Going old school with my 65' paint

Trying to duplicate the way Harley painted in the sixties .

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wagon man
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Going old school with my 65' paint

#1

Post by wagon man »

So I wasn't going to repaint my 65' pan since the whole them is to leave it looking rough . The bike is all black and if thought it was stock theres no way I'd touch it but it's just a really bad repaint . I've painted a lot of bikes , at least four 65's . I still have enough candy blue and silver base lacquer left overarm the 80's . Can't believe it's still good . My paint guy told me today he can get me lacquer primer , does anyone know what color primer they used in the 60's ? red or gray ? Unforcanetly I only have birch white in acrylic enamel . I feel like Harley may not have clear coated their candy's the way I've seen them age . The candy paint is clear with with a die in it . The paint going to look better than I want it to but it my best shot at not looking to good .
chuckthebeatertruck
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Re: Going old school with my 65' paint

#2

Post by chuckthebeatertruck »

No problem at all getting acrylic lacquer primer. Just order it: https://tcpglobal.com/collections/auto- ... us-lp21-gl

Or, run over to oreilly auto parts and buy duplicolor paint shop primer. It is lacquer.

No, Harley did not clear coat until much later.

I’ve only seen oxide primer on 60s big twins.
wagon man
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Re: Going old school with my 65' paint

#3

Post by wagon man »

Far out ! Thank you .
wagon man
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Re: Going old school with my 65' paint

#4

Post by wagon man »

Well they definitely used red oxide under black . I took the front fender off today and sanded off the repaint , the sides still had original paint under the repaint and red primer under that . I happy with my decition to do this . Love the candy blue . I have turquoise also but I'm not a fan . I could make some a good price on it .
wannchev
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Re: Going old school with my 65' paint

#5

Post by wannchev »

Lovely color choice. Far too much black for years now.
Rain Man
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Re: Going old school with my 65' paint

#6

Post by Rain Man »

When I built my 65 I wanted the pinstripe on the tank lined up like it came from the factory. If you look at a lot of 65 restorations you'll notice a lot of folks don't get it right. I called H.D. Asked if they had any kind of templet that they used. They said they did, but had recently gave them to someone in Michigan. (This has been a few years back) They gave me the number, I called them, only to be told they were lost in the move.
Left with that good news. The best I could come up with was to find pictures of original bikes (sales brochures are good). Then take a pair of calipers and measure the size of the tank emblem, and distance to the stripe, size of the stripe, and any other fixed angle you can find in order to get the curves right. Then measure your full size tank emblem, you can then change all your measurements to scale. It's kind of a pain, but worth it if you want it right. If you want to get a look at the way mine turned out. go to the gallery and type in Rain man. Ray
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Re: Going old school with my 65' paint

#7

Post by socalrider »

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Re: Going old school with my 65' paint

#8

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