Well by now most of the free world has heard that Paul Walker, from the Fast & Furious movies has died in a car accident, along with the person that was driving the Porsche he was in. Reports are coming in that they may have been street racing. Circumstances aside, it's sad to see any person so full of life, get snuffed out. People have started drawing similarities to James Dean already. I'd rather question how? a Porsche, with all it's safety features and computer assisted suspension and steering, can get into such an accident. Look at Carol Shelby, who raced open cockpit cars, with roll cages that make a swing set look heavy duty. Racing with a nitro glycerine pill under his tongue, open faced helmets, no kevlar, no carbon fiber, no traction control. And he died at 89. I guess we'll never know all the details, it's not like a airplane accident where there are multiple black boxes and transcripts. I'm sure there are alot of accidents out there that mimic this, only no famous people died. The point is, there are limits, limits to what the road can handle, limits to what a car can do to be safe, it comes down to the driver. Steve Mcqueen once said A lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing’s important to men who do it well. When you’re racing, it... it’s life. Anything that happens before or after... is just waiting. I'll agree but sometimes anticipation is worth more, because it lasts longer, and remember McQueen died of cancer, not behind the wheel.
Carrol Shelby once said Yesterday's History. Tomorrow's a Mystery. So live for today. I'd probably add, and make sure you can live for another day.
No commentary on these events, it's just sad, The live fast, die young has been done by better legends that will ever come along. I think finding the balance of excitement, and being safe might have to be the new maxim. MG's motto has always been "Safety Fast". Have fun, be sensible. Hopefully there's a young street racer out there, that'll mimic Michael J Fox in Back to the Future 3 when he has his drag race with Flea.
Yes a new world record, two posts in one year, exciting, isn't it? Anyway. In my previous post I listed the cars that were contenders in my search for a new ride. So here's the big reveal:
A 2014 Mini Coupe I became interested in the mini's when they came out about 10 years ago, alas, I had just paid off my Honda, and didn't want to start up another car payment, especially since the civic only had 40K on the clock. I took one for a test drive back then, and was impressed. BMW is behind them mechanically, so it's built well, and everyone that I know that has one loves it. The test drive was fun and fast, not Mustang Shelby fast, but quick, tight, and spirited. So after hemming and hawing, I decided a Mini might be the way to go. I remember specing out my mini on line, all the bits you can add on, union jack details, roof decals, wheels, ect..And I remembered the starting price was ok, not great, but not bad. After adding all the extras..it was a bit much. So I remained with the honda. I got on line, and again specified out a Mini hardtop (The style that was in the Marky Mark version of "The Italian Job") It could handle my guitar gear hauling needs, and still be fun. This time the price was a bit better, and I didn't have to add all sorts of bits to it, partially because I'm 10 years older (and hopefully wiser), and the fact alot of the items came standard. The bummer was after visiting MINI of Peabody, I was informed that whatever Mini hardtops that they had would be the last until spring of 2014. A newer version was coming out, slightly larger, with a new 3 cylinder engine and a turbo. Bummer that I didn't think the Honda would last much longer. So my Dad was with me and he popped the trunk on a Mini Coupe and asked "can you fit your gear in this?" It was a pretty big boot overall for a two seater. Bigger than a Miata, or Audi TT, and the like. So I put that into consideration, and after a trip to MINI of Peabody, and a slight bit of wheeler dealing I ended up with my mini. The sales guy, Ryan Turner, was easy to deal with. I did my research, on the local dealers and every time I saw a negative review,thought, you know, do people think that they should get 10K for a 7 year old VW golf with 80K on the clock? and the answer is yes, they THINK what they have is worth more, but forget, the price for anything is driven by the whatever the buyer thinks it's worth, sad but a true fact. I wanted $2K for my civic, and yes that was a little unrealistic, but I was happy with what I got, and I know that they want to sell a car to make