gas damage

Kenjt

Kenjt

Member
The owner of my recently purchased Model A told me I should drain the 'old' gas and replace it with fresh gas because the car seemed to him to be running a bit rougher than normal. When I did, I accidentally allowed a drop of gas drip right near the gas fill. It immediately dissolved a small area of paint. I guess the paint is not 'real' automotive paint. Although I don't think it's an original color, I have seen several Model A's painted with what appears to be a similar color. I know I can probably drive to an auto bodyl shop and try to have them match the paint but the closest one is at least 15 miles away and I'm not really happy driving that far yet. I'm hoping someone can identify the color so I can get some to repair the damage. If it's not exact, at least I can paint the small area on top of the gas tank. Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Gas shouldn't remove paint...are you sure it didn't just stain the paint? Did you try some gentle waxing over the area...?
 
Oh, I'm sure it's not a stain. I can see the black steel where the paint 'bubbled' off after the gas touched it. I can't imagine why anyone would paint a Model A with such inferior paint.
 
I can't imagine why anyone would paint a Model A with such inferior paint.





to make a sale..........
 
Hope this picture helps. I have no idea why the side back looks like a slightly different color. This is in pretty bright sunlight.
 

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I don't think that will polish out. In general rattle can paints are not gasoline proof and most air cure paints are not either. Paints that use a catalyst are gasoline proof.

Depending on what the original paint is and what paint you try to over paint it with, the original paint may wrinkle up or come off when it is painted over. Test somewhere inconspicuous.
 
If you don't want to drive your Model A to the auto paint store, you can easily remove one of the hood sides and take to the paint store so that they can try to match your color. There's no way that anyone can tell you what color your car is by seeing pictures on the internet.
 
Gary Karr said:
If you don't want to drive your Model A to the auto paint store, you can easily remove one of the hood sides and take to the paint store so that they can try to match your color. There's no way that anyone can tell you what color your car is by seeing pictures on the internet.
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What a great idea. Thanks for the tip.
 
That metal under the recently failed paint looks way too dark to me. Meaning the original prep was not that good. As stated, it could be poor prep on some flaked spots to sell it. I'd be skeptical that the gas melted the paint, it likely got under the already failing paint and helped push it off the metal.

You can try to blend in the spot, or mask off the entire gas tank and paint the whole panel. Just get down to shiny metal and prime it, unlike your predecessor.
 
Mister Moose said:
That metal under the recently failed paint looks way too dark to me. Meaning the original prep was not that good. As stated, it could be poor prep on some flaked spots to sell it. I'd be skeptical that the gas melted the paint, it likely got under the already failing paint and helped push it off the metal.

You can try to blend in the spot, or mask off the entire gas tank and paint the whole panel. Just get down to shiny metal and prime it, unlike your predecessor.
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The previous owner told me when he bought the car the gas tank was leaking. He removed the gas tank and had it thoroughly restored and sealed. I have no idea if this included repainted the top. I'm hoping that's what he did and I won't have to worry about the whole car being a potential problem. In any event, I'm planning to repaint the whole gas tank panel even if it's not an exact match.
 
Ruth said:
Have you tries asking the privious owner what paint he used and what color?
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Yes, the first thing I did was contact him about the situation. He had no idea what the paint was called and said nothing about repainting the gas tank top. Obviously, it's too late do do anything about the paint situation. Had I known of this problem I might not have bought the car. The thing is, he always filled the gas from a 5 gallon can and even gave my the battery operated fill hose he used. I guess he was very careful. It's what I used to drain the tank and not being very careful created the damage. I obviously had no reason to be concerned but, now I know better.
 
Properly restoring the gas tank involves repainting. You have to no matter which of several ways you do it, whether it be cutting it up or having it dipped.
 
It is a very nice looking car and repainting the gas tank should fix things. Judging from the reflection it looks like the paint job on the gas tank is not as good as the hood. It looks like someone did a poor job on it. So I would guess that the gas tank was repainted by someone who did not know what they were doing. You can test this by putting some gasoline on the paint inside the hood in an inconspicuous place.
 
chrs1961815 said:
Properly restoring the gas tank involves repainting. You have to no matter which of several ways you do it, whether it be cutting it up or having it dipped.
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nkaminar and chrs1961815, thanks very much for your replies. Knowing the gas tank was probably repainted and that it doesn't look as nice certainly makes me feel more relaxed about the rest of the paint job.
 
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