Thread: Thoughts on "primer" finished cars---

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Hey---I'm one of the "shiny car" guys. I always finish my cars in a high gloss finish. But---I know that a lot of people like the 'primered" look. There is just something kinda "evil" about a nasty car in nasty black primer. I like it on some other peoples cars, but wouldn't want my own ride finished like that. Same as "black with flames". I love it ---on other peoples cars. During the sixties, when hot rods ruled, and my daily driver was also my "weekend warrier" hotrod, It wore primer a lot of the time. Not because it was any kind of anti establishment statement, but because most of my cars were "works in progress". And, unfinished bodywork rusts!!! (So does primered bodywork, but the primer does provide a TEMPORARY barrier against rust). Many of my cars had the "patchwork quilt" look, with red oxide, not black primer, and each week the primer patches were in a different place, as the custom bodywork progressed. Eventually, the bodywork would get finished, and the car would debut with a "knock your eyes out" glossy paint job, but there is still a place deep down in the teenage rebel corner of my soul that likes a black primered "nasty" looking car.

How about guys like my neighbour who doesn't even primer 'em? Drag 'em in from the pasture, do the suspension and engine swap, and drive 'em!

I think it all depends on the vehicle. Some look great in flat paint, others definitely need some polish.

The stragnest on I have seen was a 40-somehting Chevy, flat black. I even asked the guy if it was the final paint and he said yes. Why was this so strange to me? ALL the chrome was restored and higly polished. That just isn't right. If you are taking the time to redo all the chrome, then it needs "shiny" paint as well.

If it's a work in progress, primer is fine... Although most of the time by the time somebody gets around to painting the primer---and metal underneath is junk. Primer offers no water or UV protection. When done as a final finish on the car,,,,,,,well,...it just isn't done til it's painted....

PS---and no, I don't need a bunch of 20 year olds telling me how things were done "back in the day"....

My observation is that it depends a lot on age,....... and for some, on budget. It's not surprising that many of these "rebels" might be on the other side of the fence if they actually had the option.

Also, the "young man's rebellion" that we all have in the teens and twenties, probably plays some roll. I did the opposite of my dad's choices in many things too, and that may influence us so we automatically reject the last generation's values.

Now I'm in my late 50s, and have spent the last 40 years working my butt off to make every project into a piece of rolling art. It goes against everything I have done to revert to the POS look! My very first project included new paint, and the hundreds I've done since then have had the same goal. I still am working to make every "next project" my most stunning, and to me, it is a key part of the hobby.

Here is a real inspiration for rat rodders: I once paid $75 for a '58 Chevy 4 door, since my primary ride was down for a while. We drank in it, jumped on the roof, hood and trunk, wrote on it with spray cans, and I drove it with the rods knocking until I traded it to a friend for two used tires, when he needed a temporary ride.

Now, do you want to build it the way it really used to be.....or the imaginary way that you think it was? :-)

I like flat paint ,not for a rebellion factor, but as brian pointed out, that evil, kinda hard edge look, i do not like how primer holds up though, even my real paint that i had flattened is fading quick, its only been a couple of months, and the paint looks bad. But i also like the traditional gloss black with red ,orange and yellow flames.

I personally don't care for the primer "as a completed job" but if it's a means to an end, I can understand and you might as well have fun with it and try some stuff out when it's like that... long as you know it's all got to come off before paint . Some get exempt but that's up to my discretion

And the rebellion/anti establishment statement stuff ,I feel bad for the guys that aren't like that and have a primered job because all the idiots ,get them lumped in to the same pile .
And I'll drive'em looking like a spotted pony but when it's all said and done I've got to have something to shine .

The rusty stuff that gets pilled on a set of tires: I refuse to deal with,I don't even want to visit w/them if I can help it .Some of them get exempt from this rule for the work they do under the rust but that's up to my discretion also

And flames: I think I've got the same problem I like them on other peoples rides but I own nothing with them ( used to have a mower ) , I like them on other peoples cars though . I've said I was going to put ghost flames on my nova for years but never done it .

That's my opinion.
T L

Y'all outta see the 78 firebird i use as a daily driver. the body is burgandy, with a clear primer that is peeling off. The nose, fender flares duck tail and rear bumper are grey primer, as is the hood. Although, the hood NOT being fiberglass, it is showing rust where the primer is thin. It got customized recently, at the WalMart parking lot, so there is a fresh dent in the front right fender and the nose sits slightly skewed. ( nose was perfect before that ). There is nasty red oxide primer around the door handles, where I stripped and primered it when replacing the door handles. There are also spots of red oxide at various places, as required to stave off mother nature. It is running the " stoner eyes " snowflakes from my 77 after it got wrecked ( THAT was a beautiful car )... the tops of the 'flakes are brilliant red, with the background white. Although I have a decent set of grille inserts, I prefer to run it without. After all, they'll probably get wrecked anyway. If you look close, you'll see that it is not a hood scoop, but rather a guages cowl which has been hand laid in fiberglass. And ya, the inside is just as rough.

It gets 18 MPG @ 80 mph with its .060 over 305, Summit headers, mild cam, and stock 2bbl manifold. It has taken me from GA to CA three times and gets an average of 300 miles p/wk. Right now, it is on a brief hiatus, as it awaits the pile of calipers and discs to be installed on the front end.

The 69 nomad is graciously accepting the responsibility of transportation while the old bird awaits my tender mercies. ( it looks nice though )

I have made them nice, and it seems that every time I do they get wrecked by some idiot that can't drive. So I drive it rough, and if it gets antoher dent, then what the hell.

I don't have a problem with it. When I got my '27 running I shot it with primer I tinted with the purple paint I did the frame in. Plan was to drive it for a few months, get the bugs out, and shoot it shiny purple. As it turned out, the car had no bugs, and I was having too much fun to tear it down. 7 years later it was still in purple primer.

At shows I would make excuses for it, but I had so many people tell me "don't paint it, the car is perfect the way it sits" that I finally started to like it.

If that is the look someone is after, it's really fine.


Don

I like the primered look ,I just don't like the finished perfect primered look

I'm a shiny guy - but if a primer look floats your boat - do it, but do it right.

Regular lacquer primer has no weather resistance so whatever is under it, i.e. bare metal, it's gonna rust, tho only a tiny bit slower then the uncovered metal.

Epoxy primer - a couple of good coats will protect your "investment". For instance, SPI has buff, white, black and gray. DuPont/Nason have gray and I believe white. PPG, I'm sure that they have a competitive color or two.

Even better, DuPont has a finish paint that is dull like primer, can be tinted and looks real nice. I asked a guy at a Goodguys last year what his final color was going to be - and his response was that this was it - that it was DuPont's primer look