Up next

Author

Share article

Facebook 0
Twitter 0
Mail 0

How to keep your original Patina Clean

Have you ever bought a truck with its original patinaed paint and wondered how to keep it clean while preserving the paint and reviving its vibrancy? Well, today is your lucky day.

We recently picked up this 1965 Ford F-100 from the original owner. Last driven in 1992, this truck has been sitting on the side of the barn for the last 29 years in Virginia waiting for its time to get back on the road.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

When we got the truck, the main attraction was the beautiful original Marlin Blue paint that had just the perfect amount of patina on it. We’re going to tell you our method to cleaning up this beauty and bringing back the color we all love. (Editor’s Note: Shout out to Kyle at DelFAB—he taught me this trick.)

We start out with a trip to our local Walmart. On the shopping list is Super Clean degreaser and some Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Once you return home, the first step is to rinse the entire truck with water to remove dirt and regular surface-level filth. Next, get out the Super Clean and tackle one panel at a time. Spray the degreaser until the panel is nice and wet, and then scrub it with your Magic Eraser. You don’t need to apply any deep pressure; just go over the entire panel and leave no area un-scrubbed. I like to do a side-to-side motion from top to bottom. When you’re done, rinse it off with water and move on to the next panel. Repeat until you’ve gone over the entire truck.

In some instances, you might want to do a second or third round. It just depends on your personal preference. But this will remove all the oxidation and haziness from the paint, and it will make it more vibrant.

The only items you’ll need are some Magic Erasers, Super Clean degreaser, and water.
Start off by rinsing the entire truck with water to remove dirt and regular surface-level filth.
Tackling one panel at a time, spray the Super Clean degreaser thoroughly until the panel is nice and wet.
We then simply scrubbed the panel surface with our new Magic Eraser. You will be amazed how well this works when you try it.
Follow the same process for the bumpers and trim. Uou don’t need to apply deep pressure; just go over the panel evenly and leave no area un-scrubbed.
This is a shot of the progress after only 20 minutes of scrubbing. After a rinse, this will look cool and custom.

As you can see, this process will remove all the oxidation and haziness from the paint, and make it more vibrant.
Working panel by panel, you conatrol the consistency, which will help you match them.

Because the doors are so big and flat, it’s even more important to be even and smooth. It’s pretty obvious when one spot is cleaner then the next.
Just look at the difference some basic cleaning products will make.
The entire driver’s side is now complete, leaving an extremely noticeable makeover. Time for round two.

It would be tough for anyone to recreate this look using paint or chemicals, which is what makes patina so special in the first place.

Now that all the panels are complete, we can decide wheter we want to clearcoat it or leave it as-is. What would you do?

You May Also Like

1975 Ford F-250

Ray Mariolle’s Diesel-Powered 1975 Ford F-250: A Highboy Reborn

Ray Mariolle’s Diesel-Powered 1975 Ford F-250 Believe it or not, Ray Mariolle has owned this 1975 Ford F-250 since the mid-1980s. That’s a long time […]