49 Chevy patina truck

[B_Hix]

My take on the patina thing...

I spent months looking for someone to paint my truck for under 6K - only in frustration did I finally decide I would do it in my garage with my very basic tools and total lack of experience and know-how.

I spent hundred$ buying tools, hundred$ buying paint and hundred$ buying sandpaper. I invested hundreds of hours in sanding, painting, stripping, resanding, repainting, wetsanding, buffing, buffer burning, stripping, repsraying, wetsanding....you get the point....

I learned tons and value the experience, but when it's all said and done I worked my butt off for a very decent but far from professional paint job. In my opinion it looks great, but I can walk you around the truck and point out every tiny flaw. The stress, frustration, aggrevation took a lot of the fun out of the project - I had a desire for perfection but had to learn to reconcile that with my extreme amature status.

After all that, when I go to a show, if I want my vehicle judged (which I do not) it's easy for them to pick my paint apart, using some guys vehicle with a $8k (outsourced) paintjob as the standard.

If I had it to do all over again I'd worry a whole lot less about perfect paint and focus on enjoying my truck - in other words a patina/rustic look has a great deal of appeal now that I know what it takes to get a decent grade paint job.

This is about fun and enjoyment - if you're stressing every tiny detail and spending you're life savings in pursuit of perfection you're probably going to end up broke and disappointed. In hindsight I see the advantages to the patina look and have come to appreciate it.

Bottom line, whatever floats your boat man! I think it's fine if you don't sweat perfection with respect to paint and body - there is a 'cool factor' in a 40/50 year old truck that looks it but runs like a new one...

My .02 +