When car is too good to restore & repaint, but keep patina

[jamieandthemagic]

It's a fine and difficult balance, but any general tips and hints, when you have a solid rust free car, that's too good to restore and repaint, and has good patina.........but you inevitably need to carry out ongoing repairs maint etc.....

Eg. In just putting the engine back in after a nut n bolt rebuild and upgrade. The engine bay is original paint, with scratches and scuffs, but no rust.... So I'm not going to repaint over all the character, but need to clean it all up beforehand.

But in general renewing bits is a difficult balence, not to introduce too much 'new shiney' stuff.

It would almost feel easier to have a shiney fresh restored car, then new and upgraded bits would stick out like a sore thumb.

Maintaining Patina is a bh............but Patina rules.

[uk66fastback]

I've come round to this way of thinking, very slowly. My old fastback was mint, I mean, mint. Not a scratch, bolt head out of line, bit of dust, anything. But it was hell keeping it that way. It had been done from a bare shell so that's the way it was. Anyway, it was sold, too much stress involved.

The classic I have now hasn't got original paint and the paint it does have isn't great but it's certainly pretty passable. But it does have the original engine bay, engine and interior and it's so much more fun to own, scratch here, nick there, I've learnt to live with it ... which is great. Original is king for me now with cars, no more resto-modding, uprated suspension (read hard as fk) etc, I'm done with it. Give me 185 x 14 skinny tyres and I'm happy. It has a certain patina and give the paint another decade and it'll be fine, I think it's 15 years old, now.

The engine on my car has never been out, according to the original owner ... I'll leave it that way for a bit I'm sure. I've just spent a week getting the original track rod ends off, I kid you not ...

You're doing it right though. I've seen lot so cars with great paint all over - but then the owners has stuck the old engine with the old hoses, starter,alternator etc back in, used all the old stuff, and it just looks wrong.

You've got an old original engine bay and a new-looking engine. Don't polish anything! Just let it go 'dull' with the atmosphere over time and after a while, it'll hopefully all knock back colourwise and finishwise and look as though it's been there a long time. No bling! original stuff if you can get it ... I'm even looking to get rid of the ali rad the old owner put in and go back to some old copper black thing cos that's what they had when it was new .... (although that's maybe taking it too far)

Edited by uk66fastback on Thursday 20th October 01:18

[Mark A S]

My 66 Mustang 289 auto IMO is just perfect for a 50 year old car. Externally you’d swear it had been re sprayed, but I cannot find any evidence of this, so the previous owners from California must have looked after it well, maybe because it is in a rare special order Rose Beige colour with plenty of lacquer.

Under the bonnet boot etc there is a great patina, its V tidy but you can tell it’s old. No rust, but at some time a battery has splashed a little acid under the bonnet which has marked that area, but I think it just adds to the character.
The black pony interior is in remarkable condition, but again, you can tell it’s old. I intend to leave it exactly as it left the showroom, apart from hoses etc, a strong patina on any rubber hose is not cool

[Yertis]

Exactly this problem myself with the Quattro. It doesn't need restoring, but it does look like a 30 year old car with various dents and scrtaches, but (unusually for a Quattro) hardly any rust, and that only on the edges of the arch lips. I could go the whole way and basically restore to make like a new car, but then I'd be frightened to drive it into work and all the things I enjoy at the moment. So I'm thinking maybe just a trip to Dentmaster, get the arches sorted by the local body shop and give it a good polish. My TR6 could have been concourse, but the resto has dragged out so long and I've used it so much that that train left ages ago, so I just treat it like any other car. And of course parts for the TR are easy to obtain so if it gets whacked it's no biggy.

[mgv8]

The hard part is finding a body person that thinks the same way as you.

[uk66fastback]

Mark A S said:

My 66 Mustang 289 auto IMO is just perfect for a 50 year old car. Externally you’d swear it had been re sprayed, but I cannot find any evidence of this, so the previous owners from California must have looked after it well, maybe because it is in a rare special order Rose Beige colour with plenty of lacquer.

That's interesting.

Do you have any documentation to back up the rare special order colour details? Cars in 1966 wouldn't have been sprayed with a clearcoat, the paint was all single stage as far as I am aware.

Are you sure it wasn't a much later, windows out job? What does the VIN say as regards the colour?

[Mark A S]

uk66fastback said:

hat's interesting.

Do you have any documentation to back up the rare special order colour details? Cars in 1966 wouldn't have been sprayed with a clearcoat, the paint was all single stage as far as I am aware.

Are you sure it wasn't a much later, windows out job? What does the VIN say as regards the colour?

Here is the info I have :

6R07C196112

65B 66A 07E 72/3/ 6

Model year 1966,
Assembly plant San Jose
Body code Coupe
Engine code 289cid 2v 200hp V-8,
Consecutive unit number 196112,
Exterior colour Rose Beige
W - Rose Beige Metallic #2
Lucite® Code - 4498L
Duco® Code - 4498
Dulux® Code - 181-96942

Body code Coupe luxury interior,
Interior trim colour Black luxury,
Production date 7 may 66,
Axle ratio 3.20.1,
Transmission duel range automatic C-4


And some pics








I am 99.9% sure it is the original colour as in the areas you would not normally look at in the boot etc it is the same colour and looks like its been there a long time.

Cheers

[budgie smuggler]

^ That's a beaut.

[uk66fastback]

Certainly is a beauty. There was no code for the Rose Beige on the VIN plate rom what I've seen of others. That's a very rare car!

I would be incredulous though if that is original paint ...

