Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

Thinking about a new paint job. Part Two.

Those were the Days!

Adventures in "Cheap Paint!"

The best option is to preserve what you have. Sometimes though, you would like to jump start the appeal of your car with some new color.

Ol'  Earl, gone but not forgotten.

I have had some experience with "budget" repaints in the not too distant past. I've even dealt with Ol' Earl myself

I've repeatedly written that I had been stuck in the "if I can't have the job done right, than I won't do it at all!" mind set. For the most part during all my automotive life I've only had a few cars with paint that looked really bad.

What changed my mind was when my Brother in Law had his old 4x4 Chevy truck painted at a local production paint shop. He had found an old coupon that they honored because it didn't have an expiration date! It was just a cheap basic white respray, but it tied all the previously differed colored body parts into a somewhat orange peeled cohesive whole.

I'm not talking about Chip Foose quality but it made quite an improvement in the appearance of the truck. This really made a lasting impression on me.

My first repaint experiences were with spray cans and motorcycles.

There was a definite learning curve but after three of four bikes the results were more than satisfactory. My last two paint jobs on my Sportster came out quite well.  I decided to paint my Sportster in a two tone red and white finish like a '57 model. Careful prep, sanding and application gave professional results. My last paint job was a charcoal metallic lacquer finish with clear coat.  I wet sanded and rubbed out the finish, and it came out fantastic. I added some stick on black and grey pinstripes and it looked as good as a pro job.

One thing I learned from this experience. If someone is checking out your bike and comments on how good the paint looks, don't tell them that you did it with a spray can. Just tell them one of your Buddies is a painter and did it as a favor. If you tell them that you did it with a spray bomb they'll start picking it apart looking for imperfections. I had a well known local custom painter paint my Sportster the first time and even that job wasn't perfect!

Could you paint and entire car with spray cans?

Yes you could. Prep is the same for any paint. Lacquer is the easiest to shoot because any runs, sags, bugs, dirt etc. can be sanded out and touched up easily. Getting consistent  paint coverage would be the problem, as well as the problem of the cans all matching each other, color wise. Spray bomb primer jobs are pretty popular. It's easy to blend the different ares into each other with final sanding.

How long would the paint hold up before it started to fade? That would be the biggest variable. Old cars are often parked at the curb or driveway. They would be exposed to a lot of sun and environmental damage such as tree sap and bird crap. Financially would it be viable?

I've used Rustoleum 2X paint with primer spray successfully on several projects. It sells at Walmart for about four dollars a can.

Doing some quick guesstimates, I'll figure at least five cans per side and another eleven for the roof, hood and trunk. That's a total of twenty one cans. Not counting door jambs and trunk. At four bucks a can that's only 84.00 even with tax that should be less than 100.00. Double that for two coats. Of course incidentals like sandpaper, masking tape, respirator masks, and whatever would add a bit. I'm just throwing out numbers, it might take twice that much for one coat depending on the car. You could just paint  a couple of panels at one time, masking off the rest of the car to protect it from overspray.  This would also alleviate the fatigue that would be sure to set in. Believe me, your trigger finger will get tired! Once you learn how to lay it down wet enough to shine, but dry enough not to run and sag, you'll have it made. You could do it in a weekend.

Depending on where you live it might not be legal to spray your car by any means at home. Of course spray paint is legal to buy and use, however, sometimes painting cars is specifically excluded. Although most cities will let you spray file cabinets and gym lockers. Of course you can spray houses and fences, but you're using latex, which does not have that aromatic quality. As long as your neighbors are cool with it, I think you could spray bomb at least one car a year.  Maybe. It could be like painting forty gym lockers!

I've seen several videos on this subject and I'll offer the same advice I offered earlier. If you paint it with spray bombs just tell people that you got the cheapest level job at Maaco, they'll believe you!

So much for that.

