Fellas,
I've thought long and hard about this question and thought I'd get some opinions from those of you who've "been there".
After way too many years I've finally reached the painting stage on my '51 pickup resto. To give a little background, this was a 2 owner, low miles vehicle that had spent it's entire life in Southern Arizona before I aquired it over twenty years ago. It's condition was pretty remarkable to someone used to working on vehicles from the salt belt, down to the original primer underneath the vehicle. I've been doing a frame off for the last 6 years and have tried to be as authentic as possible, down to the correct bolt head markings, original equipment, etc.
Now the question, how far should I take the refinishing of the underside?
Do I
a) Do as the factory, prime the bottom of the cab, fenders, hood, etc. and overspray color around the edges,
or
b) Refinish these areas with body color?
I guess what I'm worried about is option A looking like "shoddy work".
An interesting little quirk to this is the fact that the cab was factory primered with oxide red but all bolt on panels, fenders, hood, bed, etc.,were primered in black.
My eventual intentions are to use it strictly to show for a couple of years and then I'll probably just end up driving and enjoying it.
Sorry this got a little long winded,
Bob