as much profit, and I want to spend as little as possible, so you have to find that happy medium, and yes you don't have to take the deal, but as they say "it is what it is". Watching shows like "Pawn Stars", Wheeler Dealers" and the like showed me a bit on dealing with sales and the like, realistic, and otherwise. I can say I got a good deal, and have no horror stories to report. If I ever need a new MINI, I'll be calling Ryan. Big bonus was the fact that when I picked up my MINI, he asked if I had a front plate for it, I said no, as I have an older pan style plate. He was relieved, because he told the prep department NOT to drill holes for mounting a front plate. When I got my Honda they drilled out the bumper, and I had an ugly plate on the front for 13 years A small thing, but made me VERY happy. Also they don't have any decals or markings for the dealer on the back of the car. It's the little things, and it's nice to have the car look like a factory brochure. So what did I get, well the only think I really wanted was heated seats, Kelly has them on the beetle, and I liked that idea. The Audio system was pretty standard, but has bluetooth, and I can put my music on a USB drive, and plug that in, and control it from my steering wheel, no having to plug in a mp3 player, and grab it to scroll around. The only gripes are with some design issues, and those fall on MINI, not a dealer: 1: I like the idea of a matching roof to body color. I like my Grey & Black color scheme, but I think it would look better in one color (in every shade they offer) in the past you could only get the hardtop mini with a white or black roof, now they offer this scheme, perhaps in the future on the coupe. 2: the large speedometer, in the new ones it's been deleted for a multi function display. I recently found out that on the new 2014+ mini's they'll have one, minor gripes. Ok, yes it's not a Cooper S. Im being realistic, I like to drive, but I don't need that much power in such a little car. besides the money I save, is $ I can put into other project cars, as well as my MGB. Anyway, that's what I ended up with, and I'm happy. They say mi MG will get jealous, but I took the MG out a week after I bought my MINI. and while it's a shift going from a 6 speed manual to a 4 speed, after 5 minutes, and the MG warmed up, it felt like home..but if i'm not gonna drive my 1974 MGB, this is a very good second choice..
Yes It’s been too long, stuff happens, Lots of stuff.
So in the summer of 2012, I started a new job about 10 minutes from my home. I was happy to burn my MBTA pass, and rejoiced in the fact I could not only drive to work, but I could drive my MGB to work. It was pretty glorious, although the trip was so short, it wasn’t until 75% of the trip the MGB warmed up! During this time I also came to the realization that my daily driver, a 2001 Honda Civic, was nearing the end of it’s journey. I can't complain about the Honda, she's served me well. I learned to drive stick on it. It's done many gigs with my bands, as well as pulling doughnuts in the snow in fanueil hall. It's just at almost 13 years old, she was getting tired, and to the point that very soon I’d need a replacement.
I've matured, as a driver and as a person. I know what I want in a car, and what I really need in one, according to my lifestyle and budget. So far I've done some research and came up with a little list of vehicles on my radar:
1. Fiat 500. yes Italian car, made by an american company, in mexico. the concept alone is wreaking havoc on my mind. But, it's cute, neat, stylish, compact and it's still sporty. Im not thinking about the Abarth, but the mid-line 500 sport. and to all of those who say, just buy the abarth. I say, just give me the extra $$, because apparently spending money isn't an issue for you. for $23K there are other cars out there. Bigger cars. Sexier cars. more powerful cars. LIke..
2. Dodge Challenger. Now I know what you saying "now you're talking!". Wait for it though. I want the V6. Sorry, but at 300+ HP, and 27 MPG that's still pushing my practicality zone. My friend, Rob, has one, and it looks great, almost like the v8 model. The newer V6 looks even closer to the V8, even down to the retro fuel door. It's sexy, and big. Look at Joe Rogan's Sick fish hemi that he had done in 2004. It's the car he had Foose design, and Rad Rides by Troy build. But this version is a fraction of the cost of Rogan’s ride, and without the issues he had, (apparently the unibody's shock tower sheared itself from the chassis while pulling into the driveway) Anyway it's Chris Brown's problem, I mean car, now.
