Ok, so this is what I'm hearing from most of the car guys I know, some that shoot paint on the side. Now, I'm not looking at my car with beer goggles or anything, so I'm not expecting show quality but just a temp job that will last me about a year or 2 while I concentrate on more important things like stuffing a 455 into it. I know it'll show imperfections but I'm guessing I don't really have a good grasp on it because my paint guy is trying to talk me out of it. He sounded excited about silver and white... Anyway, is there something else to this that I'm not thinking of? Is the prep that much more intensive for dark colors or something? What should I know about painting a car black? Aside from that, you guys got any favorite colors for a '70 'Lark? Thanks.
Brian, If its just 1 to 2 years why not save your money for the "real" paint job and bodywork. Do it once, do it right. Bamboo Cream, Green-gold, lime-mist, Arctic white........ :bglasses:
GS's look sinister in black! Sounds like your body man is telling you your car isnt straight enough for black. Black will show every little imperfection and wave. If the car isnt pin straight and I mean PIN straight, it will look really bad. But done right, it looks awesome!!! when I told my body man the 71 was going to be black, he told me he had to do another two weeks worth of block sanding. White and silver show the least amount of imperfections. There's an old saying " if it ain't right, paint it white" . you get what you pay for with paint and body work. This car was done in 1992. Still took 1st place in the Long Island Buick Club show a few weeks ago. The 800x600 picture doesnt do the car justice here. If you like, I could send you a full size pic that shows the detail
That car is beautiful Jason, heck two pics just aren't enough, go for the hat trick. :laugh: (Or more)
White and Silver reflect light back and fool the eye. Thats why they hide a multitude of sins in the body lines. Black absorbs light in a similar way to how it absorbs heat. Thus it allows the eye to perceive the painted item more acutely which is why the little nooks and crannys, dings and scratchy finishes just jump off the panel when painted black. Tons more prep time involved in getting black to look good enough for show. That being said it's still one of the best colors for a show car when done right.
I wanted to paint my ragtop black.... my body guy argued and argued with me that it wasn't nice enough to be black. I just wouldn't believe him so I did my own little test... I grabbed an old fender I had laying around and sanded the top of it (fairly quickly, making sure to leave a few light scratches and small dents in each section) I painted 3 sections - White, Gold, and Black The white looked pretty awesome, even up close The gold looked decent The black looked absolutely horrible. I'm talking terrible from 20 feet away. You could see every scratch & ding in it, as well as every piece of dust that landed in it while drying. I never brought up black again. My ragtop is now white! :laugh:
Weeelll, it's kind of 2-tone right now; front end sheetmetal was replaced and only primered. The mid-section of the car is a dark gray metal flake-type job, and the trunk lid has racing stripes. I care enough to want it a single color but not enough to spend 5K. I guess I shouldn't be picky since this won't be the "real" paint job.
That makes a whole lot of sense, but he hasn't even seen the car yet! I'd love a bigger pic, I'd probably make it my desktop. My wife and I REALLY like black cars and yours is just too killer. That's exactly the car I want when I'm done!
I haven't seen or paid attention to enough black cars to really see the effect of the color on a car that has no business wearing black. Just from the descriptions I hear, I can envision a nightmare. Another thing to think about, I noticed the driver's side door sagging a little bit just by looking at the gap between the fender and the front door edge. I can imagine that sticking out in white paint almost as bad as wavy metal on a black car. Getting the body panel gaps right is probably easier than block sanding for 1000 hours though...
Black does show a ton of imperfections, but did u ever look at the body lines on a white car?! Actual straight lines stick out soooooo much more!!! I'm pretty sure my Skylark is going to be Pearl White . . .
besides all the prep work, u need a paint gun man who knows what he is doing. black is also difficult to paint.
Ok it's all set! We're going to straighten everything, repair a lower fender, and align all the body panels and paint it a GM Silver with black stripes. I'll post some before & after pics in about a month when it's done. Thanks everyone for your help.
Are there any dark colors that don't need extra prep to look right? I love the jewel tones, emerald, saphire, ruby but my budget calls for refrigerator white.
If your going to spend a bunch of money painting your car, you might as well spend a little more and do it right. You'll actually be saving money in the long run. The paint and body work on my black 71 was 6k in 1992. That was 14 years ago. The cost at the time exceeded what the car was worth. 14 years later, people still ask me if I just had it painted p With body work, you really get what you pay for. A $1500 paint job is going to look like a $1500 paint job. Ive seen some cheap paint jobs where the car actually looked better prior to the repaint
I agree with the sentiment that if you're going to do it then do it right, and you get what you pay for. However, it depends on what your motives are. For me, right now I simply want my daily driver to be a single color and therefore less ugly. More like a "scuff and shoot" type deal. Though I happen to be getting a stellar deal (under $1k) for a decent amount of labor including light body work and paint from a professional, it will most likely exceed my expectations because I could have cared less if I had dents or dings or bubbles. Now, if I was going to "paint it for good", then I'd strip it all down, remove all the rust, and pay someone top dollar to make it straight and spray the bay, jambs, and possibly dash/interior. For sure this would be a dark color because they look cooler (to me), and why the heck not if I'm spending thousands in body work to get it straight? To answer the other question though, the laws of physics and nature are in play here, so the darker you go regardless of color, the more flaws in the panels you will see because they absorb the light more. The lighter you go, the more light reflected off the surface which covers up a lot of things like shallow dents and such. That's how I understand it now anyway. :grin:
