How-To Custom Paint Graphics in 2 hours

(Narrator)>> Today on Detroit Muscle Tommy adds a unique accent to "Project Sydewinder" finishing out the patina paint them. Plus the guys debate on how to label classic muscle cars.

(Marc)>> Hey everybody, welcome to Detroit Muscle. Now you'll notice right off the bat we've got a couple of cars in here you've probably never seen before. This '69 Road Runner convertible and a '71 Challenger R/T. Now you Mopar guys don't get too excited because these are not our new project cars, but they are gonna be the topic of conversation later in the show. Trust me when I tell you this is a debatable subject, even for the two of us.

(Tommy)>> Yeah absolutely. This guy right here gets pretty worked up, and sometimes he's really passionate about it.

(Marc)>> You could say that.

(Tommy)>> Well the first thing that we're gonna do is actually dive into our '81 Cobra project. Now we're dangerously close to having it 100 percent finished up, but the next thing we're gonna do is over in the booth. We've got a paint project that we're wanting to do on our hood scoop. If you remember our Mustang came with a big Cobra decal and we're wanting to replicate that. Our car also has that patina paint job. So we're gonna follow that theme with our artwork. We want to make sure our surface doesn't have any contaminants. So we'll give it a quick wipe down with some surface cleaner. Our hood scoop is made out of fiberglass, and often times working with parts like that static electricity can be a problem. And you'll notice that the dirt and debris will be drawn to it. So to help eliminate that issue just wipe it down with a tack cloth, and then come back with a water and alcohol solution and spray it down.

Now with it dry let's lay down a couple of pieces of tape so we can mark the center of our hood scoop. Then we can add our graphic, line it up, tape it down. We got our decal lined up here on our hood and I've noticed a problem. The sticker isn't laying down very flat with the curvature of the hood scoop. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna cut right across here, tape this side down, and then only apply one side at a time. I don't want to mess up my sticker here and I think this is a better way.

And up here on the front where it curves off to the nose of the hood I'm gonna make an incision so that decal will flip a lot easier. Time to start attaching our decal. I could use some help.

(Marc)>> What are you doing?

(Tommy)>> The sticker's sticking. We've got to try to pull it out at once. Pull right here, pull that taught.

(Marc)>> This is a negative of the decal.

(Tommy)>> Oh yeah, don't worry. It'll be cool. Try to keep it tight.

I've got a special surprise for you Marc.

(Marc)>> Apparently. I like the design.

(Tommy)>> I think you'll be rather pleased. If you like the patina paint we did I think you'll really dig on this one.

Thank you sir.

(Marc)>> You're welcome. Can't wait to see it.

(Tommy)>> I think I got it. Now all we're doing is making sure this decal is pushed down, and doesn't necessarily have to have all the air bubbles out of it but you want all of your seams to be pressed firmly against the surface. With it firmly pressed on we can peel off the cover...

...scratch up the surface with a scuff pad, and give it another wipe down with our cleaner.

Now we're ready for paint.

(Narrator)>> Don't go away. Tommy adds a cool effect to enhance "Project Sydewinder's" patina paint job.

(Tommy)>> Hey y'all welcome back. I've got my colors that I'm gonna use to spray on our snake, but before we get to loading up the gun y'all check out the new addition to our mixing room. We're running out of room in here. So we called up Colmet Spray Booths and they solved our problem. They added an additional 10 feet for more supplies and equipment space. With their units being well designed and modular upgrading was effortless. And they put in this cool hallway linking the mixing room to our paint booth here. What's nice about that is helps to control dirt, debris, contamination, and vapors. Let's get started. We've got three colors that we're gonna be using. We've got a medium orange, a red oxide, and a funky red. The first one we're gonna be applying is this orange color. I know that using an air brush seems kinda slow and takes more time, but it saves me the hassle of taping each color we're gonna use. It also gives me the ability to be a lot more intricate with my application of paint. Now I know you're probably sitting their going man, that doesn't look that good. Well by no means am I pro with the air brush but I actually did this for a reason. Since we're going for that distressed patina look you know paint deteriorates at different rates, leaving some areas thinner than others.

With our orange dry we can move on to the red oxide. We'll use the same method on this as we did before.

Alright now it's time for us to apply our third color, and I know in the mixing cup it looks completely different than those other two. What we're gonna do is spray it here on the eyes and fangs, and it's gonna give us just a subtle difference.

Alright guys now we're ready to add our true aged look, and what we're gonna be doing is spraying on this stuff and it gives it a crackle look. Now the crackle look is like your lawn furniture that your old lady's been on you about redoing for the last two years. Maybe five years, we know how it goes. Now with this material it's not really compatible with the paint that we sprayed on there. So you need to think of this effect as a decal. It's not gonna live forever. We're gonna apply our clear coat first. It helps with the movement of the crackle paint we're gonna use. Now it's time for the crackle. This stuff sprays on and instantly starts adding that aged effect that I'm going after.

That effect turned out killer. The last thing we're gonna do is spray on a coat of Dupli-Color clear coat. This has a matte finish to it, and once it dries we can unmask it and see what it's all gonna look like.

When unmasking something like this, and with it being painted just a few hours ago, you want to make sure to peel it nice and slow because you don't want to tear or pull off all your hard work.

Hey big man I did some painting on your hood scoop and I hope you dig it.

(Marc)>> Alright.

(Tommy)>> You ready?

(Marc)>> Yeah I'm excited. Wow, dude that looks awesome. That looks, it looks like it's aged. Like it's a sticker that's aged. Can I touch it?

(Tommy)>> Yeah you can touch it. So I did alright?

(Marc)>> Yeah, is that two different colors under there? How'd you do that?

(Tommy)>> We actually used three different colors. Got the red, the orange, and I did something around the thing but you can't really tell that much, but that means you did it right.

(Marc)>> So did you do different texture here on purpose or did it just do that on its own.

(Tommy)>> I used a special coating to give it that crackle look on top, but it broke different because of the surface area between the little stripes and the thicker stripe.

(Marc)>> Wow, yeah I see it pulled here. So that was the paint you put on top? I'm amazed at how much it matches the red oxide.

(Tommy)>> Well I kinda tweaked the colors to accommodate that.

(Marc)>> That looks great man. Now it's complete right?

(Tommy)>> All we need is a couple of drivers and rider and we'll be ready to roll.

(Marc)>> I'm ready.

(Tommy)>> The best thing about that in all reality to me is that effect only took a couple of hours to do from start to finish. The whole effect, and that's a lot of bang for your buck because a lot of times when you spend a couple of hours doing something they're like yeah, that's okay.

(Marc)>> You just need the stencil. That was the big one. That's cool, love it. Fits the car perfect.

You may remember a while back we talked about tires and how you can look at all this information on the sidewalls and decode it. Now a lot of that can be a little overwhelming so we talked a little bit about some of it last time including tread ware, traction, and temperature ratings, but one thing we didn't dive into and that's the metric sizing. So we're gonna do that right now. One common misconception with metric tire sizes is that the big number at the beginning of the size is the overall diameter of the tire and it's actually not. For instance this is a 245/45 18, and you would think that that tire would be shorter than this 285, and as you can see it's definitely not, and that's because 245 is actually the width, 245 millimeters wide, and this one is 285 millimeters wide. And then the next number is gonna be the aspect ratio, and what that is is that's the actual height of the sidewall as a percentage of the overall width. So in other words the sidewall of this tire is 45 percent of 245 millimeters, and over here this one's 35 percent of 285 millimeters. One thing we haven't talked about yet is going to be the date code. Now every single tire that's made has this d-o-t number stamped into it. Now this helps identify when the tire was made, what run it was made in, who manufactured it, and all of that. Well at the very end those last four digits exactly tell you the exact month that this tire was made. For instance this tire was manufactured in the 34th week of 2018, and that applies to every new tire across the board. The next thing I want to do is compare these two tires. They are very similar. They're both Continental and they're both from the Extreme Contact line, except this one is called the DWS. That stands for dry, wet, snow. This is an all season tire. So this is gonna be good for year round, especially if you live in a cold climate where it snows a lot. You want to maybe put this on your SUV, or if you've got a sports car that you're relying on as a daily driver you need something like this. Now it does have a tread wear rating of 560. It's gonna last a little bit longer but it could get noisy as time goes on, but not too bad because this is a really high quality tire. The drawback to something like this though is on a dry day or during the summer you're not gonna get as good a traction as you would with this Extreme Contact Sport. This is an ultra-high performance, or UHP, tire. So this is for your sports car or if you've got a performance s-u-v. This is gonna give you the best traction when it's dry out. It's not gonna last as long but if you want to have that spirited driving this is the tire you want to go with. Well hopefully that gets you up to speed on how to decode the sidewall of tires. Now I know we didn't go into every single detail but now we should have enough information to pick out the right set of tires for your ride.

(Narrator)>> Coming up, Marc and Tommy give their thoughts on how to label classic muscle cars.

(Tommy)>> Hey guys welcome back to the shop. Earlier we mentioned to you all that we were gonna talk about a very controversial subject, and I'm not referring to Ford versus Chevy versus Mopar. What I'm actually talking about is the common terms and labels that are associated with older cars.

(Marc)>> Yeah we've heard them all, "barn find", "survivor car", "all original", "rare", "restored". The problem with these terms is that they're all open to interpretation. Your definition may be completely different than somebody else's, and that's to be expected because there are just too many variables to give each term a hard definition.

(Tommy)>> So let's use the term "barn find" as an example. A while back we built a '72 Chevy that we called barn find Chevelle. We pulled this jewel out of a barn where it had been laying in its bed of rest for many, many years. It was covered in hay, dirt, and stuff we can't even mention, and after a bit of cleaning and a lot of work we finally painted it a custom blue metal flake color with pearl white stripes. Installed a high horsepower supercharged small block, all new interior, and it turned out pretty sweet.

(Marc)>> With that said and it being all done is that Chevelle still a "barn find"? If we didn't tell you the back story you wouldn't even consider it one. So what constitutes a "barn find"? How long does it have to be sitting in a barn to be considered a true barn find? Five years, 10 years, 20? What if it's not in a barn at all? What if it's in a shed or carport? The term shed find just doesn't have the same ring to it does it?

(Tommy)>> That's what we're talking about. There's a lot of gray area. Attaching the term barn find to a car adds a sense of rarity, worth, or even a mystical feel like lost treasure. Plus it sounds cool. That's why it gets tossed around so much and often times abused.

(Marc)>> Speaking of abused take a look at this 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T. You might call this thing a barn find by its appearance along but it's got more qualifications than that. We know this is the real deal because it was documented when it was pulled from its slumber just last summer. Not only that, it had been there since the late '70's. This bright red Mopar is a high optioned R/T model with the signature stripes, scoops in the hood, chrome on the nose, white vinyl top, luggage rack, magnum wheels, and a not so popular engine option.

(Tommy)>> Standard on these cars was a 383 cubic inch big block. So someone had to skip all those cooler engine options, including the 440 Six Pack, the 426 iconic Hemi, and check the box of this smaller 340.

(Marc)>> So you're telling me this car had a better chance of being a big block and somebody picked the small block?

(Tommy)>> Yep.

(Marc)>> I'll bet you that makes it pretty rare though don't it?

(Tommy)>> Lord that's another one of those questions.

(Marc)>> Okay but would you call this car a survivor.

(Tommy)>> Man I'd have to think on that one for a minute. I don't know.

(Narrator)>> Stay with us as we finish our debate on classic muscle cars.

(Marc)>> Welcome back. We've been debating common labels that people like to slap on muscle cars, and our next term up for discussion is survivor car. The term survivor's kinda hard to define. I mean think about it. If the car's still around wouldn't it be considered a survivor?

(Tommy)>> Not exactly, and this term especially is open ended. It leaves a lot of room for interpretation. For example, these two cars. They both could be considered a survivor car, but by looks and condition they're very far apart.

(Marc)>> But this car in particular easily could be considered a great example of a survivor. This is a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner convertible that looks restored but it's actually an all original time capsule. It's wearing the factory blue paint. The convertible top has never been changed. The bright work is in immaculate condition. The interior has all the original upholstery with no signs of wear, and up under the hood you can tell this ride has been unmolested. Of the over 80,000 Road Runners that were built in 1969 only about 2,000 were convertibles. And rag tops don't usually stand the test of time. So considering this car's 50 years and being in the condition that it's in there's no way that we can deny it the honor of being called a survivor.

(Tommy)>> Now with all that out of the way let's complicate things even more and take another look at this Challenger. Now is it a barn find, yes. Is it a survivor, absolutely, but just like everything else in the world condition is everything. If you were on the hunt for a barn find and you struck this thing you just hit gold. If you were out looking for a survivor, well this thing's a little bit rough. The vinyl top has rust under it with holes in the roof. The quarters have had some shoddy repairs in the past before it was parked. The trim and chrome are very poor condition, and some is even missing. As for the interior it's falling apart, and mechanically it needs some attention. But in spite of all those condition issues this thing still has the goods. Does it have original paint and exterior? Almost 90 percent. What about the interior? All original, and the drivetrain all o-g.

(Marc)>> Well Tommy are you comfortable enough with these terms yet to give them definitions?

(Tommy)>> Oh I'm definitely comfortable enough to give you guys my opinion.

(Marc)>> Okay, I know where this is going. Alright let's talk about barn finds. What does it take to be a barn find? Does it need to be a barn that it was found in?

(Tommy)>> Absolutely, it ain't nearly as cool if it's in a side shed or something like that. It needs to be in a barn.

(Marc)>> For sure. Okay then how long does it need to be there?

(Tommy)>> I'm gonna say 10 years or so. It's gotta be in there long enough to be forgotten about.

(Marc)>> Okay I'm gonna disagree with you there. It needed to have been in the barn at least half of its life, and the car needs to be a minimum of 20 years old. So 10 years is fine I guess.

(Tommy)>> Yeah for sure.

(Marc)>> Alright about the condition.

(Tommy)>> That doesn't really matter cause its just got to be in the barn and it's got to be in there a while. The condition it could be rough or pretty nice.

(Marc)>> Yeah and you look at this Challenger. It's in pretty rough shape. That makes it cool being that it is a barn find. Doesn't make it worth more though. That's alright. Alright let's talk about survivor cars. What does it take to be a survivor? It needs to be complete right?

(Tommy)>> Yeah it needs have the drivetrain and that kind of stuff in it, but it could be missing a piece of trim or upholstery, something like that.

(Marc)>> Again back to the Challenger, it's missing a couple emblems, couple of trim pieces. We'll give it a pass.

(Tommy)>> But it has to have the original paint. It cannot have a repaint on the car.

(Marc)>> Okay how much of the original paint.

(Tommy)>> 70ish percent.

(Marc)>> 75. You need to look at the car go that's original paint.

(Tommy)>> I agree with that.

(Marc)>> Okay I think we covered it. Well we want thank Ted Stephens and Stephens Performance for lending us these two cars. They're beautiful examples and it gave us something cool to talk about.

(Tommy)>> I know your Mustang man but you ought to go drive a good car.

(Marc)>> Okay, oh wait.

(Tommy)>> It's the blue one.

(Marc)>> Yep, probably more reliable.

(Tommy)>> Toot the horn big man. [ horn honking Road Runner beep ]

(Tommy)>> We're all familiar with the feel and sound of a high performance vehicle. Running through the gears is a whole lot of fun. But unwanted heat and noise, well that can dampen your good times. DEI offers several products that combat those issues. Their under hood thermo-acoustic lining reduce unpleasant temperatures and sounds that are generated from the engine compartment. Installation is super simple. Just peel the backing off and press it into place. They have direct fit kits for several makes and models. If you guys have any questions about what you've seen on today's show go to Powernation TV dot com.