yeah i agree with Wrongway, removing all the trim, in itself will save money and you know how it comes off without damage too !!

with my girl, i intend to give it to my paint mate, prepped, primed and ready for top coats, he is happy to supply me with the primer which gives me the job of prep and detail.

Edited March 29, 20233 yr by 64 kiwi boni

I've gotta 4ft sanding block your welcome to barrow bro. You justa gotta come and get it. 

Haha 

And I have 2 cans of elbow grease here you can have 

Edited March 29, 20233 yr by 64 kiwi boni

Fitzy is so lucky to have us in his corner! 

hahahaha recon !

Wrongway, i am kinda pleased we live millions of miles away ! other wise Fitzy would have us sanding his beast !!

Yes he would. I'd rather watch him sand while we drink all his beer!

16 minutes ago, Wrongway said:

Yes he would. I'd rather watch him sand while we drink all his beer!

Mate !!  That’s the best plan !!! 

That's kinda a short term solution - if the beer gets drunk, then the car doesn't get painted. Much better to EARN those beers by sanding your fingers away to stumps. In all seriousness, I was only going to key the existing top coat. I figure the factory paint has been there for so long and hasn't come off yet, with correct prep, it'll accept a primer and a coupla top coats. It doesn't have to be the ducks nuts - just nice looking and fairly durable.

What about vinyl wrapping? Any thoughts?

If there done right, there's nothing wrong with a wrap Fitzy and you always have the option of pulling it off and rewrapping it or painting it another color. I'm justa not a huge fan of them. I like looking at the paint on classic cars and seeing how its aging. Thats justa me brother but wrapping will also save you some money. Youre still looking at doing her the factory red? (with metal flake )

i had my local shop price wrap for my bumpers, it was 1200 bucks justA for them!!! it would be interesting to know how much for a WHOLE wide tracker !!!

You would not get the nice shine that a paint job gives too! 

Very true.

Yes, it was only a passing thought. Whenever anyone sees the car, they love it's patina. I thought perhaps wrapping over the old paint would enable me to keep the patina, thereby giving me the best of both worlds. But, as Wrongway pointed out, wrapped cars never look right. There is no substitute for nice paint. I need to stop bollocking about and get a damn paint job. Once it's done, it's done.

yeah !!!!  get hair cut and get real paint job !!! as george would say !!!

At the Chrome and Ice show in February, I asked a local automotive wrap company how much to measure, design, and install a wrap on my 1994 Buick Roadmaster. It's a huge white whale and I've had an idea about doing some sort of retro scheme as a tribute to the old 70s Buick Indy Pace cars.

He quoted me a price of around $2500 for the whole deal. It takes about a week to measure the car and design the graphics. One or two days to install the wrap.

I do like Wrongway's solution for Fitzy, show up, supervisor, and drink his beer and eat his pizza. Work fascinates me, I could watch it for hours!

 

I'm with Frosty, I can supervise the sh*t out of a job  That said, if you were doing something like Frosty is talking about, I could see going with a wrap. The graphics involved in any off those 3 or something along those lines would cost way more than the $2500 he was quoted. Honestly bro, justa my paint, not including primer, clear, reducers or anything else is more than the price of Frosty's wrap. But again, you're going with a one color paint job and you're doing all the prep. You're going to save a lot of money and she'll look awesome bro. I can't wait to see her!!!

Just got back from 8 days on the Rock, so am now once again catching up. Took the GP out and it ran beautifully for it's entire 20 mile test drive. To show my appreciation I gave it a waterless car wash and chucked some wax on it.

You know what? I can't help it - I LOVE it's old warhorse paint with all it's little shopping centre dings and imperfections. I really don't want to paint it. I feel as if I'd be creating a fake persona - a bit like me putting makeup on. What's the point of covering up a lifetime of experiences with some filler & paint? It looks honest and nicely used in it's current state.

Looks like some more 3am decisions comin' up.

Oh my god ! 
call the news room !!

Fitzy has seen the light !!!

it’s called kiss mate !!! 

Kiss= keep it super sexy !

haha 

mate 

think of all that retirement coin you can save for beer drinking if you just drive the shit out if that 65 !!!! 

Bro, if your happy with her then justa leave her be. I'll put enough paint and flake on mine for the both of us.  

You know, I was waiting for a comment from Wrongway. One minute I want paint, the next I don't. Worse than a woman trying to choose a dress.

The conundrum is that I feel the car deserves nice paint but I love it's current 'honesty.' I suppose the other thorn in my side is that nice paint means everything else has to be right, so rechromed front bumper and new weatherseals all around as a start. I have spent so much up to this point, I think I need to step back and 'drive the shit out of it' as Kiwi suggested, in it's current state. If a 'new paint epiphany' occurs in the future, I'll know it was meant to be.

3 hours ago, Fitzy said:

You know, I was waiting for a comment from Wrongway. One minute I want paint, the next I don't. Worse than a woman trying to choose a dress.

The conundrum is that I feel the car deserves nice paint but I love it's current 'honesty.' I suppose the other thorn in my side is that nice paint means everything else has to be right, so rechromed front bumper and new weatherseals all around as a start. I have spent so much up to this point, I think I need to step back and 'drive the shit out of it' as Kiwi suggested, in it's current state. If a 'new paint epiphany' occurs in the future, I'll know it was meant to be.

I will drink to that !!! 

Looks like this guy found your solution Fitzy. He painted half his car. 

Perfect. I'll do that.

Hand me that paintbrush, would you?

I thought I should post something but not much to tell. GP runs sweet. That's really about it. Took it out for it's once a week run and the postie (postman on a small motorbike) pulls in behind me as I am about to chuck some gas in it. Tells me how awesome the car looks & sounds. That was nice so I thanked him.

If it is rivetting entertainment that you want, then best to tune in to Kiwi's neverending saga of 'Rusty Wrecks I Must Have.' Can someone give him a pill and a cup of tea and convince him to buy a Corolla and he'll never have dirty fingernails again...or any friends.