TIL the old farmer who sold me a '62 Chevy pickup told me I was scrubbing too hard on the patina

I was using a wire brush on the faded green paint of this truck I pulled out of a shed in rural Iowa last spring, and he walked up and said 'you're gonna ruin the whole story that rust is telling.' Now I just hose it off and leave the surface alone, and the truck looks way more authentic. Has anybody else had a collector or owner talk them out of restoring something?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia_hayes14d ago

Got a similar lesson when I tried to repaint an old wooden rowboat I found at a lake cabin. The previous owner showed up and said the layers of chipped blue and white paint made it look like it had stories to tell, not like it was abandoned. I stopped sanding and just sealed it with clear polyurethane instead. Now that boat has this faded, patchy look that gets compliments every time I put it on the water. It's way more interesting than a fresh coat ever would be.

david70114d ago

Strikes me how we keep trying to erase the marks that give anything its real character.