It used to be a joke. Someone would see a really bad paint job on a car and comment, “He must have used a roller!” Well, maybe it’s not a joke anymore. In their July issue, Hot Rod magazine painted a ’62 Ford Falcon with Rust-Oleum and foam rollers. The result, while not show car quality, was as good or better than some bargain paint work costing considerably more. No, you wouldn’t do this to your classic Mustang but if you have a reliable older car that looks a little weather beaten, this could be an option.
In the last few days, another article has popped up, of a ’66 Corvair painted the same way. It actually looks like this paint job was the inspiration for the project in Hot Rod. The whole story started on the Moparts forum where the Corvair owner describes the process and finally put the photos on his site where everyone could see them.
The process isn’t very complex but it is labor intensive. You thin the Rust-Oleum 50/50 with mineral spirits, set yourself up with a selection of foam rollers and brushes and go to work. Seven coats with lots of hand sanding in between and a power buffing after a week. The end result is pretty impressive.
His cost, not including the buffer he bought, was about $50. The magazine came in at $98. I bet a lot of guys just started looking at their old beater, thinking how it might look with a fresh coat of paint. Very cool idea!
Link: $50 paint job via Autoblog