By Rob Fortier – Images by Tim Sutton
When the Rushtons first brought their 1959 Chevrolet Apache to Randy Clark at Hot Rods & Custom Stuff (HRCS) in Escondido, California, it had an amazing original patina—with the Bollong & Son Furniture Co. lettering still prominent on the doors! HRCS painter Andy Meeh, of all people, tried his best to convince owners Gerry and Chris to retain that OG charm … but to no avail; they were set on giving the Chevy an all-new look on life, and that meant one of Meeh’s finest candy paintjobs!
I’ve always had a fascination for custom automotive/motorcycle paint, and without question Meeh is one of the best in the business. That said, I figured why not pick his brain about his career passion and the Rushtons non-traditional candy (Kandy Garnet, to be specific) paintjob.
Classic Truck Performance: First off, how long have you been painting and how many years of that have been spent at HRCS?
Andy Meeh: I have been painting since I was a teenager, learning from my dad at first. Siphon feed gun, acrylic enamels, and a hosed-down driveway. My first professional job was painting vintage bicycles. I then went on to working with Hot Dog at WCC and a few other shops. Even tried it on my own thing for a while before I ended up at HRCS. I have been painting there for over 15 years now.
CTP: Tell me about the Apache. You’d mentioned that it came in with “amazing real patina.” How’d you’d convince the owner, and your boss, Randy, NOT to leave it as-was?
AM: The Apache was bought new as a furniture business truck and had always been in the owner’s family. It had an amazing patina, that very sought after and often recreated look. It was a faded orangish rust with their logo on the doors. It would have been a great candidate for a satin clear, but that wasn’t what was on the menu. The owners wanted to give the old workhorse a new life with a new modern chassis, drivetrain, and beautiful paint. I was happy to oblige. We looked at a lot of metallic reds, none were getting anyone too excited, so I decided to spice it up with some kandy to get that deep look they were looking for but didn’t know how to describe it.
CTP: Let’s talk about the candy red. For anyone who’s not too familiar with various paint processes, traditional candy apple is probably the most difficult to pull off. Tell me about the Apache and how you achieved that seemingly flawless finish! I’m assuming it’s not the “traditional”-style candy?
AM: After several sprayout samples we decided on the Toyota Garnet. It is a metallic maroon. After the PPG Envirobase was laid down, I went over it with the red kandy. This involves a clear basecoat with PPG Vibrance Radiant red dye. Three coats of the transparent red over the maroon gives it that look everyone was happy with. This is not as difficult as a traditional kandy job that is sprayed over silver or gold. It still gives a nice deep flop and looks great in the sun but is easier if a repair is ever needed. We chose a nice cream color to accent the window openings and bullet bedside. I pinstriped the edges and tailgate with a caramel color that tied in the interior leather color.
OK, beneath that Kandy with a K glorious paint—with a cream white insert, mind you—there is a lot more to talk about! First and foremost, Randy’s non-paint crew swapped out the stock Task Force beam-axle chassis for an all-new Total Cost Involved foundation—complete with a crate small-block/700-R4, Ford 9-inch, and Wilwood discs capped with polished 18- and 20-inch American Racing Torq Thrust SL five-spokes. While mostly stock, with the exception of “filled holes, tightened gaps, and an Altman Easy Latch door kit” as HRCS told us, between the candied fleetside bed panels now lies a heavily clear-resin’d Mar-K oak bed wood floor. On the inside, nearby stitch-specialists Old Town Upholstery did up a Glide Engineering bench in distressed brown with multi-colored square-weave carpet below to complement the exterior-matched (painted) interior door panels. A 15-inch Bel Air wheel (painted to match the dash, of course) tops a chrome Ididit column, while the stock mechanical gauges have been swapped out with a Classic Instruments modern retro cluster and a Vintage Air system installed to, well, do what it does best: keep the Rushtons cool!
Check out this story in our digital edition here.