3. Ford Mustang. Again a V6. Classic looks, modern design and technology. The only downside is the color selections are kind of weak, and to really give it the styling cues I want, I need to re do the grille to something more muscular like: change the wheels. I do enough wrenching on cars already, and buying a new car, and making modifications to just make it appealing aesthetically is kind of a bummer, and can get expensive. thankfully the Dodge doesn't need any mods I can think of.
4. Chevy Camaro. It's probably the most aggressive looking one, in my mind. It looks like it wants to rape the road ahead of it. No wonder it was used as a model for the transformers movie. No mods needed, again I'm looking at a v6. I’m thinking in Silver or even better in Bumblbee Yellow.
5. The Hyundai Genesis Coupe. it's got some good lines. Some. It's like if someone described an Aston Martin to a police sketch artist. It's close, but not quite. However, it is available as a base model at $25k, with a 2.0L 4 cylinder turbo charged at 274HP and 31 MPG. Oh yeah and it's rear wheel drive. The interior looks very sporty too. The only mods I could think of would be a set of wheels that don't have the "H" logo on it.
Wanna see what I ended up with? Tune in next time, which I promise will happen before 2014 ends!
I’ll admit my faults; one of them is I’m a late bloomer in many ways, when I do come around, I can get obsessed. I didn’t learn to drive stick until 2001, and it was shortly after I was starting my first car restoration. Another thing I am a “Johnny come lately” on is the BBC show “Top Gear”. Even when BBC America was available on cable, I’d pass right by it. Now I can’t get enough of it. Thankfully Netflix has most of the seasons available on instant watch. It’s filmed quite well, with very high production values, and while taking lovingly looks at beautiful cars, it’s quite to the point. I don’t think I’ll ever own a Lamborghini, so I won’t be able to compare it’s braking to a Porsche 911, but it’s interesting to see such an in depth look at the machinery. It delves into the culture that also surrounds cars. So far my fave moment’s is when they make fun of an MG branded smoker’s pouch. “They’ll throw you out of the pub if you have that, not because of the fact that you’re a smoker, but the fact you’ll want to talk about MG’s” . James May discussing classics, Richard Hammond driving modern sports cars, and Jeremy Clarkson bashing everything for not being as good as he’d like them to be. It pokes fun at the things that deserve it, and praises the things that are worthy. Clarkson whipping a Corvette into a corner and yelling out “WELL DONE FAT MAN FROM KENTUCKY!” is one of the notable quotes.
The episode when they take 3 classic British sports cars to Blackpool; James May in a TVR, Richard Hammond in a Lotus, and Jeremy Clarkson in a Jensen Healey. It’s comical seeing even them take on 30 year old British sports cars, that have their vintage issues. But while they compare their cars to the ones that replaced them in the market place, specifically hatchbacks, Jeremy Clarkson laments the state of the British auto industry; “It’s not that we don’t make cars anymore, it’s the fact that we don’t make ANYTHING these days” So true. The Episodes when they revisit the glory days, such as Eagle’s E type Jaguar reproduction, the Re-vamped Jensen Interceptor (at $150K) really excite me when they put on the rose colored glasses of days past, realizing that revisiting is far more practical than actually using a vintage Triumph as a day to day driver. And while they put a celebrity in a cheap car to do a lap each episode, they’re given mid priced cars. It's an interesting show, well done and extremely opinionated. But if I'm not behind the wheel, it's one of those shows that makes me forget I'm on the couch.
I’ve caught the US version, and while I like the idea, at this point, I really haven’t come around to go out of my way to watch it. But who knows, maybe I’ll come around.
Cars and Coffee. the concept is simple; car enthusiasts gather early on a weekend morning, before the soccer moms & the honey do-er’s hit the road. Bring your car to a desiginated location, usually an out of the way place, hang out, and then be gone. No “civilians”, no kids dripping ice cream over that freshly waxed paint, no little dogs running about like at a cruise night or a regular car show. Start at 7:00 and be done by 10:00 and home by 11:00.
