trends today..Patina or shiny like show room

[brad sweet]

I have seen a lot of cars in my day and prefer the shiny show room finish on older cars. restored or custom I like them to sparkle and show their lines....I seems to me the ''Rat Rod look" is/has become popular...i understand the niche that it fills in the custom car market .. it seems that "patina" is ok and should be left that way...TO ME IT SEEMS LIKE too cheap to invest in paint and restore and make a have way nice car....if that was the case more people wouldn't give a **** about wax and taking care of the looks..Kids now are waiting for dads car to get rusty to make a rat rod out of it...what do you think?

 

[MAK]

People can do anything they want with their vehicles and if they like it then more power to them. However, I think it's about the most stupid and annoying trend I have seen in the auto "restoration" hobby. If you can't afford to do the body and paint work yet then I understand, but purposely clear-coating rust or intentionally applying a finish to make it look old, faded and rusty is just stupid IMO. Sometimes I see these at the car shows and just want to say put that damn thing back in the garage until it's done...
A Rat Rod is just fine because to me it's a project still in the works, not rusted, primered, and "done".
If I had only known sooner that my grandfather's old F100 or 68 Cougar would be way cooler if I had left them badly needing a paint job and body work...

 

[JamesG]

Fewer people have the money to do/pay for proper restorations. Thus the half-asses 'custom' look that is cheap to do. Its the same phenomenon as in bikes. Where pre 07, people would buy Harleys to mutilate (catalog paint by numbers style), now they can't afford them so they take a cheap '70s, or '80s Jap bike to butcher into a "bobber" or "cafe", even though its totally hitorically inappropriate. At least with the cars most of the "customizing" is reversable.

 

[letusbuyyourcar]

Let me just say that the "Rat Rod" thing is/was fine on an old shoebox 51 Ford or old really old Chevy trucks. But I've seen guys spray 80s Toyota trucks flat black and spray the wheels red. Come on! The Rat look only works on certain makes and year models of cars and trucks. And while I'm on the subject there is a BIG difference between having the rat look and just being half ass with your project. If you want to see the rat look well executed just go to Volksrods.com. There are some very well done cars on that sight.
But it IS all about individual taste and what YOU like. If I could have a mid 60s F100 that was running and safe to drive I would probably leave it as is as long as rust wasn't an issue.

 

[letusbuyyourcar]

Fewer people have the money to do/pay for proper restorations. Thus the half-asses 'custom' look that is cheap to do. Its the same phenomenon as in bikes. Where pre 07, people would buy Harleys to mutilate (catalog paint by numbers style), now they can't afford them so they take a cheap '70s, or '80s Jap bike to butcher into a "bobber" or "cafe", even though its totally hitorically inappropriate. At least with the cars most of the "customizing" is reversable.

Not long ago I saw this ridiculous looking chopper with the long front end and billet all over it. I call it the starving greyhound look. You know it was popular around 99/00. Anyway, I pointed it out to my wife and told her " See that bike? That guy is still riding that bike because he can't sell it or trade it for anywhere close to what he has in it."

 

[rimfireguy]

i kinda like when a car shows its age

 

[brad sweet]

People can do anything they want with their vehicles and if they like it then more power to them. However, I think it's about the most stupid and annoying trend I have seen in the auto "restoration" hobby. If you can't afford to do the body and paint work yet then I understand, but purposely clear-coating rust or intentionally applying a finish to make it look old, faded and rusty is just stupid IMO. Sometimes I see these at the car shows and just want to say put that damn thing back in the garage until it's done...
A Rat Rod is just fine because to me it's a project still in the works, not rusted, primered, and "done".
If I had only known sooner that my grandfather's old F100 or 68 Cougar would be way cooler if I had left them badly needing a paint job and body work...

yes this is exaclty what im talking about..people used to take time..years sometimes to complete a project..not to through primer on it and fake rust

 

[brad sweet]

it seems that people have fallen for the easy make a quick buck through some junk together and call it done..bringing an old car from the dead back to life and then not finishing the job is herasey in my opinion.taking junk and making it into rolling art is cool if done properly..but WTF

 

[brad sweet]

I seen this trend happening in the music industry..lets take a brand new guitar and through it against the wall to chip the paint and then sand frett board to make it look like it was played and then charge more for it ..i just dont get it..when i go to sell my busted up junk...i cant even get a PM

 

[Ken Ford]

I hate to tell ya. But some of those "fake" finishes are more expensive than the nice shiny ones.
I mean there are **** jobs, and there is a quality custom job. The good black paint on the quality builds is expensive. I prices it for a project several year ago... I decided on a different color. Seems like it was 5times higher than the standard gloss black.