I am wanting to paint my 96, which is what I call "refrigerator white". stock color. Add in some surface rust, some peelys on the roof and hood and to that add in mismatched (off white/yellowish white) doors and fenders sourced from an '87 in the junkyard. I'd just like it to be 1 color again. Single stage enamel will be just fine for this old truck.... not wanting to get too fancy.
My neighbor used to paint cars back in the day out of his garage for extra cash.... well he has 2 unopened gallons of white automotive paint, he guesses 15-20 years old, it is Dupont Centari. I have painted a couple of cars way back in the 80s with this same brand and variety of paint.
They do not sell this particular paint any more, since the neighbor offered this old paint to me, I want to at least pop the top and see if it looks like it is still good.... we know it has never been allowed to freeze, and has not been opened since mixed when he bought it.
I know it typically isn't good to mix brands and varieties of paint. but if I am able to use this stuff I will have no choice but to use someone else's primer, sealer and solvents. Does anyone here know what brand of solvents and primers would be most compatible with this old stuff? I'm taking a chance on this, and if I open the can and it won't mix or otherwise doesn't look right, I won't use it and will buy a gallon of this company's current paint that does match. Not really interested in 2 stage base coat/clear coat.

 

test it on one of the old doors you took off?

 

I would just get new paint all the solids are going to be fused in the bottom of the cans.
The only way you are going to be able to tell is to mix them up real good to get all the solids back into solution then pour it through a filter then cut it with whatever solvent you were going to use. Then spray something with it.
I think most of the paint solids will be so fused together in a lump at the bottom of the cans you will never get them all back into solution.
It is hard to pass up free.

 

I'd just get some Rustoleum White and work with that, personally.

Or some marine paint white; Rustoleum isn't UV-proof, but most marine paints are.

RwP

 

They are gone or I might...…

 

yup it is hard to pass up, that is why I am asking. I know that lacquer isn't available any more (not that "that" matters, for this project) but I have heard of people with some pretty special built hot rods from back in the day (older than the paint I am talking about) that had some "left over" from the time in which it was built, and it worked out. Is that because that paint was lacquer? Does enamel not have as good of a shelf life?

 

If it hasn't frozen I'd at least open it and see what it's like. As someone else mentioned the solids are likely all piled on the bottom but whether they're fused or not who knows. Two gallons is a lot of paint, would be nice if it was good.

Centari was very good, I painted my car with it back in the mid-80's, not sure where that car is today, probably junked. Nice thing is that white has the least amount of pigment and since it's not a metallic there's none of that to deal with.

The biggest thing I see is whether or not you can buy the catalyst for it anymore? If not then you're going to be waiting 90 days for it to dry completely IIRC.

Open it up and have a look!

Steve

 

Have you considered the paint from Summit? https://www.summitracing.com/search/...oview=SKU&ar=1

I have a friend who used it and was quite pleased. Said it dried quick, much like working with lacquer paint..... Its pretty reasonable priced as well.


FWIW I would at least want to test the paint on a panel and see how well it does before spraying your truck. If it dont work, thats a lot of work to strip and prepare for another paint job.....

 

no, hadn't really considered any paint at all... just was talking to the neighbor one day telling him how I'd like to repaint this truck, and he replied, "HEY guess what I have..... you want it"?
about a year ago before I swapped the doors and fenders I did ask the napa that we deal with thru work what a gallon of white single stage would sell for, and the one counterman asked the other "what do you think we could do on that"? and they went back n forth with "oh probably's" but never really gave me a definite number..... this was before the neighbor made his offer.
Right now as long as I can get the cab all looking like a match that's all I care about right now, paint on bed is in pretty good shape. I do have to replace a patch panel over 1 wheel well before I could paint the bed.... not sure when I might get to that.... but the trim around the wheel well is doing a pretty good job of hiding that at present. Its a 96 with 200k+ miles on it and counting, not a show truck, though I plan on driving it into the ground, how ever long that takes...…

 

Eastwood's single stage urethanes are pretty good. We just started spraying my buddy's blazer with a tan that's pretty close to the gym original. We sprayed everything for the front clip and it came out really good. I'd just buy new paint bud. There's too many risks with paint that is that old and has been sitting.