Lars Anderson’s Museum of transportation, in Brookline, MA, started one in recent years, and I went to a few this past summer. It was a blast. The first one Dad & I went to, I don't think he was really psyched about it when we got there. Not alot of vintage cars, at least at that weekend. The funny thing was watching people with $50K+ of new automobile, not being able to parallel park, or back up into a spot without 5+ gear changes.
I went one on my own a few weeks later, and it was ok. But I felt out of sorts. It's tough to relate I’m too young for the old guys with vintage Porsche’s and too poor for the investment bankers that have the new Ford GT. I’m too old for the young crowd that brings a whacked out Subaru STI that has more horsepower than all of my cars combined. But later on I found my speed. The older guys are psyched to see and talk to a younger guy that likes that 68 Jaguar, and the young guys like hearing stories about the days when your first car was 20 years old.
The last one I went to was with my brother in law. Bringing an MGB to one of these events is pretty wild. Your intentions don’t get questioned, you know your cars, you respect what everyone brought. My Brother in law was suprized at how I’d get into a conversation with a total stranger about a Lotus Elise, and shift into the merits of a vintage Chevelle vs a 442.
As this year’s car season winds down, I’m already looking foreward to an early dew covered morning, and unleashing all 60HP of my MGB down the Jamacia way to next year’s cars and coffee.
First off, as usual, I have to apologize for not posting in forever. I've had a lot of things happen in the past year or so. Getting married, searching for, and finally getting a new job. Life changing events aside, I've had some great car related activities; many fantastic car shows, tons of cool people I've met, and lots of little and big projects underway. But this post is to bring you all up to speed. As I said before I started a new job and it's close by where I live, a 9 mile commute to be exact, with an average commuting time of 15 minutes. As well as a regular parking lot. Which means that I get to drive my MGB to work on most days. The only downside is that it takes about 8 minutes to really warm up the MGB, even on a summer morning, So the ride is a little rough for about half of the way. But the weather was so nice this year, I was able to drive the ragtop to work 80% of the time. Even better was the fact that we were able to get the blue 1977 MGB on the road, and drive that one to work too! Having both MGB's out here was pretty wild...
Here's how we got there! Well, remember that parts car we had? We used the front fenders and hood for my Dad’s 1970 MGB GT. And the rest of the car we pretty much butchered for parts. One thing that was also good was the engine.
My cousin and Dad ran the engine, and realized that it sounded quite good overall. So they threw the blue car’s engine in the scrap heap, and placed the parts car’s engine in the Blue 1977 MGB convertible. The blue car had a Weber 45dcoe Carb on it. Back in the day, my cousin had a mechanic that told him that the SU carbs he was having a hard time tuning were junk, and told him to go with a weber. Apparently he was also a Weber re-seller, go figure. So this 1969 MGB GT engine with it’s lack of smog pumps and higher compression now has a Weber carb on it, which gives it a pretty strong performance.
There was some damage during storage though. During one of the winters, snow banks were pushed up against it, more specifically under it, denting the gas tank. So a new one was procured from Victoria British.The rear deck lid was damaged, so I replaced it with one from a 1970 MGB, It didn’’t quite fit right, but It’ll get sorted. In the meantime it looked badass in flat black primer.
After all that work The car was sorted out wiring wise, and during the one day off between jobs, I went and registered and insured it, Driving it to work at the new place, and around town. The only Issue the car had was a throttle cable breaking. A quick trip to a bike shop and I was all set, as it’s the same as a brake cable. Go figure, what stops a Schwinn, makes an MGB go.
A soda blaster was purchased, and the fenders were blasted, revealing pinholes in the lower sections. My Dad had purchased all the replacement sheet metal, rocker panels, doglegs, and lower fender sections. The guys at AB Fab in Woburn, did the metal work for a great price, and the work went well. re fitting the fenders went well, although they still need a bit of fitting.
