woohoo... took the car to the painter last friday !

"kb3" said:

"Horseplay" said:

"68EFIvert" said:

It seems like the good ones do run a little later than expected.

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I don't get it. The only reason one would run behind is if 1.) unforeseen issues extended a project, 2.) the painter isn't experienced enough to know the time needed on work he books...or 3.)they simply book more than they can handle so they never run out of work. With the exception of excuse number one I have a big problem with it.

Even number one should never be more than a week or two. Say they find some unexpected hidden damage that needs repair. How long does it take a real shop to get the part(s) in and do the repair?

I find it crazy people just accept weeks and then months of delays. You don't do it when your central air goes out. Or your roof is leaking. Hell, if you were taking a car in for service and they told you it would be done tomorrow would you be OK if they called and told you it would now take 3, 4 or more days? Hell no!

I just do not understand guys letting painters hold their cars hostage. I just don't. Especially when paying the type of price one does for a paint job. It's not like these guys aren't being PAID. Dollar for dollar they make more than any other trade work on a car by a LONG, LONG way. I just don't get it.

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Terry,

I am a little unclear here....do you get it or not? :whis

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Help me, Ken. I'm so confused.

"kb3" said:

Terry,

I am a little unclear here....do you get it or not? :whis

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From what I hear...he doesn't.

What I don't understand is why doesn't everyone paint the car themselves? It's not rocket surgery.

The unforseen issue of the painter taking on more than his knowledge and experience could handle therefore booking a bunch of simple jobs to ensure he has a paycheck has caused your car to be held for a slightly extended time.....thanks for paying in advance.

It is hard to pull a vehicle from one shop to another because shops will not warranty the work they did not do....which usually kills the entire job based on the fact that the basic body work is done first. I did just that in Az back several years...from one shop to his brother....they still had issues with warranty on the prior work.

"msell66" said:

What I don't understand is why doesn't everyone paint the car themselves? It's not rocket surgery.

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It's not that it is so difficult (although I am sure the majority of people think it is) as it is a very intensive and time consuming process that does require quite a bit of work and equipment that many don't have. Plus, your paint job and my paint job may look good or even great, I doubt either would win any paint awards. OK, I know yours wouldn't. :whi :hide

Some people may want that high dollar pro-paint look and power to them. I just don't understand why if you are paying for that work you would let yourself be strung along is all. But Ken is going to help me figure it out.

"Horseplay" said:

"msell66" said:

What I don't understand is why doesn't everyone paint the car themselves? It's not rocket surgery.

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It's not that it is so difficult (although I am sure the majority of people think it is) as it is a very intensive and time consuming process that does require quite a bit of work and equipment that many don't have. Plus, your paint job and my paint job may look good or even great, I doubt either would win any paint awards. OK, I know yours wouldn't. :whi :hide

Some people may want that high dollar pro-paint look and power to them. I just don't understand why if you are paying for that work you would let yourself be strung along is all. But Ken is going to help me figure it out.

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you must have me confused with someone that actually knows something!

I agree that there is no reason we should allow painters to hold us out the way they do. There is no other service industry that we would find this manner of operation to be acceptable, but for the paint gods, we bow down. The fastback took 5 months start to finish, which was about 3 months too long in my mind.

I am not the least bit interested in all the sanding and blocking work, but I would try my hand at the actual spraying sometime....maybe.

in my case there were several factors involved, some beyond the painters control and some within it. sometimes, it's the devil you know vs the devil you don't. I had a truck painted a couple years ago and ended up pulling it out of one shop and moving it to another... cost me time and $$ to do that, and no warranty on the 2nd shops work because they didn't know what was under it, but it was a truck I needed for my business and I had a window to get it painted and shop #1 wasn't getting it done. I wanted to avoid that hassle if I could, even if that meant delaying my mustang by 1-2 months. this is a fun car for me and I am not on a strict time schedule with it, so I decided I could live with the delays.

I have painted a couple cars in my younger days, I maybe could have painted this one, but a) I was after a better job than I did in the past, and b) I don't have the space to do it any more.

I am in MD. This state sucks. Legislation last year outlawing solvent paints forcing all shops to go to waterborne paint just about killed all the small shops that cater to jobs like this because of the expense of converting their booths and other equip to spray waterborne was unrealistic. the larger shops in the area don't mess with bigger projects like this, all they want are the insurance jobs that are quick in/out to keep their cashflow going. so finding another painter is not quite as simple as it seems on the surface. my brother got his mustang painted by someone and while he was happy with it I thought it sucked, so I want to KNOW who is doing the work on my car.

at any rate, this is where I am now, and the car is getting worked on, and as Phil on duck dynasty would say, I am 'happy happy happy'...lol.

edited to add:
trust me, after all this car and I have been thru over the last 40 years, a couple month delay in paint is nothing. Fire, death, destruction have all played a part in trying to bring this car back to life... so I can deal with a little paint delay.

finally... PRIMER ! couple rounds of blocking, supposed to be jamming it maybe by Friday and getting color on the rest of it next week.

I know it's taking way too long ,but color went on the car today. I view this as a big step. bits and pieces left to paint plus the pinstripe separating the 2 tone but it's a lot closer.

Looks great so far

That looks sharp!

Looks amazing

Looking good.

finally got up to the painters yesterday to see the car in person. I was out of town on business for a month and he was sending me progress pics. looks better in person to me. he spent 4 days blocking the car sighting down the length it's perfect. right now it has 3 coats of intermediate clear on it, he will da the car today and prep it for the burnt orange. he and I worked out the last details on the orange pinstripe/accents and he plans to spray those tomorrow. since it's a restomod I had no limitations on what colors I used.. sides are ford mineral gray, horizontal surfaces are GM carbon black metallic. orange pinstripe/accents are a Nissan burnt orange metallic. it'll have an R nose on it.

my dad brought this car home when I was in the 10th grade (1972) and it was basket case then. he and I rebuilt it using the skills we had (sheetmetal, pop rivets, roofing tar and a gallon of bondo) and we painted it in the driveway. I ran it like that for 20+ years. rust was finally so bad on it that I pulled it off the road. I have to admit I thought the car was beyond saving, but thankfully I was wrong. I will always be upside down financially on the car but this isn't about the $ as I never plan to get rid of it. this is about father/son memories and will pass it on to my kids when the time comes. dad is 84 now and still very active and he and I will work on putting this thing back together over this winter.


stance is still too high but will see how it settles when all the weight is back on it. still have a long way to go on it but at least it's starting to look like a car again.

WOW!!


Mark

Sent from my semi-smart phone

This is one case where it looks like the wait might have been worth it. That looks really nice. The paint scheme is a nice combination.

ok last pic I promise (well maybe one more tomorrow if he backs it out in the sun for a pic). orange and clear are done. flames were controversial, but I am a flame guy to the bitter end so had to get them on the car somewhere and since it was my car I won out. time will tell if I screwed up including them or not I guess. he's got a couple misc pieces still to paint but I should be able to pick it up by end of next week and then the fun begins as it slowly starts to go back together after 6 years.

That kicks ass!

Love the color combo and even flames most times but...it's your car as long as you love it so be it. Overall it turned out great!

I am not a two-tone fan....but those colors go very well together and it should be a sharp car when finished. Nice job, I bet the long, long struggle with paint now finally feels like it paid off!