With a little engine paint and a steady hand, we took the vintage stove from our 1973 camper from drab to fab in just a few short hours.
We carted around our vintage camper for a good year before we realized it’s brown stove, matching hood and lighting were formerly spray painted to hunter brown. And while I have nothing against hunter brown, it was a serious eye sore in our colorful comic book inspired camper. I was dying to bring it back to the color scheme of it’s past.
After doing some research, and reading a few other blogs on the subject, I settled on purchasing a high-performance engine paint to help the stove withstand high temperatures when cooking. A number of paint styles were recommended from various forums, however DupliColor seemed to stand out promising coverage over 300 degrees, with an enamel finish. While nothing is going to compare to the original kiln cooked paint, I was happy to cover that brown with something a little brighter.
Using a steady hand, and staying about 10 inches away from the surface I slowly coated the top burner portion of the stove. I really took my time in the process to be sure there were no smudges or run lines.
Repeating the process over and over, the top coat finally started to take shape, and luckily there was no breeze in the air to send particles into the final spray.
After finishing the spray painting on all of the surfaces, including the front of the oven, the top surface, the hood and the propane light, we used exactly two cans of paint. In retrospect, I would have liked to have ordered an extra can of paint for any light scratches after the install.
It’s been almost a year since we painted and most of the surface areas have retained their original sheen with exception of some of the areas under the black grates. That area has shown more wear and tear and could use a light freshening. I would suggest removing the black grates on top of the stove when traveling for best long term results.