First Pre-Worn New Guitars, Now Pre-Worn New Cars ...?

[Blake Noble]

First Pre-Worn Guitars, Now Pre-Worn Cars ... ?

by black-knight, C&G Editor/Reporter

10th, May, 2011

When it comes to the world of guitars, a trend has developed over the last few years concerning "road worn" or "relic'd" instruments, where, for example, a brand new Fender Strat is made to look like it's been chained to the back of Billy Bob's old Dodge work truck and ravaged down a back country road. For Fender, just to name one manufacturer, it has been one of their primary ways to cash in on what draws some buyers to the vintage market: the frikin' mojo, man. Usually these pre-beaten guitars will cost you a considerable premium over their shiny and brand new counterparts. Seems a little backwards, huh?

It's controversial to some guitarists to say the least and there has been a growing backlash against these guitars, with critics saying they would prefer to do it the natural and "old fashioned way" (read: play it until the strings fall off). These critics will also ask you if you would spend a premium on a car that already had bad paint, rust, and broken parts to which most, if not all, people will answer to with a resounding "hell-friggin-no."

Well ... except for whoever owns this particular Camaro, which would be a particular Bill Rombauts of Long Island, New York.

What you're seeing here was a brand new Camaro SS not that long ago. In fact, it can't be really be more than a few months old. However, it's been pre-worn with misaligned fender badges, a hand-busted grille, a cheeky little Sharpie tattoo on it's once firm buttocks, and the roughest paint job this side of Billy Bob's old Dodge work truck.

Going into detail, in order to make this "paint job" a reality, the two dudes who did this, Dave Sherer and Anthony Musilli (no, not Mussolini although I'm sure someone out there is probably calling him that), also of Long Island, not only had to sand the factory paint off before shooting more paint on before having to sand it once again, they also had to literally rub salt into those open, bare-metal wounds in order to make it rust not just a little, but a whole hell of a lot. Not to mention the dudes, for the coup de grâce, kicked the living snot out of it just to give that little extra bit of patina the car, well, never really had to begin with or needed in the first place.

Sherer and Musilli say that they chose this road-worn route for the Camaro simply because, quote, "No one else has the balls to do it. Everyone else is making them clean." I think that's for a very good reason guys.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the appeal of Rat Rods; a weathered classic car or truck that looks like it's barely road worthy with gobs and gobs of power is, in essence, the ultimate sleeper and wild card. You never know what it could be capable of. It could blow your doors off or it could do nothing more than blow smog up your nose. That vintage patina not only looks cool but it is an effective cloaking device.

This, though ... this is artificial. And like most things artificial, it leaves a bad aftertaste in your mouth.

The paint job may be one thing on the planet you certainly can't take seriously, but this car does have some performance under the hood to make up for it's visual appearance (thank God). The engine displaces four-hundred and eighty-five massive cubic inches from it's bored and stroked GM Performance block. The heads, cams, and exhaust are unique to this specific engine. To top it all off, there's a Bell supercharger a'huffin and a'puffin. The total package puts down somewhere around not five-hundred horsepower and most certainly not six-hundred horsepower. Seven-hundred horses? So what? It's been done. No, this pseudo ragged out pony car has one-thousand furious, bucking broncos to deal with. Yikes. That old man just smoked my ass, indeed.

So it has some real huevos to back itself up with. But then -- oh dear -- there's the price tag for all of this insanity. You'd think the derestroration wouldn't cost anything, right? After all, it was done with some sanding blocks, a grinding wheel, some old Wolverine work boots, spray paint, and a can of Morton's Slug-be-Gone in some New Yorker's shed. Well, think again. The total price tag comes to an astounding $150,000 big honkin' Benjamins. Yeee-ouch.

I guess ol' Bill is shaping up to be something of a $h!-kicker; he likes rough looking cars with plenty of power and probably would hunt snakes to keep himself in a new pair of weekend boots. However, unlike most if not all $h!-kickers, he's got some pretty durn deep pockets.

Although I'll admit there is something about this car that appeals to my own inner $h!-kicker as much as I really loathe how it's aging process was done, I know I'll stick to the shiny one, thanks, as if I had a doubt in my mind of that to begin with anyway. Some things really are just better left to do the old fashioned way.

[SAmadei]

I like it.

However, I think the execution was outright stupid. For a few grand they could have gotten the car wrapped for a similar look. And when it comes time that they decide to buy another, the wrap could have been removed to reveal a perfectly painted car.

