Last night I finished painting my '79 Spitfire!!!!!!! Not bad for a job
that was started almost 2 years ago in florida, before I moved to Ohio.
AFter moving and putting the car in storage, I finally found a location to
finish painting and the time and other required elements to finish it (read
$$). BTW, I could not of done this without the incredible help and
assistance from Fred Thomas. WooHooo Fred.
So Saturday, I hope to reassemble the car ( painted most everything off the
car). And driving it back to Columbus, Oh. Is is currently about 2 hours
away.
What was once Vermillion Red, is now British Racing Green (what else)
It will take me a couple months to finish everything on the car, so it
should be ready to drive just in time for the Ohio winter.
Here are keypoints of knowlege that I have learned over the course of the
adventure.
1.) high quality paint is expensive - I easily spent over $1000 in paint.
2.) Basecoat/Clearcoat is much better than singe stage paint, but is much
more expensive, time intensive, and harder to touch up.
3.) A do it yourselfer can do just as good as a professional shop, if they
are careful and meticulous. (please read all other points before starting)
4.) You need OUTSTANDING lighting to paint a car (which I did not have)
5.) You need a very clean environment. (my bonnet learned what fly paper
felt like last night)
6.) It will take you 100 times longer than the guy at the body shop.
7.) You cannot paint a car cheaply! Cheap paint jobs are just that.
8.) A do it yourselfer will use more paint than a professional.
(consequently, spend more)
9.) Painting your own car is probably not really worth the head ache. Yes
you can do it, but after doing it you wonder why you tried.
10.) I now understand, and will gladly pay $3000 for a good paint job. No
questions asked.
The car is done, and once I move it to better light I will see how well it
went. I know of some areas that aren't so great, and a couple of runs.
Most of this should be cleaned up with wet sanding and rubbing/polishing
compounds. That we will see in the next few weeks.
But in the meantime my car is that much closer.
Patrick Bowen
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