I had Steven delete the previous thread with the HUGE pics from the painters cell phone. I will just post thumbnails. If you click on them, it will take you to my Photobucket album to view a larger copy.

Pics of the progress.

Work started with the VERY, screwed up hood surgery. He's still refining it.

Jamming for paint.

Contrast with Gunmetal firewall.

Instrument panel/dash and tops of doors/quarters are Medium Fawn. Originally Dark Fawn but that color isn't available in modern paint and would be much darker than I want. This color matches the "crushed ice" on the bottom of the door panels better too.

This paint has a small amount of Gold Pearl in it and goes well with the gold fleck in the Aztec Bronze. Stan is quite taken with the color combination ! Can't really see it in the pic, but the contrast looks nice.

That's looking good!  I'm sure in the sun the whole car is going to pop with that color. 

He does work fast! 

  The wait was well worth it.

Stan ran into a wall, when trying to get the interior paint. I spent 4 HOURS at Welle, in Blaine, yesterday, wading thru all this. I need 4 different mixes for the 2 interior colors, as they can't be used on both metal and vinyl...

Then I had to run to his place to get the heater box, to TRY to match the Gunmetal already on that and the firewall. I gave them the WA code, but there are 20 different mix formulas over 5 levels of paint and I had no idea which it was..   Even getting the part there, the spectrometer was only 86% certain and came up with a friggen AUDI mix formula as a match. Who knows if it is until he sprays some and compares. If it's off too far, that's nearly $100 thrown in the wind. This paint business with old cars and codes is extremely frustrating and stressful.

Frustrating on newer cars too.
Multiple variations of same code is the norm.
Paint Manufacturers were at one time given a 10% variance each way, plus different plants were using different brands of product.
Most shops keep their own test panels, plus the factory supplied chips, plus the reader.
Then, mix, spray out, tint and blend.

Feel your pain!

Karl

Stan called last night and he is ready to assemble the car for the last time for paint. I will be going to his place this evening to assist with that, since I took it apart and have a new front end fastener kit here for it.

At the pace this guy works, I may well be bringing it home for assembly by June 8th.

As far as we can tell, he finally got all the interior pieces painted. It's been apart so long, I am having difficulty remembering and he didn't take it apart, so doesn't know... There are still soft parts to paint, but that is a different paint, with flex agent in it, and those will get painted after the body is done.

A/C housings, kick panels, quarter trim ends and dash pad will be painted later with interior paint with flex additive. 2 different products from PPG...

Part of Tuesdays frustration and expense.

Spent a "few" hours with Stan yesterday, getting the inner wheel houses on the fenders and on the car for final alignment and gaps before block sanding. Stan is way more patient and picky about this than me. These cars didn't have close, or even, gaps when new, and he has several hours in getting them as perfect as he can. Glad he doesn't charge by the hour...

More picky about finish work than you? Naaaaaah, you must have found a use for a sledge hammer and pry bar in there somewhere!

That's cool he's letting you lend a hand.  A lot of paint and body guys keep customers out of their jails.

I was going to ask you about his hourly rate, but sounds like he quoted you a flat rate price for the project.  Hopefully it's a 'not to exceed' number.  That's the bad part about hourly rates when issues keep popping up.

He did give a variable flat rate within x to x, but he keeps mumbling things about how this is SO much more work than he thought. I keep reminding him that he came here and looked at it BEFORE he agreed to take it on...

I think he'll stick very close to his top estimate.

Picky ????? Yeah, waaaaay pickier than I would be with gaps that were never this good when new... I thought it looked good a couple times and he insisted on taking the fenders off, again, to move a door up 1/32". Then, when that was perfect, he was unhappy with the difference in the gaps front and rear of the door, so off comes the fender, AGAIN, to move the door back 1/32" and then have to align the fender all over...

Larry Lucast wrote:

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Isn't it fun working with someone so particular?

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 Not really, I have a hard enough time putting up with myself...

As of an hour ago...

It is what it is now...

Cut and buff during the week and I imagine I'll have to find room for it here next weekend.

Has to be pretty exciting after such a long wait. 

It hasn't really hit home yet, just from pictures. I'm sure the feeling will be overwhelming when I see it in person.

Looks fantastic!!

After all your efforts, it should be somewhat emotional!!

Mitch. Is he using a home made booth instead of a professional booth?

It's a 2 car garage, set up with exhaust and intake filters.

Often times you can get a cleaner refinish job with lower air flow and lower air pressure in the spray area.
If the car is very well prepped, blown out, taped with care and the area is well swept, maybe even wetting down floor, outstandingly clean results can be had.

