Ok, I'm in from the shop and ready to talk Old Paint. I have been actively doing this since the late 80s. I can't recall painting an entire truck at once. It actually started with my first flathead V8 truck, a '38 tonner. It was a nice flat red but had a rotten wood homemade 'pickup' box on the back. I eventually found a box and fenders from a jailbar tonner that I sectioned 2 1/2" narrower so it fit the earlier chassis. Problem was the bed was a metallic blue and pretty shiney and amature body work for prep. I had been repairing antiques for quite a while and had a few tricks up my sleeve. After repairing some of the ugly areas I rattle canned the bed with rustoleun rusty metal primer. Then again with flat black. At that time our hardware store carried a red generic can just called 'barn paint'. It was oil based but not really flat enough. It also was not red enough, kinda brownish, so I addewd some gloss rustoleum 'regal red'. I could also buy flattening paste at this hardware store. A thick paste with lots of talc. Still a problem because by the time it was flat enough it did not cover well. I remembered Ray Meserve who owned a small paint store once told me that most painters just added talc or corn starch to the paint directly. This worked.
I have to step back and tell you this is a very big subject and there are many ways to make this job look fake or just plain bad. There are also more than one way to make it look good. I have often thought about starting a thread on the subject with some step by step photos. Maybe tonight I will offer this suggestion that I feel is the very most important thing in creating a realistic patina, and Im really talking about fixing a fender that gets crunched on an original barn find type vehicle, but of course a whole vehicle can and has been done. Ok... Don't spray your car a flat color and walk away, calling it done. Or patina. Dont spray your car, rub to primer in places and then clear coat it to 'hold it' at that stage. The reason old cars that really have old worn paint and look the way they do is that they have paint that is very flat on the roof, center area of hood, lower doors, trunk, etc, gradually turning more glossy as it gets to the areas like fender crowns where your torso rubs against while constantly wrenching on your flathead, or where your arm polishes the door top with the window down. Picture a row of stalls in a barn.... Stalls of rough-cut lumber, dull dusty brown. Where their heads and neck rubs the top of their 'door' it becomes a very smooth polished rounded surface that just feels and looks right. This completes tonight's installment. I may dig up some before and after photos as the evening goes. This is all just my personal preference. I am not saying there is an actual wrong, but to me the varied amount of gloss is a major key. End of rant
