Anyone in the Midwest paint cars?

[Whut]

I am looking for someone that knows Grand Nationals and can re-paint mine. It has the original paint still and is cracked and orange peeled all over the place. I would love to get it painted and am looking for any estimates. I have close up pictures of the cracks and stuff if your interested.

Thanks!

 

[jdpolzin]

I've got a great painter in need of some cash who's painting my car right now at is shop. I wish you were a little closer because he'd be a good one!!! -----Jeremy

 

[Whut]

I would be willing to take it to Iowa if the price was right. If he cant strip the car I would have it done up here and then drive it down bare metal to Iowa. This would have to be done in the spring though so I dont wash the bare metal with salt water.

 

[jdpolzin]

Now thats dedication!! I will talk to him for ya. Is the car checked on the sides? Does it have any rust? Dents? I have a place local that was going to media blast my whole car for $425. That is only the outside, not the door jams, under the trunk, under the hood, etc. Say if you are willing to bring the car down here for paint, you should come down for next years meet!!! Really good time this year!! The guy who is painting my car used to have a really nice body shop but decided to just do it on the side and not have all of the hassles of ownership. He now works for my good friend Tony (ONEFASTGN) at Elliot Aviation painting plains. Do you not no any painters up the in MN? Sometimes its hard if you dont have connections. ----Jeremy

 

[Whut]

I know one guy that owns a body shop and can do show quality jobs. The problem is he doesnt want to do old muscle anymore, its all about money and insurance companies pay him dearly for his work so stuff like the GN would sit in a corner for five months.

The length of time doesnt bother me, heck, he could keep it from November to May as far as I am concerned. Whats messed up is that he would still charge me $5,000+ for a complete strip and paint and take that long because its still a "side job" to him.

I have been going to different car shows and stuff around here and it just seems there really isnt any restoration shops around here and if there are then I dont know about them. Its not just about money, but hey if I can get it done cheaper but still nice why not? I gave up on shops and went looking for new painters that wanted to get some work under them to show off or use for advertisement for their business. I had a few people that acted more than interested in working on my car but none of them followed through. Its like when winter hits, everything car related (not accident related) goes into hibernation which sucks for me because I would love to have my car painted in the winter so I can have it in the summer.

The car has been checked and there is a small amount of surface rust in the passenger door jam. Its nothing really, in fact I had a detail shop offer to sand it out and use touch up paint on it. I declined this because it would just make me want to get it painted even more. There are a couple of dents from morons in parking lots but I am not looking for a perfect job. I just want it all one color and smooth for a while. I contemplated just taking it to Maaco but they would just paint over the laquer which would lead to the new paint cracking and me wasting a thousand dollars that I could have put toward a good paint job to begin with.

If you wouldnt mind asking your buddy what he would charge I would appreciate it. If you need pictures I have tons of them. If he would like to see how bad the paint is I can send you some of the close ups I took that I wont put on my site because they are just that bad.

That media blast sounds like what I can get up here. I wouldnt mind if they didnt do under the trunk, I could keep my RPO sticker intact. I could sand out the rust in the door jam and remove all the plastic and trim and stuff. I smashed my first TR and with the limited funds I had it was up to me to take it all a part before bringing it to the body shop to get put back together.

 

[jdpolzin]

Sounds very similar to my situation. My car was checked on the roof, hood, and trunk lid pretty badly. What we are doing is, sanding out the checked areas (basically the whole top of the car), doing a small amount of sanding on the sides, and then painting over the old paint. As long as the old paint isn't checked, you can paint over it. The only problem is that you can't paint over laquer with base/clear. So, we are doing it just like GM did, single stage laquer!! I am also taking all of the trim pieces, etc, of the car and putting them all back on to try to save on some dough!! The guy painting my car, Pat, is a really nice guy. He lets me hang in the shop and use his tools, even when he's not there!! If you want, send me some detailed pics and I'll ask him about it. As far as time lengths go, he likes to do a good job and get it out of the shop so he doesn't have to think about it!! Therefore, it wouldn't be one of those PUT IT IN THE CORNER FOR NOW situations! After he is done with my car, he will be doing some minor touch-ups for my friends truck. After that, I'm sure it's fare game if you are willing to come down here with it!! jdpolzin@yahoo.com -----Jeremy

 

[2GNS4ME]

Jeremy


Send me some pics of your car when it is done if you dont mind. I am interested in getting my car painted hopefully this year. My sister lives in Davenport so it would not be a big deal for me to drive down.