[David]

Nope do not like it, I hate the old beater look. What a waste of money IMO!

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

A waste of time and money...

[z28luvr01]

Can you get me an address for this guy? I need to...um....talk to him.

[Blake Noble]

Now I'm wondering how long it will be before GM starts offering Rat Rod paint options? There are people out there who love artificial antiques (like the Fender Road Worn guitars I mentioned before) and I'm sure a car with a paint job like this would be no exception.

[Robert Hall]

Interesting, but too smooth..needs dents. If I wanted that look on a new car, I'd do it myself w/ a ball-peen hammer, sander, drill, angle grinder, and a few cans of primer..also, drive into a brick wall at low speed at a shallow angle to get scrapes...

Edited May 11, 2011 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[crunksoulbrotha!!`]

This seems to be the new thing in hot rodding circles, Trucks on Spike, has a project truck with the same premise. It's a good look, a true sleeper vibe 2 whatever you're driving.

[Intrepidation]

I don't really get the extended comparison to guitars, I mean pants come pre-orn too but anyway.

Looks utterly stupid. Your brain must not be functioning correctly to do this. Besides looking awful, the Camaro is only a few years old, Nice cars don't become rusty beaters in a few years.

And if you're going to "vustom fade" your car, at least do a decent job.

[FAPTurbo]

Ew. No, just... no. It's one thing to 'matte and rat' a vehicle - that looks pretty good. But this is past the point of hideousness.

[balthazar]

Interesting. I can push aside the knowledge that this is a brand new car, but the pattern of wear still doesn't come off as thoroughly convincing.

I think one of the big things for me is, aside from warping & cracks, it's tough to age plastic, which the majority of both fascias are on this.

I'm not ragingly against this sort of thing, but it the quality just isn't there.

I've seen hot rods, '30s Model As, freshly built and patina'd that you. would. swear. were driven for 20 years and sat in a barn for another 40. Unbelievable work.

[Intrepidation]

See doing a good job and doing it on a car that looks like its from an different era is different than doing on a brand new car that's only been on sale since 2010.

[PurdueGuy]

I'm never a fan of nonfunctional stick-on hood scoops, but it looks even worse on top of a big cowl IMO.

[daves87rs]

Really?

[Blake Noble]

I don't really get the extended comparison to guitars, I mean pants come pre-orn too but anyway.

I just wanted an interesting lead in that sort of fit in with the topic because I could see a parallel here: those relic Fenders started out with someone who wanted a brand new guitar bashed up to look like an old one. Someone here wanted a brand new car bashed up to look like an old one. Guess it didn't work out the way I wanted, but that's how you have fun with writing, you experiment.

It does boil down to this, though: anything "pre-worn" doesn't make a whole lot of sense. People who buy that sort of stuff: a.) don't have the balls to do it by just wearing it out over a few years, b.) don't have the money to buy the real article, c.) don't have the time to find the real article, or d.) a combination of a and b, a and c, or a, b, and c.

On another note, ever actually bought a pair of heavily distressed jeans before? Well I did in a fit of stupidity once. They didn't last anytime at all before they finally just started falling apart and I almost lost my wallet because it kept falling out of huge holes in the bottom of my back pockets. Never again.

It's the same with the finish on those pseudo-vintage guitars; they look cool when you first buy them, then the rest of the finish starts coming off a few months later after seriously playing it. I can understand that happening after years of hard work using the instrument to make a living (since that's how vintage guitars actually acquire that heavily worn out look; a vintage guitar kept in a closet and rarely played will still have 90 to 99 percent of its original finish remaining) but a few months? Yeah, you're not a poseur with a guitar like that at all.

This Camaro won't be any different. I guarantee those rear quarter panels will start rusting through very soon. That's just sad.

[balthazar]

Another point to ponder- modern sheet metal is NOT built to endure rusting- painfully thin. You're prolly right on about the rot a-coming.

[knightfan26917]

Uhhhhhhh

I don't even know where to begin with this...lol. I like it, but I don't. Just seems like a waste of money and time. But, stranger things have been done.

*shrugs*

Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic | * meet_05.21.11_FrnkGrv.IL *

MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"Sometimes solutions aren't so simple" __ Linkin Park __ 'Shadow Of The Day'

[Potluck]

is this an extra from the set of "Escape from New York"?

[Turbojett]

I'm just gonna come out and say it.

It looks retarded.

There. I've said it.