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Until all of the mechanical items are taken care of, I am holding off on painting. These pictures are a little old, but it will let you see essentially what I am working with. The truck is stored in the garage when I am not driving it, but what I am looking for is advice on how to keep the truck from fading anymore.

Should I just buff and wax? Should I wet sand first? Should I skip the buff, leave the "dead" paint on it, and just wax? I am clueless here. I had hoped to work on it this past weekend, but time slipped away from me, so I am looking to hopefully start on it today, or tomorrow. As you can see, there are some spots that have little, to no paint left on them currently.

IMO, that's not just "patina", there is quite a bit of oxidation. You can tell that the paint looks much better where the trim and bumper have been removed. I don't even think wax would take very well to it as is.

Personally, I would buff it out first and see where you are. You might then lighly sand the rusty areas. After that I have seen either a good waxing, or a clear coat applied to protect from further deterioration.

Yea, I would say you are right about the oxidation - that is the word I was looking for, but could not come up with! Dang my lack of vocabulary today!

I washed my truck off with worn but not worn out scotch brite pads - gets the big stuff off and a good layer of oxidation. Then washed it ( scrubbed it)with a heavy towel . The true "patina" now shows . Can buff but I'm lazy.

jayabbas wrote:I washed my truck off with worn but not worn out scotch brite pads - gets the big stuff off and a good layer of oxidation. Then washed it ( scrubbed it)with a heavy towel . The true "patina" now shows . Can buff but I'm lazy.

Wheres the pics, man?

I am in the process of buffing out my 64 Town Panel, it has not seen wax in over 40 years. I am using Mcquire's Ultra-cut, followed by a sealer and wax. I am doing it by hand since the paint is thin and it would be easy to burn through usinig a buffer. I've been at it for a couple of weeks now, (in between waiting for parts to arrive in the mail), it does take alot of time but it is looking good for original paint

Wow!

aqmet wrote:I am in the process of buffing out my 64 Town Panel, it has not seen wax in over 40 years. I am using Mcquire's Ultra-cut, followed by a sealer and wax. I am doing it by hand since the paint is thin and it would be easy to burn through usinig a buffer. I've been at it for a couple of weeks now, (in between waiting for parts to arrive in the mail), it does take alot of time but it is looking good for original paint

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Wow! That is looking great!

WOW! from me too.

That is insane!!!! Looks good!!!

I just don't have much to work with - the areas with paint are coming out OK, but much of the truck does not have paint.

Time to re-evaluate my priorities, for now, it is parked in the garage, and not seeing any rian or bad weather, so it is not going to get worse. I hope!

I think you have something pretty cool in the works myself.
When you've finished off the entire truck..... step back and take
a look. It'll look awesome. Whereas others have to create
a "faux" weathered/worn appearance.... you've got the real McCoy.

I have the same basic thing going with my '65 D100 and I have no
plans to ever repaint it. I polished it up as good as I could, shined up
the stainless trim, threw on some vintage chrome dog dish hubcaps
and called it good. I'd say that more folks have told me to leave it
exactly as is than have said to re-paint it.
John

Progress is slow, but I am liking what I am seeing. Thanks for all of the encouragement.

Heck yeah!!! The truck is coming along great.
John

Thanks John! I am feeling good about how things are going, and how it is coming together. I took it out tonight for my first real drive in about 11-12 years, and it ran perfect! I could not be happier right now

It looks like I can finally take of the "in tow"

I had a '65 F250 several years ago that was a severely oxidized blue truck. There was some factory primer showing in a few spots, so a wax job wouldn't have been worth the effort. I took Scothbrite pads and Ajax (or Comet) scouring powder, warm soapy water, and towels, and washed the truck with the pads and soapy water. I simply poured the Ajax onto the wet tuck, hit it with the pads one panel at a time, and rinsed. Then, I washed it again, using a second soapy bucket of water and wet cloths (washcloths or cloth diapers work nice!), then towel-dried it off. Worked great! For that (very temporary) shine afterwards, wipe the truck down with WD40 and a cloth. It'll shine great for a few days, but the first rain washes it right off.

If your paint actually looks nice enough to do something with after all that, like that Town Panel above, then go the extra effort into a good wax job, and then finish with a polish.

I was especially successful with that Ford, but have done the same on NON-clearcoated cars that haven't seen a polish cloth in 20 or more years!

Thanks for the help! I would have never thought of that.

I am in the same boat as OP.

love hear more about using scothbrite pads.

it doesnt scratch the paint?

thanks,

I've been saving random bits of information for my build and this is what i have collected for restoring paint: (all this is copy/paste from other sites & had amazing before/after shots)

Removes surface rust - Poured CLR into a bucket and diluted with water. Used a green scotch brite and used medium pressure. It leaves the surface surpassingly smooth, no scatches. Must wash & wax immediately afterwards.

first washed it with dawn. Second I sprayed the paint down with simple green and rubbed some of the oxidation off with that. Simple green is an amazing product! Then I washed with dawn again. After that I used the Mequires clay bar system to take off any hard deposits. After the clay bar I used Mequires ultimate compound and then mequires cleaner wax.

use a product made by Turtle wax called "Color Back" it can be found in the waxes at your local auto parts store, You just wipe it on, then use a clean towel to wipe it off