The current booth technology is primarily to protect the painter, this stuff is poison.
Down drafts, high air flow help keep the overspray from the applicator.
Gloves, suits etc. serve a dual purpose of protecting painter and maintaining cleanliness.
Sprinkling systems, explosion proof fixtures, including exhaust and intake all sealed from outside contamination are required in all "legal" commercial applications.

Sloppy prep, poor personal hygiene, dirty equipment, plugged or imbalanced air flow, create havoc regarding ultimate finish quality.

Many "remote" low volume facilities exist which really help the hobbyist to control costs.

The materials are expensive for quality products, but the largest expense is commercial, retail overhead for infrastructure and labor.

I personally am happy that this hobby has some 'outliers" to assist it's participants.

Great comment Chris,
I am off my "soapbox" now.

I think those fenders started out a similar color, in Missouri, on a convertible.

Karl

I'm guessing the Corvette I saw at the Route 65 show was painted in his 'garage' and it was a beautiful paint job.

Lost in the 60s wrote:

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He painted the Yellow '68 Chevelle, that is for sale on here too. 

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*was* for sale. :) It's going to a new home in Becker MN next weekend. 

Derek69SS wrote:

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Lost in the 60s wrote:

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He painted the Yellow '68 Chevelle, that is for sale on here too. 

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*was* for sale. :) It's going to a new home in Becker MN next weekend. 

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 Good deal for someone, that was a very fair price for a nice care.

Looks awesome Mitch!  

Especially the pic taken inside the booth.  It looks overcast for the outside ones, but I'm sure in the sun this color will have some flop to it.

Not sure about the Photobucket site tho...I had to make sure Tina wasn't walking through the room with all the multiple racy pop up ads!  Lol

I've heard the photobucket site is very contaminated. I use Firefox with privacy and have a strong ad blocker, so I don't see any of that.

Did Stephen have his 68 painted by the same guy? I know there is another identical car in town that ive thought was Stephen at several shows but interior is different. The photo on your painters FB page does not look like the same car to me.

Chris R wrote:

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Did Stephen have his 68 painted by the same guy? I know there is another identical car in town that ive thought was Stephen at several shows but interior is different. The photo on your painters FB page does not look like the same car to me.

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 I thought it was the same one...maybe not...

Lost in the 60s wrote:

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Not sure, Kevin. He needs it out of the "paint booth" to paint the hood and deck lid, but I'm hoping he will have a nice day to leave it outside and get them sprayed, so we can put them on for transport. It's 40 miles between us to run back for the other parts later.
I don't have room for it in my shop with the Camaro all in pieces anyway, so the longer I can hold him off, the better chance I have of getting the Camaro together.

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I think he's going to be ready before you are.  

LINK TO STAN's FB PAGE WITH PROGRESS PICS

He has a personal page with even MORE pics. He's rather proud of how this turned out and REALLY likes the color.

It's home, for now. May need to take it back to get the hood and trunk lid installed. He needed it out of the paint booth to paint those parts.

That looks awesome in the sun, and will only get better with some shiny bits bolted to it.

It looks like a deeper red or less bronze than I thought it would, but looking forward to seeing it in person to really tell.

SShink wrote:

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That looks awesome in the sun, and will only get better with some shiny bits bolted to it.

It looks like a deeper red or less bronze than I thought it would, but looking forward to seeing it in person to really tell.

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 It's like chameleon paint. It's not direct sun in this pic. In direct sun, it turns nearly copper.

I have may camera set to the lowest resolution too, and I've noticed pics look different, especially ones taken in the shop. They appear with a green hue from the fluorescent lights now.

Looking greatI will have to stop by sometime this summer to see it in person.  I can stop up and help if you need a extra hand during the month of July.

jim larson wrote:

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Looking greatI will have to stop by sometime this summer to see it in person.  I can stop up and help if you need a extra hand during the month of July.

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 Thanks Jim, I'll keep that in mind.

I'm not particularly pleased with the interior color and had Welle mix up a different Fawn from a 1962 formula. I will pick that up tomorrow morning and try to get a test panel sprayed over the weekend to see which I like better.

I did paint all the headlight pieces and tie bar this morning.

Lost in the 60s wrote:

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SShink wrote:

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That looks awesome in the sun, and will only get better with some shiny bits bolted to it.

It looks like a deeper red or less bronze than I thought it would, but looking forward to seeing it in person to really tell.

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 It's like chameleon paint. It's not direct sun in this pic. In direct sun, it turns nearly copper.

I have may camera set to the lowest resolution too, and I've noticed pics look different, especially ones taken in the shop. They appear with a green hue from the fluorescent lights now.

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 It's nearly impossible to photograph that color!

I got the trunk lid and installed it. Little better pic.

Looks Good Mitch.
Should be very nice when its back together and back on the road.

Looks awesome Mitch. Yep garage paint jobs can turn out nice. Very cool!!