Once you get comfortable with the idea of a somewhat imperfect finish, rattlecanning the car can be quite liberating. You can change up your ride’s look like doing your fingernails. I’ve even seen one demo describing how to get an acceptable automotive finish using the paint and a few layers of clear acrylic.
Camo. Duh!
Oh, and here I thought you liked another color.
Right, that’s what I thought immediately, before knowing it was going to be about paint.
Ditto. I’ve never heard a soul use the phrase before, but spay paint cans rattle when you shake them…
I thought was gonna be about Cougar Town’s
PENNY CAN!
Once you have a good understanding of paint jobs and paint types you can use cans to get an as good or better than factory looking job.
However, even a bad job can actually be more expensive with cans if you already have painting equipment.
10-20 cans @ $6+ ea
Vs
$50 gallon of acrylic enamel that’s better now than the crap they put on at the factory in the 1950s through mid 1980s.
Nope never heard of it. I was thinking of an empty soda can my dad put pennies in to shake at the dog when he misbehaved.
Ditto for me.
Me, too.
I spent a fair amount of time in auto parts stores so I’ve not just heard it but even used it a time or three. Never liked it much but when you are rushing it helps point you to the correct shelf/aisle pretty quickly.
There’s some kind of outfit in San Francisco that does, by request, spray paint murals (in my neighborhood they did one on a wall that was constantly getting tagged, and the taggers then left the wall alone). They are (or were) called “Rattle Can Blasters.” I’d heard the term before that, but it sort of cemented it in my mind.
Never heard that term before but in the context given I would have immediately assumed they meant a spray-can of paint.
I read it online in woodwooding forums, but it’s never a word I would use myself.
Yeah right. Where do you find camo rattle cans? 
Rattle can is a pretty common term around here for spray paint. Also, spray bombs. Especially when you chuck the empties into the campfire. I strongly do not recommend trying this out!
Same with my first hearing of the term decades ago, during Spray Can vs. Air Brush debates. Back then (and maybe now) Rattle can was used in a somewhat derogatory fashion, although over the past years the Rustoleum Painter’s Touch 2x and Krylon sprays really do provide good, smooth finishes (as well as making sure the spray can is warm and well mixed/shaken).
Rustoleum spray primers have become the default for many modelers, because they are good (and a heck of a lot cheaper than Tamiya Fine Surface primer).
I’ve never heard the term but from reading the portion of your post that pops up on hover I knew immediately what it meant.
I would not have gotten it from “rattal can” though; that spelling would have sent me off in some other direction; I would not have realized it was intended to be “rattle”.
Rattal Can. No … Rattal Khan! Most feared vandal of the ancient world!
Not on a Jeep, Beck. That’s a Ford color. Besides, it seems to attract law enforcement.
Right next to the Polka-Dot spray paint.
Photos here: bob smith | Flickr Scroll down towards the bottom
Serious answer: https://aervoe.com/product/military-vehicle-and-recreation-camouflage-paint/ Nice local company
I certainly know the term but because I was a glass collector I called them “Akro cans”.
Dennis
Never in my life heard that term. Sounds so ootsie-cutsie I doubt I’d ever use now that I know what it refers to. But, yeah, it was clear in context.