Original Paint being left on project

[stpackard]

Hi Guys,
I've got a solid mechanicals 72 f250 4x4 where all mechanicals were rebuilt in 98, and has low mileage since then, but body parts are shot.
I've found a a parts truck that will need floor pans and two front fenders but is in real good shape to put on the 4x4.
There is no blistery or cancer rust other than the floor pans, only patina on the original paint.

What's people's opinion of this plan:
While the parts are in transition, plan is to do floor and maybe cabmount repairs, and then sandblast undersides of all body components, and then por15/rubberized undercoat but then leave exterior original paint and put the body on the highboy. I'd have to put on two new front fenders.

What are the vital aspects of matching old paint for repainted parts?

Is there a way to 'antique' a freshly painted body part? I see alot of nice violins and other musical instruments today that are 'antiqued' and have patina, wear patterns, dents put into them to make them look old. In the same way, I thought I could at most lightly scuff the painted fenders so they match the rest of the original paint.

I like the look of leaving the original paint on the truck; it has character that appeals to me and I'd be protecting it by undercoating and addressing the common ford truck rust spots from underneath during the swap. Conversely, I'd be walking around with puckered cheeks with a shiny new expensive to me paint job that'd take me forever -- I think I've found a parts truck that is not beyond the tipping point rust/patina wise. I have this pit in my gut about getting into the financial and time aspects of sandblasting and repainting all of the body panels' exterior when this paint seems fine. I'm anal about not getting my trucks wet and I tarp them or have them stored well, so the original paint would be taken care of.

Certain places like drip rails I might deal with separately to protect by cleaning out the factory stuff in there and recoating them...

Has anyone put clearcoat or any other protective measures over patina or is this not required? I thought if anything it might help bridge the old paint and new matched paint to help them look similar. I wouldn't want the finished truck to look like a frankensteined mess of patch work.

If you have some resource on this type of project, I'd appreciate it. Wishful thinking on my part, but I'm hoping I won't have to go through repainting from the ground up with this one, and that's like a huge relief and I also like its look.
Thanks
Sam

[daveford72]

Thats a nice truck! I got a 71 250 explorer that looks indentical except for the grille inserts. How bad are the fenders? With that color you might find some in a salvage yard that match.My truck came from Arizona.You could look on ebay, some times they have ones that only need a little work. I spray canned some clear on original paint on anther truck, I think it did not look bad.Good luck with your project!

[Ranchero50]

I think it really depends on what you want. Personally I'd try to fix the fenders you have and just do some touch up paint work with something close. You aren't trying to blend in the paint work, just show that "yep, it's a good old truck that's been maintained over the years". Really anything you do above or beyond that goes into restoration.

On my '68 Ranchero after grinding out all the body filler on the 1/4's, adding blue fenders, a white hood and a pair of red racing mirrors to the John Deere green painted truck I did the Rustoleum flat black over everything back in '96 and it looked good, rust holes and all for the last 20 years. Slowly the flat black wore off showing the original oddball colors and fish eyes in the flat black that does give it a cool patina. I also have a '68 Fairlane fender that I hit with a spot of satin clear over some worn paint , rusty stuff and it's weathered very well. I wouldn't do a gloss as it would IMHO look stupid. The satin preserves the worn finish without it looking like I'm preserving it.

[hazelnut]

I did a body swap on my highboy, I think if I had a 2wd to replace it like you do I would swap the body and fix the rust holes. Tape off the area to be primed and use brown primer and run the truck like it is. Truck is close to 50 years old and to have paint that looks that good after all these years is something to be proud of. The paint is only original once, fix the bad spots and enjoy it. Think about how much time & money you will save. Plus everybody you see will give you thumbs up when they see it still has the original paint on it. I know I would

If I had to do it again I would have never done everything that I've done to restore the truck, Lot of years of enjoyment driving it lost & and a lot of money spent. Would have had more fun just swapping the body and getting it back on the road.

[stpackard]

Thanks guys for lots of good ideas here. Sandblasting and repainting is scaring the bejoozles out of me and I think this original paint is doable.
I've been watching furniture restoration and I see great results with people doing things that I thought were crazy like using markers and bleaches to get the result they want.
Before I'd do that I'll do some scouring for replacement fenders with that original paint.
I have this fear of rust holes which will probably be the death of me.
I'm curious if anyone knows how to protect finish painted areas like the bed seams and drip rails. Wanting to freeze the patina and any surface rust in its tracks. I realize this isn't a purist attitude in a certain sense but to me a 'new' old truck project has patina but is rust free.
Probably I need a healthy dose of reality actually doing the project.

[Jbott]

Thanks guys for lots of good ideas here. Sandblasting and repainting is scaring the bejoozles out of me and I think this original paint is doable.
I've been watching furniture restoration and I see great results with people doing things that I thought were crazy like using markers and bleaches to get the result they want.
Before I'd do that I'll do some scouring for replacement fenders with that original paint.
I have this fear of rust holes which will probably be the death of me.
I'm curious if anyone knows how to protect finish painted areas like the bed seams and drip rails. Wanting to freeze the patina and any surface rust in its tracks. I realize this isn't a purist attitude in a certain sense but to me a 'new' old truck project has patina but is rust free.
Probably I need a healthy dose of reality actually doing the project.

Everything I've seen the best way to keep the patina and paint is with a clear coat. They even make a flat clear coat if you don't want high gloss appearance.

I went to a big auto fair the other day and saw several older vehicles with this done. It looked good.

[stpackard]

Dave,
You'd said you put some clear coat over original paint. Howling has it been since and how has the paint held up?

Passenger fender has a rust through where the back side of the fender holds stuff in the cavity, so I'm thinking I'm going to replace that.

I've reread all your ideas a few times; thanks for the tips and encouragement.

I'm still thinking that before I'd clearcoat, I'd want to do some spot surgical protecting of the bed seams and drip rails to seal and Por15 them, then spray those areas with a matched paint, blend and then clearcoat.

Sam

[daveford72]

I used spray can clear.It only been about 7 months seems like its doing ok. It had a bad paint job over good paint and bad paint was fading off. I scrubbed and sanded till good paint showed up. I clear coated the good paint. It still had scratches and chips, so I smoothed it out before I cleared it to give it a patina look.Still have a lot more to do,I been doing it in sections. Hope this helps