for awhile .... then let it catch up and spray some more.

[38plymouth]

I actually think I have an HVLP gun that I've never used. Probably the smarter option would be for me to just go get the factory color and spray with a gun. I was just hoping to make this as easy as possible talk to a body shop about doing it once about a year ago they wanted $2,000 and it was going to take months to do it. I have all the time in the world and used to work in a body shop so I know I can make it look good.

[Ivan_B]

1 hour ago, 38plymouth said:

If I just repaint those three items the car would look so much better.

I don't know... The car, kid of, looks great as is And the paint wear gives it some antique character, despite the fact that this is, essentially, a re-paint. I would probably just keep it like that, but its up to you. Probably should not be getting any rust if it was waxed, though... Have you also considered some rustproofing oil, to see how that looks?

[Sam Buchanan]

Just for grins buy a quart of black implement/tractor paint at a farm store and use your HVLP gun to shoot a sample coupon. You might get lucky. 

[Los_Control]

You say the primer is showing through in some spots .... so it is a obvious repaint .... factory did not use primer if I'm correct.

 

I painted my truck with paint from tractor supply ... farm implement paint.

I started with gloss black but that sucked .... so I bought another gallon of low gloss black and tried it.

 

While the low gloss paint is a sort of Hot Rod black, or flat black ... this paint actually has some gloss to it .... I also added a universal gloss hardener I bought from NAPA auto.

Which added a little bit more gloss to it.

 

My point is, this is farm implement paint, truck has never been washed ... it needs a little color sanding to smooth it out and a good coat of wax and it will look like a old truck paint job to me.

It might come close to what you have already .... either way just do not wash it and nobody will know the difference.

 

 

[Young Ed]

What about a wipe or spray on clear?

[Dave72dt]

If you have a paint jobber that can fill aerosol cans, have them mix a simple Chrysler black.  The cans they use spray a flatter pattern, similar to a spray gun.  The ones off the shelf have a rounder pattern and is more difficult to get even coverage.

[38plymouth]

I'll try to get a better picture today the ones I posted don't really do it justice. Honestly I kind of like the look of the car especially on the trunk because it's such an original car and it hasn't been restored, just a repaint back in the 60s. However the one side of the hood it's worn right through and I think it's to bare metal and it looks like there is some surface rust starting. I've tried to clean it off but it just takes away more of the paint. I don't necessarily care if the hoods look absolutely perfect I just wish they look like the rest of the car. I'll try to post a better picture later with it outside or something. I might actually just go buy some rattle cans of black and do some test spots. I painted my fog lights with Rust-Oleum black once a long time ago and it matches really well.

Edited December 5 by 38plymouth

[Dan Hiebert]

I've been using NAPA's paint service.  If you don't have a paint code or know the color (i.e., Chrysler black, Mercedes black, etc.) they have the special camera and they'll either scan a sample you bring in, or they'll go to your shop and scan it there, load it into their paint color program, and usually find a match.  Sometimes the match seems kind of odd - the red on my BIL's car matches an Isuzu color that didn't exist when the car was last painted, but it's a perfect match now.  If they don't have an existing match, the program can give them the recipe for it.  They'll fill from rattle-cans up to gallon cans, and, here anyway, there's no minimum.  This store didn't charge me for the color matching.  The price of the paint was on par with everywhere else I looked.  Ditto on a prior post regarding the rattle-cans, they spray a good pattern.      

[Ivan_B]

16 hours ago, Dave72dt said:

more difficult to get even coverage

Nothing a little wet-sanding can't fix 🙂

9 hours ago, 38plymouth said:

Rust-Oleum

I used their marine paint (for UV additives) for a brush-on sand-down application, a couple of times, with very good results. Painted a motorcycle gas tank, this way, it even withstood gas spills quite well. A spray can stuff (that was there from the PO) came right off...

[Dave72dt]

1 hour ago, Ivan_B said:

Nothing a little wet-sanding can't fix 🙂

Wet sanding thins the thinner layer of paint that is unevenly applied as much as the thicker layer of paint.  Tiger stripe, zebra stripe, whatever you want to call it, if it was there when you started sanding, it's probably still there when you walk away and probably why the spray can stuff came off your tank.

[Ivan_B]

The spray can paint came off because it was not gasoline-resistant. The point of sanding is to even-out the painted surface (when using a brush or a roller) and to get rid of the orange/cellulite effect after a spray You obviously need to gradually build-up a thick-enough layer of paint to do a proper sanding and polishing finish.