December 27 and 28, The Paint job

When I arrived at Plaza Ford, they had the strip coat down and it was baking. I really like the stripe color. It would be a nice primary color ! Larry had to use a sealer on the car before the color coat. There were areas that I sanded through the primer exposing the filler and it was giving us some small pin holes in the paint. After the sealer was laid down , Larry sanded the areas and laid down the stripe color.



Sorry, no pix of the tape job for the stripes.

After speaking to Jeff this morning, We were shooting for a delivery on the 29th. ( tomorrow night) then he let me know I might want to stop by this afternoon. It would be worth it.
When I arrived, Jeff was all smiles and now I see why. The paint job was done. All that was left was a buff job to get out some of the "buggers" in the paint. The black is very unforgiving.

You can hardly see the stripe from the side.

The stripe was just what I was looking for. Not real loud but ...NICE!!!.

The stripe will continue down the front valance. Larry had to remove them to paint. They will go back on tomorrow.

Now it is back to Leo's mom's for a long weekend.

December 22, 2010 Paint Colors Selected

Jeff called to let me know the car is ready to be striped and he wanted a second opinion on the stripe color. Everything was tapped off and ready to go.

I could not believe there were literally hundreds of "graphite" shades to pick from. It is hard to see but this one has the most black in it.

All lined up and ready to go

Those were the paint examples sitting on the trunk.

December 21, 2010 Putting the body back together

Short post this morning. Thanks to Tom, Jeremy, Larry and John for their help. The body is back together. Christmas is not realistic.

The parts went together well.
The gaps are more then I hoped but better then before. Can't ask for more then that.


This is the worst side. The driver side is great!

I installed the front Valance and the grill brace so the striping can be in line from the front valance all the way to the rear valance.

May not see her again till after Christmas. Sorry Dee, I tried.

December 20, 2010 The Paint job has begun

I realize she does not look like much now BUT...if you could only see the paint up close.
Thanks to Jeremy we have a incredible color selected. We wanted black. We got awesome. After finding out that my first paint choice would be exponentially more expensive and time consuming, I called Jeremy and told him what I was looking for and he found 2005 GTO Phantom Black Metallic. What a gorgeous color. If it can be laid down properly, It will be incredible. Sorry to all you hard core Ford guys. Remember this is a driver not a show car. I don't believe Denise will ever have the hopes of selling this car as an original. The keys will have to be pried from her cold dead hands.

Jeff had the trunk, doors, hood and rockers all cut in.

Can you see the flake? Very small and subtle until you look up close.

I am so thrilled that I spent all the time I did in the prep work.

I got a tour of the paint booth too. The Headlight buckets and the rear quarter extensions are still on the table.

It looks like GLASS

The fenders are ready to go back on too for the final painting.

This is the front valance. It was amazing. I know I spent hours and hours removing dents and filling and sanding and filling and sanding...It was all worth it.

Jeff was kind enough to do things correctly even though I did not request it. He taped off the factory stickers ( I have the new ones to install) and he coated the underside of the trunk lid and the hood too.

This has the makings of a first class paint job.

Tomorrow is re-assembly day. Then to final paint. Christmas Eve could be very interesting and a very long night.

December 12, 2010 Off to the Paint Shop

The first thing I did when I came back to the garage after Jeff finished the primer coat was to block sand the car...again! I purchased a can of sand able primer and dusted the entire car. We just wanted to use that as a reference so I could see the highs and lows better

It worked like a dream. It was very time consuming.

I did not tape off the bottom of the car very well. I will need to touch up the undercarriage after the final paint and assemble is complete.

This is a beautiful site. It has finally been moved out of the prep garage to the trailer to take it to Plaza Ford for Jeff to work his magic.

Of all the days to pick, I had to pick a night when it was starting to very lightly snow. Thank GOD for Leo and his desire to help. It was about 23 degrees when we started loading the car for the 22 mile trip to Plaza Ford.

This was a fun job

Once at Plaza, we moved all the parts inside to be ready for the finishing touches

She looks all pathetic sitting there. Only a few more days...

I have to always give credit where credit is due. I have been uniquely blessed with great friends. This has been a wonderful collaboration of efforts. It warms me to think about all the hands that have touched this project. Not because of the hope of great riches, just a kind heart and a willingness to help a friend. The newest member to the project family is Jeff Battaglia from Plaza Ford. Jeff is a special man with a servants heart. He has already spent a lot of extra time ( of his own) to get this project done and on time. He now has to juggle this and the normal work that everyone is expecting. That takes a special man to manage a body shop. He is the right man for the job.

December 10, 2010 More Paint Prep and the last Primer Coat

I had no idea that the prep work was so tedious. It has taken hours and hours to prep the car. After you think you have it right, you find imperfections that will show in the end. It does not help that Denise likes the car color to be black. Black takes so much extra time.

I spent time with the car each night this week and last. I hope we are closer. The car is being delivered to Plaza Ford on Monday to start the paint job. I am excited to have a few nights off while it is in their care. Jeff in the body shop is a great guy. He has a servants heart. Something that is rare anymore.

This is the temperature in the garage when I arrived Wed. night.


Thank God for my little friend. This brought the garage up to 70 degrees in about 15 minutes.


I started the evening by finding more spots that need attention before the final coat of primer

I also started on the prep on the rear of the car. The bumper guards were not going to come off easy. The screws were rusted...I know !.... and I can not heat them because of the gas tank.
Maybe we will paint around them.

The front valance was a mess. I banged out many of the dents while at Blair's but there are still big gouges that needed to be filled.

This fender will be the death of me. I spent another hour tiring to make the transition between the old and the new metal go away. It is close.

Another coat of mud before I call it a night

Now it is Thursday night and the majority of the night was spent prepping the door jams. They were a mess.

A lot of folks will not prime the jams especially if they are going to use the same color again. I wanted the jams smooth and I am also going to be shooting a black with a course silver metal flake. That should be in the jams too.

I know this area will be covered but there was some bare metal and I wanted it painted.

Now it is Friday and the help has arrived. Once again I have been saved by a friend from the past, Jeff Boswell was another one of those guys who loved cars when we were in school. The prep and prime steps are so important that I did not want to do them myself. Leo had recommended that I call Jeff because he had been painting cars since we were in school together. Jeff did not only possess the desire to help but a gift at painting cars. It figured that with the time we had and the conditions we were faced with, the best we could hope for would be to prep and prime the car in Brian's garage. Jeff was willing to help with the final primer step and I was blessed. The primer looks great and better still, I learned a lot to help get the best results from the effort.

Jeff was very particular. That really got me excited. He wanted to take pride in his part of this. How cool is that!

I mudded the door again because I wanted the lines to be even closer

Leo was able to get the bumper guards off. That really made the job easier.

The hood was in nice shape. Little more to do here.

The jams are primed

Three coats of primer and 5 1/2 more hours invested.

Tomorrow we do the black primer dusting and the 500 grit sanding. Hopefully Sunday will be a day off and then to the paint shop on Monday.

Thanks for the help guys, you are the best.