Think about how often people pick the "cool" choice over the smart one just because it feels more real. I see it with old furniture, old houses, old boots, you name it. Folks get attached to the worn look and forget that wear is a sign of damage, not just charm. Your neighbor's rust is past the point of being a look, it's eating the metal and that only gets worse with time. Slapping clear coat on active rust is like putting a bandaid on a hole in the roof, it hides the problem and traps the moisture in. A proper respray in that original Seacrest Green saves the truck and adds real value, so I'm with you on this one.

Correcting the small thing first: the guy at the laundromat is right about the slow burn but the show is set in Baltimore, not Cleveland. Maybe your folding table buddy was just visiting or you mixed up where it happened. Either way his advice was solid, pushing to episode 8 is the right call and most people I know who quit did it around episode 4 or 5. Season 1 takes its time building the whole world so the payoff later actually lands. Glad you stuck with it, season 3 is where it really grabs you and season 4 is even better.