the last car i painted was last summer. (brit content coming) it was an
elden
1972 formula ford. car was disassembled in 2002 (completly
disassembled down
to the hewland transaxle as well as engine were in pieces
in boxes with the
chassis still rolling on dry rotted slicks) and handed to
two other people
before i got what was left of it to reassemble for it's
owner in virginia.
some fiberglass damage from years of getting shuffled
around as well as years of
competition quick at event repairs to un-do. point
of this mention is the car is
not big like spridgets are not big cars ,
right. the total material cost
including a gallon of fiberglass resin was
just over 700.00 using base coat /
clear coat in a two tone blue with white
stripe like the gurney eagles of the
60's had. i was stunned at the
material cost! ok stunned is what i can safely
type here. i do not know
what happened to material cost over recent years but
this stuff has really
gotten expensive! i remember (i think it was when
dinaraurs still roamed
the earth?) spending around 100.00 to 150.00 for paint
materials to do
catalised enamel in one color.
many shops that are big enough have in house
mixing systems so buying by the
quart or gallon or 5 gallon pail (like "clean
up" laquer thinner ) is not an
issue like it is for those who are not a big
auto body business. having bulk
materials and in house mixing limited
quantities makes estimates like 1000.00
for work (including repairs) almost
believeable.
also shops who do fabrication or restoration are becoming a
thing of the past or
are frequented by projects that are high dollar type of
work. it's all about
how fast can you push out how much work to beat flat
rate estimates in order to
generate maximum gross profit. and i fear at
"gross" end results. you have
no idea how many cars are turned out by mass
production shops that have numerous
flaws or literally omitted pieces you can
not see. it's frightening atthe
least!.
chuck
weather drying out?
where? i walked out of the shop last night around 8:30 /
9:00 and it was
raining......again! i have to finish clear coating my baby
harley's tank.
it's too darn humid or too cold for the paint to catalise. we
had april
showers...i'm seeing a few may flowers. now how about some warm
sunny
days?
________________________________
From: Chris Manuel
<cmanuel@wi.rr.com>
To: spridgets_autox.team.net <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sun, May 1, 2011 8:11:51 PM
Subject: Re: [Spridgets] Paint shop fiasco
I'm with Dean-
My Sprite will never be smooth and flawless, but the Rustoleum
solution is
working for me.
As soon as the weather dries out for a while I'll
be putting on the final
coat. Yes, the sponge brush paint job posted online
works. No, I won't be
showing it.
Chris
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