Paint I

The day is here!  Alice gets her new look starting today.

My friends Jack and Mike are helping me out a TON with this.  Jack is the delivery man (he of the large trailer) and Mike is going to paint her.  His shop, Auto Renew is letting me use their facilities and paint booth.  Alice will get a professional paint job!  I can't thank both of these gentlemen enough for their help, but I'll certainly try.

First - we had to get Alice to the shop.  On to the trailer she went!  All the loose parts went into truck beds and cars, and we headed out.  The trip was mostly uneventful aside from one unexpected shift when we started out.  We cinched her down better and made it the rest of the way without incident.

No, we didn't transport her without straps.  This is the 'after arrival' shot.

Upon arrival, the challenge was to get her off the trailer.  The trailer is tall and the ramp steep.  With the help of a jack, we made it work.  On the way home, we'll need to cook up something a little friendlier.

We also beat a heavy but brief rain storm by about an hour.  My luck continues to hold!

Mike was not satisfied with the sanding job I did, so he went over everything again and he certainly did do a better job than I did in about 1/10 the time it took me to get my work done.  Everything went on to hangars and stands, and we (he) got ready to paint.

He then sprayed the doors, underside of the bonnet and boot, and the bumpers and spoiler with adhesion promoter, than the paint.  This is a single stage paint which is both stinky and sticky, and goes on like clear.  He also added a little 'flex' to the paint to give it a little extra give, which will come in handy for the bumpers and spoiler.

He did an excellent job with three coats and a little extra on the bumpers.  It's so pretty!

I tell you, I couldn't have done this to this level of quality.  Mike, you're awesome.

The finish isn't perfect.  There are a couple of issues (one low spot, one small crease, a couple of blemishes during painting) but I am more than thrilled with the result.  This is s nice driver quality renovation and will look great for years to come.

The next step is to go over the body shell and fix any remaining issues with spot putty, flip the bonnet and boot over and then paint them and the shell in one go.  Stay tuned for the final result!