The next step is paint. and this is where things are going to get complicated. but that's for another blog post, that will not be 13+ months in the making. Happy Motoring. CD
When you get into restoring an old car, a parts car can be a huge resource. Usually they're beyond restoring for one reason or another, and for that reason can be picked up real cheap! We bought this one for the hood and fenders, but so far we've scabbed the following off of it:
We’ve sold some stuff and between that and the money we saved buying an individual part (new or used) has worked out well for us! We've also sold the seatbelts and I've heard from a guy that has interest in the glass, so I think she'll live on in other cars.
There are some parts we're checking into seeing if they can be restored, like the wheels, but between the engine, fenders and hood, we're doing ok..
Things have a way of cycling around, it seems l live between the music world and car world, right now I’m in orbit around the car world..
So the season is starting to wind down, the last big show is Stowe, VT on the weekend of September 16th. Which should be a good one, over 700 cars last year. We're planning on bringing up the GT and the convertible. The GT is running well, it still needs a grille, and some of the paint work needs some touchup (as it looks like a critter walked along the roof!).
The red convertible won 3rd place at the Larz Anderson park's MG day. There was a bit of confusion, thinking the GT won, but regardless the award hangs in the Devine family. My cousin also won best MGA..well over due! During the raffles, I won $15 of Dunkin Donuts gift cards, and the 50/50 raffle, bringing home a whopping $61! We also sold some parts that we brought! Overall a great day
I sold those silver and black rostyles wheels. I have to say I don't mind doing them but as soon this next set of red & silver ones go south, I'm switching to minilites!
I'll have a post later this week (and I mean it) on the NEXT project
You may note that a couple of years back, my Dad bought a 1970 MGB GT. It looked a bit rough, but ran really well. So he bought it, and admittedly states that he paid too much for it. So after some tuning and some maintenance it's on the road and he's pretty happy, it needs a paint job though, badly.
So I started in the fall of 2009 taking a class at the local Vocational School. I took the car in, and started to sand off the old paint, thinking that at the least, if we want to get the car painted, we can save some money by doing alot of the grunt work. Every night I dropped off the car, with the statement "I have bad news." Every class I'd uncover some new hell; bondo, rust, dented panels. The worst was the rear quarter panel behind the driver side door. It looked like the hulk punched it. I uncovered it by chiseling off 1 1/2" thick of bondo out of it. It was a super bummer. I'll admit it kind of took the jam out of my doughnut. I felt like I was in over my head, and I was.
So this year Dad decided that he wanted it done. I wasn't looking forward to putting the time in getting this completed, as I knew that it was gonna be a long process, and if I was lucky it would be done in about 6 months or so, If we were lucky.
We stripped a junked MGB GT for a rear quarter panel, and we had bought a parts car, and stripped it for whatever else we could. I knew the metal work was gonna be out of my abilities, and I started to think of finding someone that could do that work, but I was drawing a blank. Good body guys that don't charge an arm and a leg are few and far between these days.
My Red MGB had the infamous "crack of doom" on the driver side door. So I cruised craigslist and all sorts of places trying to find a replacement door. My idea was to refinish this new door, and replace it on my car. My search brought me to Burnett's garage in Wenham; I asked if they had a driver's side MGB door that was in good shape. The guy at Burnetts said, why don't you send it to this guy, and gave me a phone number for a guy that does all their body work. "It'll be cheaper than doing a compete door panel, and he'll have it done in no time at all". Funny thing is, the guy that gets us supplies for auto body class, mentioned the same guy to me awhile back.
So the wheels were turning in my head. So I called the guy and we made an appointment to see him, and mentioned we needed the GT done, and he said he'd do it. We dropped off the car, and every time we went up there, progress was made. We later found out it was in a couple of fender benders, and also was fighting off rust and starting to loose that battle. The body guy said it wasn't easy, and that it was tough task, even for him. All of I sudden I didn't feel bad that I didn't get to do all this work, as it became apparent it was well over my skill set.
