Muscle car paint appearance
 

So what look do you like?

Custom paint: slick sand and more slick sand with that jelly bean monolithic show paint that is a mile deep and with out a flaw?

Semi custom: slick sand straight with out loosing factory sharp crisp lines done in base clear?

1960-1970 factory paint and detail with all its imperfection and lacquer paint?

Other?


There is no right answer!

Without a doubt... factory paint and detail with all its imperfection and lacquer paint!

It depends on the car .. It is a 100 point car I like to see orange peel
If its a car that is personalized maybe slightly day 2 then the Semi custom is cool to se
If the car is an all out resto mod then it should have mile deep custom paint

I prefer the orange peel and inconsistent finish of the original hand painted cars from the 60s. Why? I’m not good enough to paint it any other way!!!:blush::frown::biggthumpup:

Cheers

Dave

factory

I prefer the original "sheen" of the factory single stage paint versus the overly glossy "candy lollipop" look of modern two stage paints.

I like the look of lacquer paint on original cars orange peel and all. Their are painters that can duplicate look with modern paint.

I do not like the "patent leather" shoe look of the base coat clear coat paints on restored muscle cars. I feel that there should be a deduction in judging points for those cars.

It is not that they do not look good, it is over restoring to the max.

I like them all. I also like Patina.


Tommy

It's what I do for a living. Some frame offs done here but tons of factory style paint jobs on high end cars.
I rarely, and I mean very rarely, do I ever get a customer that wants the factory finish complete with orange peel and overspray. In the last 10 years I can say there were 2. Almost everyone, regardless of the car in question, wants them sanded and buffed to perfection, and 90% of them want base/clear, which I recommend anyway if lots of buffing is in the cards and the color has any metallic in it.

So while the pole here may be very small, I'll say without a doubt the majority of people want their cars slick and shiny.

Can't say I blame them with the cost of materials and labor these days to actually do a car correctly, they don't want them coming out of here looking like they did 50 years ago with crappy panel gaps, runs, overspray, orange peel etc... LOL

However I do appreciate a car done in that manor. It's actually more time consuming with research and techniques.

Thanks for posting.
The vast majority of cars that I see at shows and the race track fall into this category.
The going rate for this type of paint work (No Body Work or Assembly) is $20,000 and up $Can in Vancouver area.
So $15,000 US and up using domestic primer,paint,clear.
What is the going rate in your area

That's close to the going rate around me here in Arizona. 2 shops within a 15 mile radius of me charge $18k to $20K for a high quality paint job. That doesn't include panel repair or replacement to get the car ready. I've always thought that was a bit much but it's become the norm the last few years. I understand they have some overhead too. I'm quite a bit cheaper than that by a large margin which is one reason why I'm so busy.