[grumpy52]

A few years ago where I worked was a very early E type (very early )it had never been restored ,it had been sat for a while but wanted for nothing all its life .
The owner needed funds so it was put up for sale ,all running all legal ,jump in and go .
Nobody was interested, they all wanted shiny shiny trailer queens .
I thought the car was fantastic ,so much history oozing through it .
Finally was bought by somebody who appreciated what it was and with an eye to the future .
It's now worth 4 times it's purchase price from 7 years ago .

[jamieandthemagic]

I remember reading about an old 1920s fiat, and the paint guys spent ages restraining a section to match with the oil and heat soaked dull red paint that the car ooooozed patina with.

Now that was skill..........bks to deep 25 coat mirror black new paint finishes.

[ChasW]

I am all for retaining originality so long as it's not falling apart as a result of preserving its patina. I went to the Classic Car show at Excel last year. It was great but also disappointing because so many had been restored to the level that it was like going into a 1960s exotic showroom of new cars. Most of what was on display was for sale as well.

[911gary]

this is a survivor car 2 owners unrestored 1963 vette pre production with hardtop







Its now here in UK and available!

[lowdrag]

I photographed one yesterday strangely enough. A car found in a storage unit some years back and which raced at Le Mans and in the USA. Belonged to Briggs Cunningham and has never been repainted except after accidents 50 years back. She looks gorgeous.

[56Lotus]

Whilst my car has been restored it has been done very "gently" and things just put back to original spec. I also drive the car everywhere, to and from shows and down to the shops on a dry day, however if it gets wet such is life, last time I drove out from home the first thing I met was a herd of cows being driven down the road.

I recently met a very old Lotus mechanic who told me he loved seeing my car lined up with all the pristine shiny cars in a row. When I asked him why, mine looks a bit tatty against some, he said because it reminded of how the cars were back in the fifties and sixties, used and not super shiny! He also told me he had actually built some of the cars present and he didn't recognize a single panel or chassis!

I understand the desire to produce the perfect car but it does wipe away all that history. My bonnet is 60 years old and you can trace all the accidents and history in it.

Keep it rough and ready but most of all drive it, that's what it's made for. People are amazed I drive mine to shows but it has 4 wheels and an engine, it doesn't need to sit on a trailer to get anywhere.

micro rant over

enjoy

Jon

[tapkaJohnD]

The title of this thread is "When [a] car is too good to restore & repaint, but keep patina", why are we being shown cars as shiny and perfect as that Corvette? Is it for sale?

A friend has just asked me to help him restore his Mk.2 LandRover. Discussing the ways and means, he wondered out loud about how much the respray would cost. I hope I have dissuaded him!

Because this Landy is a bit special, or rather he and his family are. He bought it in Australia, where he gone to work, with his family. They then drove it around Australia, and BACK TO THE UK, overland! He has full logs of the journey, typed on a portable on a self-built shelf (still there!) on the dashboard, and can relate every ding and scrape to each incident that caused it, in Iran, India or Innsbruck.

Of course, a Landy's body panels don't rust, they do acquire little pimples as well as the scars of use, but I hope he will just clean them up, apply some polish to help keep them clean and leave it at that. It would be a sin to respray the vehicle!

John

[uk66fastback]

By the sounds of it - that Corvette is not restored, so that is the original paint which is why it's been mentioned here. It must have lived in a museum or in a collection then, as these cars are very rare.

[911gary]

tapkaJohnD said:

The title of this thread is "When [a] car is too good to restore & repaint, but keep patina", why are we being shown cars as shiny and perfect as that Corvette? Is it for sale?

A friend has just asked me to help him restore his Mk.2 LandRover. Discussing the ways and means, he wondered out loud about how much the respray would cost. I hope I have dissuaded him!

Because this Landy is a bit special, or rather he and his family are. He bought it in Australia, where he gone to work, with his family. They then drove it around Australia, and BACK TO THE UK, overland! He has full logs of the journey, typed on a portable on a self-built shelf (still there!) on the dashboard, and can relate every ding and scrape to each incident that caused it, in Iran, India or Innsbruck.

Of course, a Landy's body panels don't rust, they do acquire little pimples as well as the scars of use, but I hope he will just clean them up, apply some polish to help keep them clean and leave it at that. It would be a sin to respray the vehicle!

John

The corvette is unrestored owned back to back by two now 80 somethings who we bought it from,the paint is worn through on drivers door edge from many elbows has a few blemishes here and there but is unrestored unpainted and original its won a few survior class placings in some classic shows in the USA the last lady (2 nd owner whose husband died of cancer) had some mechanical work done and showed it a few times over the last 10 years we fitted a new column bush aside from that its as original as is possible oh and had a new cream hood as the old one rotted away it has a hard top and an original set of pre production hub caps,the lady gave us a silver dollar and asked us to keep it with the car as its been with it from new and asked for its next keepers details so she could keep in touch now being in an old peoples home,we have the original purchase invoice.Shiny and perfect it isnt beautiful unrestored and original it is please try to post correct statements or ask for info.

[911gary]

uk66fastback said:

hat's interesting.

Do you have any documentation to back up the rare special order colour details? Cars in 1966 wouldn't have been sprayed with a clearcoat, the paint was all single stage as far as I am aware.

Are you sure it wasn't a much later, windows out job? What does the VIN say as regards the colour?

America had been using clear over base paint since the 60s usually air dry acrylic.Much before the UK we didnt start with two pack paint until the late 70s.

[911gary]

uk66fastback said:

By the sounds of it - that Corvette is not restored, so that is the original paint which is why it's been mentioned here. It must have lived in a museum or in a collection then, as these cars are very rare.

Just garaged by its two now very old owners.