Cd, the texture is usually pretty cool- IF it's naturally occurring patina from, say, sitting in an Arizona back yard for 30 years. These kids take perfectly good body panels and strip the paint off. It's a matter of preservation for me. A lot of people talk about certain modifications "ruining" a car- a bad set of wheels, for instance. Purposely rusting parts of your car, though, is
literally ruining it. You will never get that steel back.
Fixer, I've got the old Fleet Farm battery still but another deep cycle would be great (and something that I won't have to worry about during hard cornering). I'll have to look into that.
"Rat look" cannot be forced. It must be unwittingly bred over decades. Some surface finishes are like wine...
One look in the engine bay though shows you this thing is a fabrication masterpiece with metal flake paint and all.
But I digress
