New wheels and tires-Keep vintage look or restore?

[TXRANGER]

very very very very very very cool truck.
leave it alone.

[LEEVON]

Originally Posted by bigguy69

i love the way it is . i wouldnt change a thing!

X 2. You nailed it! Drive it like it is and don't worry about door dings. Clean up the drivetrain, brakes, wiring, bugs and have fun in my opinion. Powel72's blue/white shorty made Classic Trucks mag in similar shape.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Wheels look great!

Truck looks nice as is, but your truck is SO nice, I would have to have it repainted, then it would look killer. Same color combo, just freshened up

[crasten123]

Thank you, everyone for the comments!!! This is a great board with some fabulous members!
My wife says "Paint it" but I really wanted to just repair what was bad and keep everything else the same (exterior).

Does anyone have pics of their orginial unrestored "patina" trucks??????
Maybe I can show my wife how popular "oxidized" paint really is.

Here's my other trucks...one I gave to my dad (patina green) and the other green and white one is just a daily driver (4 spd granny).

[LuckyHenriksen]

looks amazing, I love the color combo and the patina. the wheels look sweet too.

[68Stepbed]

Well, I'm personally just not a fan of "patina" rides or "rat rods", so I say just give it a decent paint job. Not a complete restore, but just a driver paint job. The stance and wheel/tire combo looks good. Fresh paint would make it look alot better.

The main thing is do what "YOU" want to do. My wife wanted my truck to be a candy red color and she gets upset because she thought her opinion didn't matter, but I painted mine blue because that's the color I had picked and wanted it to be.

[OLDIRON69]

Hot rod flatz would look sharp, my buddy used a flat then cleared it put flatner in the clear so it is easier to keep clean.

[see ten]

The truck looks good as is. Nice stance/wheel combo. I would personally stick with the patina before I put a cheap paint job on it. If you want to go all out and put a really nice paint job on it, go for it. Either way you're gonna come out like a champ.

Oh, you'll be happy you put in the notch. Six inches of drop will hit the frame from time to time.

[c10addict]

I own a pretty painted 68 and a patina'd up 64 and have soooooo much more fun with the 64! Leave it and drive the wheels off of it!

[68shortstep]

X 10 (or however many) on the "leave it as-is" votes.

You'll turn a lot of heads driving it just exactly the way it is.

Then at some point in the future when you feel comfortable having it down for months (or years ) --- then you can tear into it for a re-do.

So: Drive that thing !!!!!

[Hart_Rod]

Looks great the way it is. Nice collection by the way, .

[BB72CHEVKT]

Looks great. I am going to sport the look for a while once I get back on the road. I am just going to add driver quality trim back so it locks stock and drop it.

[kcjones]

x11 on the keep it. If I could do things as I wanted, I'd have a not so perfect on the outside, solid as can be underneath driver, and do a show-type on over years in my huge garage. Ok, so reality check: I have a lousy-paint, goofy interior, chipping paint truck that now has a pretty cool underneath, so that's why I agree. Now for that 450 hp 383...

[Bob 68327]

My origional paint 50th Bob

[SactoJim]

I tend to lean torwards painting it.

The "weathered' look tends to look best on a base model "no molding" truck with a great stance and vintage type wheels. A more deluxe truck (trim options...like yours) would look best if the paint job were freshened up. Looks like you have a pretty straight truck to start with and it wouldn't be to difficult to do that if you are not changing the color and the jambs and firewall look decent. Just make sure the bodywork is straight and put a "era correct" paint job on it......not buffed out too flat and some orange peel in it just like when it was new. You don't have to get too involved in panel alignment and such because you want it to be like original.......just build it like it would be a really nice driver.

BTW.....nice wheel and tire choice and stance is perfect. Truck will look good regardless.....I just like em alittle more on the shiny side!

That said.....I really like bob's 68 above and it does have moldings and is more deluxe.......his is all one color and even with faded original paint, it looks really cool.

[72BlckButy]

That thing is sweet, and I would leave it the way it is. The patina look is definitely in right now, but how many can say that they have a truck with the original paint???

[Security guy]

Leave it as is. Its hard to find a truck in the shape its in. I enjoy looking at these non-restored trucks more than I do the show trucks. You don't have to worry as much about scratching it or getting it dirty. Leave it only and like everyone else says - drive the wheels off of it!

[tcb-1]

speaking of original paint, Nate.....

[longorange68]

This may be a dumb question but I am going to ask it anyway..

Why does everyone put larger wheels on the backs than the fronts? Is there something I'm not catching on to? I plan on keeping the same outer diameter wheels just wider in the back. Is there an actual reason to offsize the wheels, or is it because some people prefer the rakish look when the rear end is slightly higher than the front end?

[72BlckButy]

Originally Posted by tcb-1

speaking of original paint, Nate.....

I'm working on it... I have to wait until tomorrow to see how things will pan out.

Anyone want to buy my truck???

[72BlckButy]

Originally Posted by longorange68

This may be a dumb question but I am going to ask it anyway..

Why does everyone put larger wheels on the backs than the fronts? Is there something I'm not catching on to? I plan on keeping the same outer diameter wheels just wider in the back. Is there an actual reason to offsize the wheels, or is it because some people prefer the rakish look when the rear end is slightly higher than the front end?

It's mainly personal preference. If/when I decide to buy a larger dia. wheel it will be a 20X8 to 20x10 type of setup. Some people like the smaller dia. wheel in the front, maybe due to it being more of a hot rod look, tough to say.

No real benefits other than the tires are cheaper....

[powell72]

There's plenty of time for paint, roll worry free for awhile. Here's my blue and white bomb-

[72BlckButy]

Chris you have on slick original '72!

[Bob 68327]

Thanks Jim , It will be shiney again someday! Bob

Originally Posted by SactoJim

I tend to lean torwards painting it.

The "weathered' look tends to look best on a base model "no molding" truck with a great stance and vintage type wheels. A more deluxe truck (trim options...like yours) would look best if the paint job were freshened up. Looks like you have a pretty straight truck to start with and it wouldn't be to difficult to do that if you are not changing the color and the jambs and firewall look decent. Just make sure the bodywork is straight and put a "era correct" paint job on it......not buffed out too flat and some orange peel in it just like when it was new. You don't have to get too involved in panel alignment and such because you want it to be like original.......just build it like it would be a really nice driver.

BTW.....nice wheel and tire choice and stance is perfect. Truck will look good regardless.....I just like em alittle more on the shiny side!

That said.....I really like bob's 68 above and it does have moldings and is more deluxe.......his is all one color and even with faded original paint, it looks really cool.

[powell72]

Thanks Nate, I appreciate it. I'm getting ready to start on the bodywork, I've been driving it this way for coming up on five years now. So I've gotten my use out of the look.