Thanks for all the responses about painting the car at home.
I found a great solution which is kind of the upside of having done a
total of around $10,000 damage to two cars within the past twelve months.
Back when they were damaged, I had both cars towed about 40 miles back to a
body shop in the area I had just moved from. Steve's Auto Body did very
nice work and appreciated the out of town business. So I drove up and spoke
with Steve fo a while today and we worked out a good arrangement.
Since I was such a good customer (argh!) he said he'd allow me to do as
much of the prep work as I wanted: fill the little dings, remove the trim and
bumpers, strip the paint off of the aluminum hood and trunk, flat the mostly
decent though very thin original paint, and prime as needed with the proper
primers. He gave me a big can of some new-fangled stripper for aluminum
panels some salesman had just dropped off and offered me the use of a spare
HVLP (high volume low pressure) spray gun when I was ready to paint. He'll
spray it for about $150 plus the cost of materials and said he'd tidy up any
of my work that needed it (up to about 90 minutes of work). We're going to
do a factory color, probably in a DuPont urethane paint which should look
more like the original finish than color coat/clear coat would. Depending on
exactly which materials we use, the total should be between $300 and $400
plus some stuff I already have.
I'm very pleased with this arrangement. I know this man is a good guy
whose shop does very nice work. I can spend as much time as I want getting
the prep just right and doing the door jambs if I change colors and then get
it sprayed with good paint by a pro with a clean and modern shop. The final
finish will be more or less show quality (to my eye) and won't dull out six
months after it's painted. He said he hardly ever does this kind of thing
except for appreciated customers or friends because he's got lots of
insurance work to keep him busy. I'm glad I went up to talk to him.
By the way, he said the same things you all did about individual car
restorers not having to worry about the EPA and $50,000 fines. That other
guy was really throwing me a curve saying it would be "highly illegal" to
paint my car at home.
Thanks again for all your comments.
Glen Wilson
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