OK guys - what would you do in this situation

[tdskip]

Say, oh, you had a '67 TR4a in the garage. And just for conversations sake suppose it had all original paint. Assume that paint was super nice on the driver side but marginal on the passenger side (which is odd, yes). Now consider the hood - stripped to bare metal since it had too much surface rust to save the paint. Assume that you cannot swing getting the whole car painted, and paint matching the hood will be an iffy proposition. Lastly, figure that getting some sort of paint on the hood is the last item to do before putting back into service for a long time.

How would you approach this?

 

[TR3driver]

My approach would be to drive it down to One Day Paint & Auto Body and have them paint the whole thing. They are a (probably local to SoCA) chain that does fair work at a cheap price. Not quite as cheap as Earl Scheib, but so far all their paint jobs have lasted well for me. And there is an ad in today's paper for a $400 (IIRC) paint job.

But if you really can't afford that, paint the hood to match the good side as close as you can. Doesn't really matter, it isn't going to look good anyway.

Or, you could go the "rusto-rod" approach and just leave the hood in primer (plus maybe a clear coat for rust resistance). It was almost the style around here for awhile : $10,000 paint job with one fender in primer.

 

[Brosky]

The advantage here Tom, is that people can only look at one side at a time. If you paint the hood as good as possible, you can only see the hood from one side of the car or the other to compare it to the side. If you look at it head on, the sides are not in view.

So I agree with Randall and then just drive it until you can.

And while doing so........

Look up the local Vo-Tech schools and go offer it up as a project car for their body programs. You might get lucky and get a complete, great job for the price of materials.

 

[Geo Hahn]

The budget paint places can vary quite a bit -- for example there are 2 Maacos in our town -- one does the so-so paint job you might expect, the other has turned out some great work on local British cars.

If you do the prep and get some locval references you may find you can afford a decent result.

 

[mrv8q]

Would you consider a flat black for the hood?

 

[tdskip]

Would you consider a flat black for the hood?

I was thinking about that actually - but then the rally lights and fender vents and hotter engine build and and and...

 

[tdskip]

But if you really can't afford that, paint the hood to match the good side as close as you can. Doesn't really matter, it isn't going to look good anyway.

I have access to a booth actually, and am itching to paint something you can see rather than suspension parts. Given that until the whole thing is a bare metal paint job it will look iffy at best, probably best to just keep cost down now and match it as best it can be done and drive her.

 

[apbos]

How about match the hood as best you can. If you do not have a perfect match use a vinyl stripe or numbers to break up the visual field and help "hide" the difference.

 

[Andrew Mace]

A truly skilled and talented automotive painter ought to be able to come pretty close in color AND texture/depth of finish. Being the "patina" fan that I am, I'd go for that and keep the rest of the car as original as possible. YMMV.... :wink:

 

[hondo402000]

have a sanding party, a keg. lots of 400 grit wet sand paper and friends, and wet sand the whole car, you can tape it off and spray a 2 part epoxy primer, wet sand the bug out and then take it to the local elcheapo paint shop

Hondo

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Bring her up Tom. I am looking for a practice project before I paint mine

Cheers,
Tush

 

[tdskip]

Can I wait until it is over 10 degrees out?

 

[glemon]

So the budget is limited, the question is what would I do, if I wanted someone to do it for me I would check the local craigslist or paper thrifty nickel or the like, there are usually guys who have worked in body shops in the past and now do work on the side and will work for reasonable and work with you on what you want done, talk to a couple of them, see what they can do for you within your budget.

If going DIY, which it sounds like you are interested in doing, and you want to just paint the hood, take a panel to the local auto paint store and have them match the paint as best they can, and have it mixed up (and put in a spray can if you don't have access to a gun), sand and prime and paint and drive.

If you decide to paint more than the hood sounds like you might as well paint the whole thing, as mentioned you could take it to the local Maaco or equivalent, or if doing it yourself you might try autocolorlibrary. They have Triumph chips from the 60s, and you can buy half a gallon of paint, the catalysts, etc. for about half or less of what the local body shop charges for PPG and such.

From where you are at I would try to get a decent paint match for the hood, paint, drive and enjoy. The view over the hood of a 4 is one of the nicer ones in the world of cars, make it nice and shiny for that reason, although the flat black would be kind of cool.

 

[cheseroo]

I've seen it and would go the flat black route on the bonnet. If you try to paint match, it will look paint matched. I don't think you'll be happy with a nice pretty bonnet and chips over the rest of the car. I'd stick with the original paint on the rest of it and matte black the bonnet.

Man, I'm a sucker for Royal Blue on these cars.

Wasn't this the guy who told me to not paint my 250 with rust spots and all?

 

[mtlman8]

I would take the car to a local automotive paint supply house, let them match the color then for about 20 dollars a can you could shoot it yourself, without air, yet still wet sand and polish the paint.

 

[tdskip]

Wasn't this the guy who told me to not paint my 250 with rust spots and all?

Yeah, but that is <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">your</span></span> car. Ha.

 

[HerronScott]

Man, I'm a sucker for Royal Blue on these cars.

Ditto!

Scott

 

[glemon]

I almost changed the TR250 to Royal Blue, have always wanted TR4-250 that color, ended up sticking with the original read for both originality and convenience, but love that dark blue color. Greg

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Yes, I quite like the Royal Blue on the 250's

Cheers,
Tush

 

[CJD]

have a sanding party, a keg. lots of 400 grit wet sand paper and friends, and wet sand the whole car, you can tape it off and spray a 2 part epoxy primer, wet sand the bug out and then take it to the local elcheapo paint shop

Hondo

I'm in...if the beer is supplied!

John

Oh, if you want paint that looks old quickly to match, just go with the Dupont baseline cheapo, one coat laquer. Used that stuff a few years ago...just a couple weeks in the sun and it already looks aged 10 years.