Yeah, that "patina" look just doesn't move me whatsoever.I saw a very sanitary 1940's Ford truck one time that didn't have a spec of paint left and had surface rust. I am pretty sure the guy cleaned it up somehow and clear coated it. He may have even sanded and etched it first. However he did it; it was quite well done and came out unexpectedly attractive and fitting for an ancient truck. Now I see old tractors and/or trucks setting as yard art and I seem to appreciate the natural rust color better.
I think it was more of a "collector" thing to warrant "originality" as a marker of authenticity to justify worth.
I see anything like that at a car show and I'm completely turned off and won't even acknowledge it.
Sort of what I think of "rap stuff" some call "music". Some, as with auto patina, may call it "artistic" but I am not in that group.
Now as far as the "yard art"; I can appreciate old relics that haven't been touched because it is reminiscent of a long ago story line and not trying to be anything else but a ghost of a long ago existence.
Sort of like finding the petrified bones of a dinosaur.