I was driving home from work the other day and saw a new Corvette parked along side the road. It looked to me like it was black, but had just been sanded with 220 grit and was still dusty....wasn't quite black and it wasn't quite gray. I actually loved the way it looked. I wasn't close enough to see it clearly, but it got my little brain to thinking...

After I paint a motorcycle for my buddy, I've been planning to do something with mine. I'm not a good painter, as we are about to find out on my buddy's bike. And I really do like the look of the relic paint stuff or cars that look like they have two or three colors sanded through. So I'm thinking I could do that...because flaws are to be expected in this sort of genre...so wouldn't have to worry so much about all the little visual imperfections I will in a normal appliction.

I wonder. Could a guy use two or three different colors of primer, sand through those to expose the different layers, and then seal all that in with a binder clear and then hit it with a matte clear and call it done? OR...should I be using actual base coat paints to pull this off?

Sure, you can try to do what you are saying. A lot of people in the "rat rod" world go for the weathered/worn paint look.

There is no telling exactly how long it will last, but it should last a long while. I have a few parts that were cleared (with leftover clear) in various stages of rust, filler, primer, etc. just to see how long they will last in my climate (extremely humid + salty). So far, everything has been exposed for at least 2 - 3 years without any major failures.

You don't need 2 different types of clears. A regular "overall" clear would be fine and you can flatten it, if needed. An intercoat clear (binder clear, if you will) is for covering multiple layers of artwork during air brushing on multiple days or to speed up the ability to layer material in the same day..... Its not needed if you plan on just clearing the whole mess in the same day.

Yeah, rat rod finishes are all the thing around here now. Guy at a show last year got kind of pissed because he won an award for "Best Unfinished Project" on his rat rod truck. I do faux finishing work a lot on furniture so I knew how "elaborate" his paint job was with fake wooden bed accents. Everybody else (including the cruise-in "officials") just thought is was an old "survivor." I couldn't stop laughing when he got that trophy.....
Play around with it.... have fun....

I was going to paint my truck gloss red, but after staring at the epoxy for a few days... decided it was much cooler and more practical for a work truck...love the satin sheen and easy to keep clean...hard to scratch and no worries about swirl marks...Love it

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I'm looking forward to it. I just have to suffer through trying to make my buddy's bike look good. Then I can play!

I agree. I think that truck looks sweet the way it is. What's the expected durability of that primer being exposed like that? Epoxy...so probably a long time?

Should be pretty good, the water beads up on it... no UV protection so the top surfaces will probably fade over time...will see what happens, not really worried because it's just an old truck and not worth alot, just wanted to give it some protection and make it look cleaner, the factory paint was shot and not giving any protection. I put 4 wet coats on it (2 gallons mixed)