I'm not going to open up the can of worms of using actual spray equipment to spray your car at home. Years ago it was done routinely in garages, driveways, and even backyards. Lacquer or enamel. The modern catalyzed paints are extremely TOXIC!!!!! They should never be sprayed outside of an actual paint booth. The proper safety equipment has to be used by the painter. One single exposure to the fumes or the absorption of the materials through the skin can result in serious long lasting damage to your body. You could be liable for damages and injuries sustained by your neighbors or other third parties.  Do not attempt it. Just let a shop do it.

My experience with production paint shops has been pretty positive.

The term "production paint shops"  is the name you can apply to those low buck, crank 'em out, paint over the spiders,  franchise chain outfits. Earl Scheib and Maaco are two local names that come to mind, though Ol' Earl is now long gone.

My '66 Ford F250 was the first victim, uh prospect.

When I bought this truck I knew that the paint was old and faded but the body was straight
with only a couple of small dings (which I wasn't planning on filling ) and minor rusty spots that I was just going to paint over with POR15.

The truck had been a U Haul service truck in a previous life and it was still a faded orange red color over white. My Wife didn't like the two tone as much as I did. I assured her that the truck would only spend one week in our drive way in that state.

I prepped the truck by cleaning, stripping some of the nameplates, headlight rings, and front bumper. I used compressed air to blow out the dirt under the hood and under the fenders. This is important because the spray gun will blow out the dirt into the air and into your paint job. You'll be surprised by how much dirt is hiding under the hood! I then  painted over the rust spots.  There was a side spear molding that  knew I wasn't going to able to remove without damaging it. So I just taped it off carefully before I dropped it off at the shop. Three days later I picked it up. I had chosen Viper red as the body color and the bed was sprayed with Earl's own black bed coating. Once I took it home I spray canned the rear bumper matte black and reattached the bits and pieces. I had polished all the chrome bits and the front bumper and resprayed the white wheels.

The paint was glossy bright red. It looked pretty nice to me, especially in contrast with the black bed. It was just an exterior respray but the door jambs and interior still looked red enough.

Come on! That's a good looking truck!

I think the total bill was under 700.00 dollars. The bed spray was a bill.

Believe it or not, I found that white door trim panel and frowning
zippered pocket at Pick and Pull.
As you can see, the interior door frame looks like a match.

My second experience with Earl was with the '97 Acura CL that I had bought for my Son after high school.  He had gotten into a wreck and damaged the front end. I let him drive it like that for a while.  I  even hooked up some new front turn signals since the bumper cover was missing. The hood was buckled and so was the right front fender. The car had been lowered and I knew that it was just going to be a cop magnet in that condition. Getting stopped a lot is not going to end well, so being the soft touch that I am, I bought my Son a really nice three year old Acura TSX. It was the most second most expensive car that I have ever bought. I'm an indulgent Dad, so what. Like I told my Wife, he doesn't need a nice car when he's forty, he needs it now! He still has that car. Anyway, the old Acura CL was now mine!

I had been looking for replacement parts for the CL at Pick and Pull and on Craig's List. There was some parts offered up on CL while my Son still had the car down south at school with him, so I passed at the time.

Once I had the CL back at home I just parked it. You didn't think that I was going to drive it in that condition, did you?

I was keeping an eye out for replacement panels but they just weren't there.

Six months later the earlier parts offering was repeated on CL. I've done the same thing relisting items that hadn't sold earlier, so I had secretly hoped that would happen. This time I responded and bought the parts from a tuner shop in Redwood City. I brought them home, straightened out the underlying supporting parts and bolted them on. A little more tweaking and they looked pretty good. The "shut lines" were as good as they were going to get. Except that the body parts  were glossy black, while the rest of the car was a metallic gray.

Another trip to Earl and the hood, fender, and bumper were now a very close match to the original paint. I wish that I had taken some pictures of the car. Now it didn't look like a wreck and I enjoyed driving it. Especially after I switched  out the lowering springs. I had offered them on CL as a straight across trade for stock springs, and some kid made the deal. It was a win - win in my eyes.

I kept the CL for a year or so, until I got the urge to have another big old Detroit cruiser. Actually Flint Michigan, as it was a '66 Buick Riviera.  That's another story that I'll share at a later date.

