Painting dilemma or not

gophred · #1 01-25-2014, 10:22 PM

So I am going thru my sons 129. This ride came from a farmer who did a decent job painting the fenders and outside of the frame but the rest of the yellow was just painted in place. I have the front axle, rods, parts that hold the wheels and the grill painted and plan on doing the parts I can remove including the tower. I was having trouble deciding what to do with the hood, it's only has a few scratches and no rust at all, but it will stick out as old compared to the new paint,. Then again, I can't see spending the $ on a decal set. I was cleaning up the tranny cover and thought how do you paint over this? It's tough to see in the pic, but the decal and the metal at the corners are clearly worn from many hours of kids feet riding there. Then I got thinking "Patina" that wonderful fade/wear that let's you justify not painting it. So I think I am going to touch up the frame, paint all the small stuff and let the rest tell it's story.

zippy1 · #2 01-26-2014, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gophred

So I am going thru my sons 129. This ride came from a farmer who did a decent job painting the fenders and outside of the frame but the rest of the yellow was just painted in place. I have the front axle, rods, parts that hold the wheels and the grill painted and plan on doing the parts I can remove including the tower. I was having trouble deciding what to do with the hood, it's only has a few scratches and no rust at all, but it will stick out as old compared to the new paint,. Then again, I can't see spending the $ on a decal set. I was cleaning up the tranny cover and thought how do you paint over this? It's tough to see in the pic, but the decal and the metal at the corners are clearly worn from many hours of kids feet riding there. Then I got thinking "Patina" that wonderful fade/wear that let's you justify not painting it. So I think I am going to touch up the frame, paint all the small stuff and let the rest tell it's story.

Good idea.
There was a time when I thought to myself, self. Boy this would look better in new paint, get all that old worn paint off and put on some new stuff.
Then I started looking at these old tractors for what they were. A work horse from years gone by, that if you looked at them long enough they began to tell a story. A story that would be a shame to cover up with the new paint. So to me the real beauty is in the old worn original work clothes they were born with, unless it was already butchered up with a 1/2 a#$ paint job.

OldAndInTheWay · #3 01-26-2014, 04:49 AM

I have learned a lot about Cubs by taking them apart to do a restore including a new set of clothes. Now that I have gotten that out of my system I have been eying the beauty of unrestored ones. Some need to be completely restored but others are beautiful in their own original clothes. I love working on them and the more some need the better but I have some are too nice to change. It's just what you want out of your machine.

4SPEED · #4 01-26-2014, 05:46 AM

Original paint is one thing. But a old rattle can paint job with over spray is another. Sounds like most of yours is a backyard paint job. Its your call on what to clean up and what to repaint. The 70 I picked up a few months ago has never been touched. And I'll keep it that way till I get tired of looking at the scratches and small dings.

gophred · #5 01-26-2014, 08:32 AM

here is a pic the 129 mowing and the hood. Fortunately the painter did not touch the hood/console or the tranny cover. the only bad stuff on the hood is right on the back edge. just to be honest, I strive to be a backyard/shake can painter. I sandblast and do a good job on the little parts, but I fear I would butcher the hood, so keeping the patina is somewhat of a excuse. I really paint to keep it from rusting after removing 40 years of grease. I do think it would be cool to have a "sleeper" resto where it looks decent mowing and you open the hood or crawl under it and it's mint

DoubleO7 · #6 01-26-2014, 09:36 AM

I always tell the young whippersnappers:
"Fancy paint and chrome do-dads won't make it run any better"

Sometimes they don't like those words of wisdom after you have pulled them out of a mud hole with a rust bucket Jeep named "Heep-A-Jeep".

bluesman · #7 01-26-2014, 10:36 AM

My 1650 looks like it was put into a hopper and shaken with a few cement blocks in there with it. Scratches and dents in every panel. I think it was worked hard and put away wet every time. One way or the other I'm gonna make her look pretty again............and then work the heck out of it.

bocephus1991 · #8 01-26-2014, 03:19 PM

It's all personal preference when it comes to repaint or not. Me I wanted my 1200 to look like I remembered it growing up.

OldAndInTheWay · #9 01-26-2014, 04:11 PM

My O was borderline. I decided to do a complete restore. I am glad I did. I found problems in the making that I would not have found if I hadn't taken it completely apart. The latest was finding that mud daubers had completely filled the spaces between the fins of my Kohler. You couldn't see it unless you took the shrouds off.

jbrewer · #10 01-26-2014, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zippy1

Good idea.
There was a time when I thought to myself, self. Boy this would look better in new paint, get all that old worn paint off and put on some new stuff.
Then I started looking at these old tractors for what they were. A work horse from years gone by, that if you looked at them long enough they began to tell a story. A story that would be a shame to cover up with the new paint. So to me the real beauty is in the old worn original work clothes they were born with, unless it was already butchered up with a 1/2 a#$ paint job.

Amen Todd... I think Allen has the same theory and I share it also.

It's honest wear and tear and looks good on a working tractor

John