My Dad ended up in the hospital during all this going on, and when I went to visit him, the first thing out of his mouth was "did you talk to the paint guy today?"
It's almost 100% complete. It's passed inspection, and has all of its safety stuff sorted out. Just the interior and some small trim items like a grille, British Leyland markers, and mud flaps. But from here on in, it's a car again, and shouldn’t have to be taken off of the road to do any work on it! (Hopefully)
I am however a bit bummed, as when we went to car shows; we did it together, talking on the way down about what's going on, and on the way back about what we saw at the show. Now we'll be taking 2 cars to shows, I'll miss that chit chat on the ride down and back. But we’ll have a lot to talk about when we get to our destination.
But now I actually have something to report; Dad's GT is almost done. We're hoping to have it at British Car Day at Larz Anderson Park in Brookline on June 26th. Here's a Pic to tide you over until I give a more detailed report on what it took us to get to where we are now. I know it needs a new grille, but so far Dad can't decide what he wants for one yet!
Ok I didn't forget this blog, stuff happens. I'm going on vacation this week, and I have some new news on Dad's GT, and our convertable. Some good, some...well you get the idea..anyway in the spirit of MGB GT's here's something I found on the interweb..Not what I'd do to my GT, but to each their own. I don't know if the guy in the pic is the owner, but I can say those pants ARE a bad idea..
Car Registration is $20 – Includes two admissions to the museum
Adult spectator admission is only $10 and $5 for children, seniors, and active military and includes admission to the museum. Children under 6 are free!
Breakfast and Lunch Menu will be available on-site from Euro Delights Catering for more information visit www.eurodelights.org.
Well since Dad & I didn't got to the Prince Edward Island car show this year we were able to attend, the Micro Mini car day at Larz Anderson park. I never thought I'd attend a car show where our MGB was a "big" car..here are some pics from the event!
Click HERE!
I've been meaning to post pics of my coustin's recently finished 1961 MGA. It took 10 years, and alot of work, but it's finally done. The quality of the (re) build is superb, and is reflected in the fact it won best in show at the British Car Day at Larz Anderson park in Brookline earlier this month.
hopefully I'll have some more pics of it to post later on.
So I was looking for some MG images the other day, and I googled "MG iPhone Wallpaper" and I find nothing. Bummer. So I thought I'd make some and share them all with you. if you have an Iphone they should work for you. Even better The image comes up between the Time display, and the slide to unlock graphic..If you want to customize them, feel free, I did just black and white ones, but in any Image editing software (MS Paint, Photoshop, etc) you should be able to adjust/change the colors to whatever you want..if you right click and select "view Image" and then right click again, and "save image as" you should be all set. Drop me a line if you have any issues with them..Have fun!
Well Dad picked up a 1970 MGB GT from craigslist for $700. We had already cannabalized the hood by the time these pics were taken..The engine is pretty good so we placed an old rusty hood to cover the engine bay until we can remove it.
Here's some pics of before and after we took the front fenders
it's pretty much trashed body wise, as a couple of structural members are very rusted out (one was bondoed) but I have alot of useable parts, so if you need anything drop me a line..
We removed the front bumper for my Dad's MGB GT. we needed to get it off to get the fenders removed (that will come later. I sanded down the front valence as well. I have to say it looks killer with out the front bumper..
we got a parts car this week for $700, hopefully she'll be chock full of goodies, usable goodies, like fenders, hood, switches, seats..
I know it's been awhile, but the cold winter months kind of kill alot of cool car stuff in New England, and if I did any consistent blogging over these winter months it would just be me posting how cold & miserable it is. But I digress..
Like Britney Spears, I did it again. So another set of Rostyles landed in my lap after finishing the last set I did.