The point is that it was better to fix the damage and match the paint, than to drive around in a wreck. It wasn't done perfectly, but it was done cheaply. And the main point is that it was done. I don't remember the actual amount but I think it was under four hundred dollars to do the panels.

The third times the charm.

I'd had so much success with Earl Scheib that I thought that I would do it all again.

This time I thought that I would find a good car, cheap. Fix what it needed, have it painted, and flip it like the pros! Gas Monkey's got nothing on me!

Since I was in my Datsun business at this time, what better than an early Z? I found a '72 240Z at a tow yard. It started up and looked good. On the downside it was equipped with an automatic transmission. It was straight, with only a little rust in the dog legs and left rear wheel arch. The hood had been backed up into and the peak was flattened but I could handle that. The paint was a very faded silver, but that wasn't of importance.

I'll digress and discuss my plans for world domination or at least my attempt to corner the beat Z market.  I did make some mistakes, learn from them.

I had thought for a while that I might buy Zs that needed work, and with my stash of parts and free labor I might be able to fix, flip, and profit. It wasn't to be.

First off there were some hidden fees that had to be paid. Even though it was out of the DMV system they found two previous uncompleted transfers. They charged me for the incomplete transfer fees, then they charged me for the penalties on the last three years. Then add in new registration and use fees.  So much for a bargain transfer. Well at least there wasn't going to be any smog test fees.

The system works. In my case long range durability is unknown.

I did all the body repairs using some patch panels and Eastwood's rivet and glue system of attachment. I used POR putty to repair the damaged wheel arch and painted all the repairs inside and out with POR paint.  I fixed the hood by pulling out the dent with a slide hammer, then used bondo to smooth things out. I used a few cans of spray primer, did some sanding and delivered it to Earl Scheib for a new coat of vivid blue paint, Viper blue. It was a nice color with metallic elements. The original color had been silver with a black interior. I slipped on a used set of sheepskin seat covers and it was done.

Wouldn't you know it, the paint was laid on very smooth and glossy. Even the body repairs looked good. It was a great color choice. I eagerly listed it on Craig's List. The market wasn't paying much for old Zs at this time, 510s were actually more in demand. I finally did manage to sell it and wonder of wonders, I managed to break even. How come this doesn't happen on TV?

So much for flipping.

Well, at least I was satisfied with the paint job!

This just leaves my '70 Mustang to discuss. I have covered this in detail in previous posts. I did the prep work, stripping all the bits and pieces. I sanded and filled some of the dents with bondo. I had bought the car painted in two tone primer, blue and dark gray. I did some more sanding and sprayed the areas with rattle can primer, mixing brands when the auto store ran out of the brand I was using. This is a definite no-no.


This is a series of before painting pictures. I'd done the prep work the best that I could or at least wanted to!

Not the different color primers.

One of the nice things about the paint shop that I used was that they had a wide selection of standard colors and could match any factory or custom color. I wanted a Bullitt Mustang so I had them paint it Highland green.  It came out pretty good. I later used some Duplicolor spray cans to paint the door jambs. You can read my posts where I built the custom front and rear grilles.

Overall, I was quite happy with the job. It was smooth and shiny. But it couldn't hide the sins of it's past. Certain patches and lines became visible under the new paint that hadn't been visible under it's splotches of primer. The shop person told me that when a car comes in with so many different types of paint, bondo, and rattle can primer, there's no telling what will happen when the final paint is sprayed on. That's why I chose to have them lay down an all over base coat as a primer coat, to help blend in the different areas. It appears to have helped.  Overall, a ten footer!

Now these are the pictures of how it looked when I picked it up.

You can see how shiny the paint is.

It stayed shiny during the two years that I had it.

I kept it waxed and under a cover. That really helps.
Now tell me why I sold this car!

You also have to curb your expectations. This was my fourth production shop paint job. This particular shop appears to do better quality work than Ol' Earl, but they aren't magicians. Still my experience was good enough to have me consider a repaint of my '96 Mustang.

I like it in red, but I would love it in Highland green. Could the shop do a color change? They advertise that they specialize in it. I even went by the shop to discuss it. More about that in a future post.