3 months and $1500 wasted, but she's back safe. My buddy and I will prep it, and hes going to paint it. And we will have fun doing it!
Been there, done that - with my '55 in the early 90s.....except I was stupid enough to listen to excuses for almost a year...
I saw the writing on the wall. Also started asking around and heard horror stories. The whole reason I took it to him was a 1 month turn around. I was very specific that I wanted a driver quality paint job. I intend to drive and race this car, not building a show car. I'm putting a lot of original parts back on it. I'm a weekend warrior, it was going to take me months. And well, here I am.
Man, I hate to hear these stories of body shops. Back when I was painting, I took in several jobs after the owners had been screwed over by the previous shops.
I try to stay upwind. However there was that time with the hatcheck girl, the can of whipped cream, and the Fez… but I’m much better now
You got your car back, time to move on. I pulled my Chevy out of 3 different body shops due to being strung along. Ended up doing it in my own shop.
Just be happy you got it out in time. I did the bodywork and paint on my own car and it still took over 10 years to finish!
Thankfully I have experience doing prep work. I worked in the paint shops at Roush and Saleen for many years. I have a friend who's a painter. I am going to block it with his help, and he is going to squirt it. Black gloss on the dash and semi-gloss black on the firewall. We're going to exterior white with a subtle gl*** flake for fun. Like I said we can do it, I was just trying to hire someone to do it full time and bang it out. It's ok, just going to take me a lot longer.
I'm ready for paint. Painter wont be back in town for a while, so I am on the schedule for May 2nd. After that its hammer down on ***embly. I'd like to have the car done by end of summer. We welded up the holes for the belt line trim. Also the holes for the Bel Air logo's. I'm going to run 210 lower molding. No one makes it anymore, and Ive had trouble with locating it. I figure down the road I can always drill the holes and add it when I finish collecting all the parts.
I know, freaking scary. Good news is my painter is a good friend of mine. Just trying to make the best of what I have, and get it on the road. I plan on keeping this car until I croak so I'm sure I'll keep soaking money into it, and it will evolve.
Thanks! I'll get it wheeled outside and get some photos in the sun. Next weekend we are painting the dash and interior trim rings black, then its off to ***embly.
Well, she's home from paint. Now the real fun can begin! She's not perfect - my goal was never a show car. It's way nicer than even I expected though, I almost feel bad putting the original trim and what not back on it. lol My buddy is a really good painter and he did a nice job. If I can get enough help from some buddies I *think* the Woodward dream cruise might be a possibility with it running and driving. That's 3 months from now.
Thanks guys! Got the front and rear gl*** in yesterday. Rear is original. Front is new. I put 150 seals in it - I don't have all the 210 window trim yet. So to get me rolling this will do, for now. Picked up a torque convertor last night, ordering the flex plate today and then I can drop in the motor and trans. Yes, it's an automatic. I know, I know. But this is only the first iteration.
Looks great. Body shop prison has been the death of many projects. Glad you cut your losses and moved ahead.
Yeah, saw the writing on the wall. I know so many people with projects where body shop jail and the pursuit of perfection meant the project never came to fruition. We didn't spend the time to make the body work perfect, and that's ok. I'm not trying to win awards, I'm not even trying to get compliments. I just want a fun old hot rod that makes me happy and I can say I built from scratch to drive for the next 40 years. I've spent the last week buying a lot of parts, researching, replacing what went missing, prepping and painting parts to ***emble. I haven't gotten much done on physically on the body but a lot on the side. I wish I could find an original emblem. I had to buy a repop. I'll find an org eventually. I need to get the weather stripping on the trunk and get it lined up next. Some paint chipped moving it, we are going to touch it up once I have it lined up.
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