No, I'm not nuts...really!

[johns68dart]

I am fixing up (not fully restoring) a 68 Dart right now. I ordered the 15x7 and 15x6 steel wheels from wheel vintiques. They told me they will be powder-coated black, which is fine, but I don't want black wheels on my car for a few months while I am doing body work. I intend to paint the car 68 Dodge Yellow. Anyway, I went to Lowes and found this new spray paint from Valspar and it's a real close match of the Dodge Yellow. So I bought a can and brought it home, sanded a small area of my firewall to test the color and it's a perfect match. My Dart is originally 68 Yellow so I can compare the old to the new. Anyway, this paint looks incredible. I did very little prep and no primer and I have never seen a paint lay out this nice out of a can. So, here's my dilemma. I am going to do a test panel on the passenger side front quarter panel and see how it looks. Has anyone seen a car that was sprayed with just spray paint? I haven't. Any opinions or info would be much appreciated. At least it would be a good discussion. Go ahead, let me have it. Am I nuts?????

 

[1968FormulaS340]

Do you want a nice car or a car that looks like you painted it with spray cans?

Spray can paint just won't hold up.

 

[Badart]

By the time that you spent $100 on rattle cans you could have bought an adequate hvlp gun. Just remember that in a couple of years when this paint is rusted and peeling off you will have to sand all of it off anyway to do a decent paint job. It's your car, do what you want. This is one of those decisions that you look back and wish you would have never done it. My 02

 

[Dartnut]

I painted a ford ranger with spray bombs about 6 years ago, i used tremclad gloss brown. It was a beater anyway with rust scabs all over it and a few rust holes and dents. So i did some cheap, dirty, and fast bodywork and prep to it and spent a weekend on it. It turned out great, and for the $60.00 total i had in it for materials i felt it was worth it. It proved to be extremely durable and i could even pressure wash it without the paint flaking or coming off. It faded to dull brown after a year or so, but it did the trick and it looked a lot better than it did when i bought it.
It all depends what you want out of the car. If you want a finish that will last, buy conventional automotive paint and prep properly, if you just want it one color for now, don't be afraid to go cheap, just be aware, it will take a lot of work to remove the cheap paint when it comes time to do it properly.
Your call.

 

[blackbomber]

Dartnut's answer is about the most open minded, yet factual response I could imagine. If you are spending time to prep this car right, I'd paint it with good product. I'm spending over $1k in materials and supplies to paint my '73. I just keep reminding myself that a new Challenger (most comparable brand new car, IMO) would start at $26k in SXT trim, so I'm getting off cheap!

 

[Dartnut]

Dartnut's answer is about the most open minded, yet factual response I could imagine. If you are spending time to prep this car right, I'd paint it with good product. I'm spending over $1k in materials and supplies to paint my '73. I just keep reminding myself that a new Challenger (most comparable brand new car, IMO) would start at $26k in SXT trim, so I'm getting off cheap!

Thank you for the compliment.
BTW, i'm doing exactly what you are paint wise for my '74 Dart Sport.
I'm just doing what Todd would do, and Todd's cool!

 

[Bulldozer]

spray paint bomb.

 

[OneOfMany]

I once painted the engine bay of one my Darts with a spraybomb, after cleaning/sanding. I had a local shop mix up two spraybombs of automotive paint. It went on great, and held up well for years (to the extent of the prep).

My brother sprayed his older Charger fenders with a basic red enamel spraybomb, and although it looked good for a year, it did oxidize quite quickly.

Grant

 

[johns68dart]

Thanks to all you guys for your responses. I guess I will paint it the conventional way. My first time, so we will see how it comes out. Thanks again... John

 

[CudaChick1968]

I am fixing up (not fully restoring) a 68 Dart right now. I ordered the 15x7 and 15x6 steel wheels from wheel vintiques. They told me they will be powder-coated black, which is fine, but I don't want black wheels on my car for a few months while I am doing body work. ...

Somewhat on topic, keep an eye on that Wheel Vintiques' powder coating job. Their in-house coaters (at least used to) use a zinc based primer from Tiger Drylac that's virtually indestructible and applied wayyyyyy too heavy to get a decent ground for the color coat. But if you have a nice grinder you can cut through the crap down to bare metal. :-D