Paint Job

[TugsW]

I should add that there was also an almost £300 bill against that paint job for the gun below, just don't tell my wife as she thinks it was the same price as my other old guns, about 30 quid.

All the best, Neil.

Neil will you be my dad too please! My current dad used to work in the paintshop at Ford Dagenham plant and can spot a paint defect from 100yrds but can't paint a car, sadly for me he's passed those genes on to me, well okay I have to be a lot closer.

Can I ask a few question's for all you guys who can paint out of interest how much say in % terms is a expensive say Neil's spray gun over a cheaper over a sealy gold £60 jobbie ? Visiting a few bodyshops is all about rubbing down and prep work ? Also what about this new(ish) water based paint any ideas if it will be a durable finish over celly and 2K?

[Neil Fletcher]

Very nice neil, will she use it as a daily driver or just as a weekend car

At this stage I should point out that Laura is just learning to drive and she owns and drives an old school BL Mini when she gets the Mk1 finished (see photo below) it will probably just be kept for a weekend car.

Neil will you be my dad too please!

Of course I will I always wanted a son who would take an interest in cars and rallying but having 3 daughters I just had to settle for next best thing and turn them all into "car nuts". There can't be that many girls whose idea of a good Saturday's fun is navigating for their dad in his BDA powered rally car on a "Lanes Rally".

Anyway I'd not be an expert at painting but I do know that prep work is easily 90% of a good paint job. I have lost count of how much time and effort went into the primering and stoppering of that shell to get rid of every bump and hollow. Then the whole car had about 3 coats of HS Primer and the whole thing was completely rubbed down and this was done three or four times in total to get the panels completely smooth. Only after months of work did it have any colour, then it had three coats of colour, sat for a week and then was rubbed down "wet", then another 3 coats of colour and rubbed down again and then a final three coats of colour - it's now sitting waiting for the paint to completely harden before it will all be compounded and polished. Those guys who can get on the AVO forum will have seen exactly how much work has gone into painting this shell - hopefully I'll get all the photos etc up on my own website soon.

Over the years I've used Cellulose, Two Pack and Water Based and for older cars I always go back to Cellulose as it just looks right for a period car. Saying that my rally car is done in two Pack because it is quick and handy and takes less effort to get a reasonable job - I only use water based if I really have to ie metallic colours etc.

As for guns I have painted with quite a few cheaper guns and one of the ones I liked best was an old Sealey gun that I bought for £50 about 15 years ago but it's now so old and worn that I only use it for primers and such like. Guns like that Devilbiss etc are better but not really all that much so for most people - I only bought it because I needed a new gun and having three or four major projects to paint over the next few years I decided I could afford to spoil myself.

Hope this helps, Neil.

[bigbadsquare]

Gentlemen,,,,£2000 GBP,,,

Was that just the outside Alan?

[mk1gaz]

2 pack is the hardest wearing paint covering and shines the most . Celluose looks standard and has normal paint shine and goes flat/dull in the sun faster . Water based paint is crap and falls off with bird shite etc .

[Tim]

Gentlemen,,,,£2000 GBP,,,

am sure the new owner will be very pleased with it

[yellowxpack]

Signal not daytona?
L

[LOUIE]

Signal not daytona?
L

No it's signal yellow

[yellowxpack]

Thought so - one for Aussie sunshine
+1 for yellow power!

[Aaron P.]

Neil

thats a lovely job on the shell, been along time coming....i remember seeing that shell on the spit in your "small" garage a good few years ago......
very rare to see that blue on mk1's....i was gonna use it on my mk1 van but thats on hold

now that that mk1 is painted get one with that lovely mk1 big wing track preped car thats feeling sorry for itself all these years....

[turbospud]

my outside only respray is costing £270,looks like i will be getting a pair of dark glasses supplied when i pick it up

[rwdrs]

my outside only respray is costing £270,looks like i will be getting a pair of dark glasses supplied when i pick it up

You never know, as the just the outer panels won't need the amount of paint that a full respray requires. I know about 20 years ago when I was working in a non-franchised garage, our bodywork bloke said that you're looking at 60 quid a panel for paintwork (retail). Wages and the price of things haven't really gone down in that time so I'd suspect for a upper (outer) panel onceover you need to be looking at 850-1250 quid for a sensible job (I'd think).

As Neil said, even at trade prices the paint for a full respray is a good 500 quid, and it's not really the paint that's the expensive part of a respray, it's the man-hours in prepping, i.e. filling, stopping, sanding, primering, guide coat, flatting, base coats and top coat...

270 quid has to be trade price materials done by your best mate at his work and you doing his plumbing at trade cost.

[turbospud]

i thought it was a good price,will be interesting to see how good it ends up

You never know, as the just the outer panels won't need the amount of paint that a full respray requires. I know about 20 years ago when I was working in a non-franchised garage, our bodywork bloke said that you're looking at 60 quid a panel for paintwork (retail). Wages and the price of things haven't really gone down in that time so I'd suspect for a upper (outer) panel onceover you need to be looking at 850-1250 quid for a sensible job (I'd think).

As Neil said, even at trade prices the paint for a full respray is a good 500 quid, and it's not really the paint that's the expensive part of a respray, it's the man-hours in prepping, i.e. filling, stopping, sanding, primering, guide coat, flatting, base coats and top coat...

270 quid has to be trade price materials done by your best mate at his work and you doing his plumbing at trade cost.

[rwdrs]

i thought it was a good price,will be interesting to see how good it ends up

It was in no way meant as a dig or anything like that...

That sounds like what people used to call a "blow over". If that's what you're looking for, i.e. just to tidy the finish that's probably what you'll get.

To do a really thorough job I would expect to pay a lot more than 270.

What paint are they using?