What kind of paint is he using on your car and how many coats?
How many coats of clear?

My car would probably need to be stripped since the car was painted before (not sure what kind of paint) and have lil surface rust on quarter panel.

Any info would greatly be appreciated.

Do you have any pics of his previous work and what is ballpark paint price is?

 

[Whut]

Sounds very similar to my situation. My car was checked on the roof, hood, and trunk lid pretty badly. What we are doing is, sanding out the checked areas (basically the whole top of the car), doing a small amount of sanding on the sides, and then painting over the old paint. As long as the old paint isn't checked, you can paint over it. The only problem is that you can't paint over laquer with base/clear. So, we are doing it just like GM did, single stage laquer!! I am also taking all of the trim pieces, etc, of the car and putting them all back on to try to save on some dough!! The guy painting my car, Pat, is a really nice guy. He lets me hang in the shop and use his tools, even when he's not there!! If you want, send me some detailed pics and I'll ask him about it. As far as time lengths go, he likes to do a good job and get it out of the shop so he doesn't have to think about it!! Therefore, it wouldn't be one of those PUT IT IN THE CORNER FOR NOW situations! After he is done with my car, he will be doing some minor touch-ups for my friends truck. After that, I'm sure it's fare game if you are willing to come down here with it!! jdpolzin@yahoo.com -----Jeremy

Whoa, I didnt see this post. I will send you some pictures of the car. I might be taking it out of the garage today and get it washed, the dust makes it look ok up close. After its washed I will take some close up shots of the roof, trunk, and hood. I will most likely be in the same boat as you, the sides are orange peeled but not cracked so painting over sides shouldnt be a problem. I would also help him with anything he didnt want to do to save some money and get some experience.

 

[Whut]

Ok, I sent you an email. Thanks again for offering to talk to your friend. Hopefully he will be willing to bring my GN back to a nice shiney look from any distance.

 

[jdpolzin]

Pat is using a single stage paint on my car, same as original. The reason for the single stage is simple. Why paint a car black and then clear it. The clear scratches white and can be obviously seen as compaired to a single stage that if it does get scratched, it can most of the time be wheeled out. I'm not sure how many coats of paint he's applying but it will be enough that it will be able to be wet sanded and wheeled without burning through the paint. This is a topic that I have been asking opinions about because I have always heard that the old laquer should be completely stripped before repainting. I talked to about 7 painters and everyone of them said that if the spiderwebbing is sanded out and the rest is lightly sanded, laquer is a great base to start with as long as you are repainting with laquer. You are not supposed to do dual stage(base/clear) over laquer because the sealant wont dry at the same time and causes fish scales. You will notice that on a lot of repaints because people want the job done cheap instead of correct! If it's done right the first time, it should either be stripped and base/cleared or sanded, sealed and single staged! I will post some pics when it's finished. Abe, I gave Pat your number so he should be calling you soon. 2GNS4ME, Pat is definately interested in doing more paint jobs on the side so I'll tell him you may have another for him! send me some pics and a phone number. Abe will be first in line and he doesn't do more than one car at a time but I'm sure he'll do it for ya!! -----Jeremy

 

[jdpolzin]

Well, guys, this whole time I have been saying that I was having the car painted in laquer and actually it's being painted in Urethane. I guess urethane is much more durable than laquer!! He is supposed to spray it this weekend!! The car was exceptionally straight to start from, there were only the factory imperfections that needed to be straightened! Example, above the drip rail above the doors where the factory stamped the roof always have waves and on the bottom sides of the doors usually have some waves also. I can't wait till it's complete!! Hopefully I'll have another one for him to paint this year yet!!! If anybody else is interested in having their car painted, let me know! Pat is a good guy and does excellent work so I'd like hook him up as much as I can!! -----Jeremy

P.S. Whut, did you send him those pictures yet? Any new news?

 

[Whut]

Yep, he saw the pictures and was pretty close to the offers I am getting up here. We talked a bit and I told him what my budget was and he figured a way to get me down to that.

All would be good if it werent for Murpheys law. I now have to replace the clutch in my Mazda which is sapping the money I would have had to get the car painted.

I got his number and will call him when I am ready.

Thanks for the connection.