It's been a long weekend... but Alice has her new coat!
First off, let me again extend my thanks to my friends Mike and Jack, and to Mike's shop Auto Renew. This was a big thing for me and I will always be grateful.
Saturday
Saturday morning, we headed over to the shop around 10:30. By 11, we were going over the car and fixing things that were not 'good enough'. We broke for lunch and then Alice was in the booth getting her first coat. The difference was amazing - and yet it was only the start!
Mike put on 4 coats. We ended up going through just short of a gallon. I have an extra quart as a just-in-case but will use that for the hardtop next spring.
Here's some more pics of the final result while in the booth. The color is deeper and covered really well. Pictures don't do it justice.
We were done by 4. Mike had a gig with his band Bloodsaw that evening in Mesa. I don't know how he did it, but he made it!
Sunday
Sunday morning, I cleaned my garage. A rare sighting of a clean workbench was recorded.
Mike, Jack and I headed back to the shop to bring Alice home. After removing the masking paper and plastic, we fit the bonnet and boot lids for transport. A couple of new tiedowns later, she was on the trailer and heading home.
Look at the difference in the color between being inside and out in the sun!
The trip home was uneventful and quieter, being Sunday morning. Seeing her in the driveway was a huge relief.
Mike advised me to leave her outside all afternoon to let the sun do its thing and help bake the paint. Later that evening, I pushed her back into the garage and got the doors and bumpers inside too. Good thing - we had a thunderstorm overnight that would have spelled disaster had I left her outside!
At last, I could rest. But I couldn't sit still for long. I had to do a couple of things to let my mind wind down. So I fitted the front spoiler and the badge to the front bumper. Then I went to bed.
I also took a pic of the color with a sample of the interior. It's going to be beautiful! Again, the picture is a shadow of how nice she looks in person.
Now the real fun begins. I have to haul everything out of the attic, sort it all and start assembly. Juliette will be helping me a lot with this! She says she is up for the challenge, so this is now officially the father-daughter phase of the project. Hopefully my next post will show significant progress. I want to have Alice together and running for Juliette's 18th birthday, which is exactly 4 weeks away from the time I wrote this... it's a big challenge!
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