To recap, in Sept 2008 I restored a set of Rostyle wheels, in the Factory Silver/Black color scheme. It took a few weeks to do them properly but I got them done. Then on the last night of my Auto Body Class in 2009 I decided to throw a good clear coat on them using the spray booth at school. They came out great, super Glossy! I think I put about 4 coats of clear on them.
So with the season almost upon us I decided that I wanted to have a set in the Silver/Damask Red color to match our 74 MGB convertible. Now I ran into a few problems here and there. So here it goes:
1. I lost my garage space to work in. Since I live in an apartment, and have limited space I could really only work on them during School nights. BUT since the school's media blasting facilities are kind of non existent. I had to do them outside by my uncle's Shop, which was not fun in early January. I did get them done, applying the primer after sandblasting in the 4:30 twilight that happens in the winter months.
2. Since these were going on MY MGB. I took extra steps that I didn't on the last set. I really cleaned out the backsides of these wheels too, getting all the gunk, and rust off of them. Even though they won't be seen, I wanted this to be perfect. So I went over them with a Wire wheel, and got them cleaned out. I ran into problems in getting the Dupli color primer that I used last time, so I used some regular primer to finish them off. It seems to hold up, but I had some incidents while taping them up, that the razor cut through the color to the bare metal. That was kind of a bummer.
3. I think I laid down about 2 cans of silver on them. While painting them I noticed some "fur" that seemed to be paint dust that was kind of "floating" over the surface. So I ended up using a Scotchbrite pad to get them smooth between coats of silver. minor setbacks: one of the wheels falling over when I put it down to open the garage door for one of the guys in my class, and took off a chunk of paint "OH you poor bastard" he says. Great...although he helped me out in finding a place that could get me the color I wanted for my insets.
Sandblasted, primed, and silver coat:
All taped up:
4. Getting the color was kind of interesting. I went to Kwik Auto body supply in Medford, MA and asked them to mix me a Spray can of the PPG color. Just asking for PPG Damask Red isn't gonna do it. Get the Paint code. Thankfully with my handy dandy I phone, I was able to look the color up on the web. Unfortunately The kind of PPG paint I got wasn't that Thick (it was their lower priced "shop-line"), and 2/3 of the way of painting the wheels, I ran out of paint. BUMMER. So I asked the Paint/supply guy to get me some. The price was the same and he got a Dupont version that did the trick. It seemed like the Dupont went on thicker as well.
This is the label for the PPG product:
5. As usual, after doing the inset color, they needed to be re-taped, as they sometimes bleed through all those tight corners, and taping them on one night, painting the next night, kind of messes with the Tape actually sticking among the edges. So you end up having to tape up the red areas, and re-applying a silver coat AGAIN. It seems to be par for the course, if you wanna do them right. Not a real big surprise there, as the last set needed them done in the same fashion. I painted these ones the silver base coat FIRST this time, as opposed to doing them AFTER the colored insets. I can't say which way is better, as it seems like you end up making 2 passes each time.
Color is done:
6. I think I got the equivalent of 3 coats of clear on them. I was sharing the paint booth with one of the guys in class, as he was painting a valance for his 1970 Impala. by the time he was ready for clear, I had the "touch up" coat of silver done, and was in the booth. The clear doesn't seem as thick as the last one, but it seems to "pop" a bit more. I may have the same amount of clear on them, as last time, I don't particularly remember as it was the last class of the previous semester. The spray booth has only 1 working air line in the booth, so we had to share the air hose.
Applying clear coat:
Completed (I had to post this pic, as the Iphone doesn't have a flash)
Regardless they are done, and hopefully they'll be on the Red MGB within a few weeks!
AGAIN I still have a few more Rostyles to do, and with the better weather hopefully coming upon us I'll do these a little bit each week, this time they'll be the traditional Silver/Black color scheme. If anyone needs a set of refurbished Rostyles, drop me a line..
I promise to post some more stuff, as the driving season is coming up there will be some cool car stuff happening, such as shows, and other events!
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