Olds Cool is owned by Billy and Debbie Thomas of Robstown, Texas. It was built by Harold Chapman and his crew at Customs & Hot Rods of Andice in Georgetown, Texas. Charley Hutton then gave the car its winning finish. Hutton, well-respected in the custom car world, uses PPG products exclusively at his shop, Charley Hutton’s Color Studio, in Nampa, Idaho. He is renowned for choosing just the right color for a car to give it a unique—and award-winning—appearance. For Olds Cool, Hutton created Kona Brown using PPG VIBRANCE COLLECTION® VP2050 High Build Primer, ENVIROBASE® High Performance waterborne basecoat and ECS Sealer, GLOBAL REFINISH SYSTEM™ D8152 Performance + Glamour Clearcoat and a special custom mix of tints and toners to give the car its unique finish, ensuring it would stand apart from the competition. The car has a winning resume: Earlier this year Olds Cool won the 2016 Ridler Award—Hutton’s fourth—and was named the PPG-Goodguys Nationals Street Rod of the Year.
The Hot August Nights Cup competition was intense with only 50 cars from across the country allowed to enter the contest. Each entry endured the scrutiny of three demanding judges: Steve Mank, co-host of Spike TV’s MuscleCar; Reggie Tibbets, co-owner of the SuperNationals car show in Albuquerque; and Eddie Potestio, owner of Eddie’s Rods & Customs, Pueblo West, Colo. More than $100,000 in cash and prizes was at stake for the top ten cars.
PPG-finished cars took an additional five of the top ten honors. A 1969 Chevrolet Camaro owned by Alex Short of Bluffdale, Utah, and built by Cam Miller and his team at HS Customs in Logan, Utah, came in fourth. Painter Cort Sessions gave the car a gleaming white finish using DELTRON® DP90LV Epoxy Primer, Vibrance Collection VP2050 High Build Primer, VP2100 Polyester Primer, Envirobase High Performance ECP15 Gray A-Chromatic Surfacer, Deltron DBC2000 Basecoat, Global Refinish System D8188 Glamor LV Clearcoat and custom mixes.
Fifth place was claimed by a 1959 Rambler American wagon built by Doug Jerger and the talented crew, including painter Moose Graczyk, at Squeeg’s Kustoms, Chandler, Ariz., for Scottsdale-based owner Dean Osland. Graczyk gave the car its root beer and titanium paint job with PPG Deltron DBC2000 Basecoat, DCU2021 Urethane Clear and a custom mix of toners and tints.
Harold Chapman and his team at Customs & Hot Rods of Andice picked up a second honor taking seventh place with a 1949 Cadillac Model 62 convertible owned by Chapman’s wife Tracy. Shop manager Michael Kaiser had expert painter Lance Nelson give the Caddy its lustrous white and blue satin finish with Deltron DBC2000 Basecoat, a special blend of tints and toners and Global Refinish System D8152 Performance + Glamour Clearcoat.
A 1937 Ford Coupe won ninth place. Owned by Dan Wathor of Rio Linda, Calif., and built and painted by Kenny Welch of Kenny’s Rod Shop, Boise, Idaho, the car sported a copperish color achieved with Envirobase High Performance waterborne basecoat, a custom color mix and Deltron DCU2021 Urethane Clear.
Rounding out PPG’s brimming winner’s circle, in tenth place, was a stunning 1938 Alfa Romeo Club Coupe. The car, owned by Bart Bartoni of Modesto, Calif., was built by Ron Crume of Infinity Motorsports, Grants Pass, Ore. Crume also painted the Alfa, giving it a custom two-tone Tuscany Tan and Italian Ivory finish with Deltron DBC2000 Basecoat, DC4000 Velocity Premium Clear and a combination of toners and tints.
For more information about PPG and its automotive refinish products, call (800) 647-6050 or visit the PPG website at www.ppgrefinish.com.
A dazzling 1939 Oldsmobile Series 60 convertible dubbed “Olds Cool,” painted by Charley Hutton using PPG products, captured the inaugural Hot August Nights Cup on August 6 at the recent namesake classic car competition in Reno, Nev. The cup, equivalent to a best-in-show award, is the ultimate prize in the Hot August Nights event—a mix of music, entertainment and classic car show with more than 6,000 vehicles on display—that ran August 2–7.
