I don't have the patience to learn to get good at paintwork. Sure, I can kind of bang panels straight, and then throw some Bondo onto it, but I don't take the time that you need to prep for a really good job. Everything ends up looking like a moron did sloppy accident repair, which is honestly kind of close to the truth. If I'm lucky, the paint adheres well enough to the "metal" in order to keep the rust off for a few more years, but I wouldn't put too much money on that one either.
I used to take my project cars to these cheap painters, who would blast the pre-prepped vehicle with the good stuff in exchange for cash. Of course, it had to be done while their boss wasn't looking, and you'll also notice the adjective "pre-prepped" in there. Every minute I spent sanding and degreasing a body panel is one that wasn't spent shopping on Craigslist for yet another shitty car, so often they would kick the thing out after the laziest imaginable coat of paint, sneering like Frenchmen at being forced to do such sub-quality work in a paint booth that used to be part of a garden shed display at Home Depot.
There's a bunch of flippers in my neighbourhood who don't give a shit. When they snap up a crashed '95 Kia Sephia, their primary goal is to get it back in the hands of some sucker who will then crash it again. If they repair their bodywork at all, they slam down a couple cans of badly-prepped flat-black and then go around trying very hard not to look at the car they just ruined. For them, the idea of a super-deep candy-apple-red Ridler-quality hot rod paint job is as unachievable as starting their own moon mission. They just want to keep the rust off, and go on with life.
Certainly, I've thought about doing it, learning to do the whole thing. If YouTube videos could be exchanged for college credit, I'd have my Ph.D in rolling on Tremclad by now. Unfortunately, it's more of an art than a science, and the key thing that separates artists from other assholes on the street is doing art. Unless you're really famous for art, in which case you then become good at going to parties and allowing rich people to touch the hem of your garment. Maybe I can just skip ahead to that part by putting a bunch of pictures of paint samples on my phone. I bet rich people have tons of shitty old cars lying around for me to buy, and they won't negotiate too hard either.
