Repainting my 1878 Indy Pace Car

[swtato]

First a little history. This 1978 L82 4spd Pace Car literally fell into my lap 3 years ago. I got it from a girl who's ex husband owed her back child support. The court awarded her his corvette, and I bought it from her at a great price! I have spent the last couple of years rebuilding the entire suspension and other little things that needed to be replaced.

I could have never done this (I probably would have sold the car due to my lack of knowledge and money) without the help from my friends in the Houston C3 Club. Thank god I met them they are a wealth of knowledge and literally helped me do everything on this car.

The motor is running great with only 80k on the clock when I bought it. We got her mechanically fit to drive and she has never let me down or stranded. So I have been enjoying driving it but it really needed paint. It looks good from 20 feet but is embarrassing compared to my buddies Vettes. I have 2 small children and I have never been able to get anywhere near the 6k to 10k (without some emergency draining my fund)it would cost to paint the car a get it back to looking new.

This is where Little Jake steps in. God Bless him and his generosity in the Christmas give away thread on the Corvette Forum. He offered me a paint job, but I did not know it till after the 1st of January so I was really behind on the prep work to get the car ready for Jake.

Jake suggested I start this thread to show where the car was, is and will be. He is going to post progress pics as he paints the car.

So enough of the text and on to the pics!

Day she came home:





Club over to go on a cruise & meets over the years









Starting the stripping after one day of work thanks to the guys help!







As she sits on 2-4-08 ready to go to Little Jakes on the 20th










I can't wait to see what is next!:cheers:

 

[swtato]

Here are a few road trip pics! Left Houston at 5:30 am on Feb. 21st and arrived in Nashville around 7:30 pm. Had a little bad weather along the way but made it with no problems!

This is right before we left.




Putting her in a bay at LittleJakes shop that night!





For those of you who don't know LitteJake is a Homicide and Robbery Detective for Metro Nashville PD also. Well I called him and he said he would meet us at the shop, so my buddy and I pick up a few cold ones for the short drive over. after 13+ hours on the road we were ready for a cold one.:cheers: Well as we turn on the road for his shop all of a sudden there are blue flashing lights behind us. I figured it was LittleJake, but my buddy was like Great! all this way now we get busted and we have an open beer! Well sure enough it was Jake and he escorted us to the shop.:lol:

Well let the games begin!

 

[swtato]

sanding

 

[swtato]

more sanding and filling

 

[swtato]

shaving the fenders for the tires.

 

[swtato]

passenger side fender ground down to specs...

 

[swtato]

block sanded with final on most body work, next step is going to prep shop and 2k primer and start block sanding.

We had an issue with a past repair where someone grafted a front left fender on the car after a minor accident. The fender was much lower on the front left. We had to butterfly the lower fender lip in a pie section and move it in to bring it up even with the front bumper. We bonded it back and reinforced it. The fit is almost perfect, it looks much better. The left side of the car has a small gap, we are going to do the same thing and move it in to get the fit perfect. This is also a reason our lower air dam had so much of a gap in it, now with the lower fenders moved in the gap isnt as much and it looks great.
BEFORE

AFTER

 

[swtato]

out of the body shop and into the paint prep shop. The body work was completed and everything is reattached and lined up. We were able to get the lower middle spoiler section gaps closer by doing the body work on the lower section of the front fenders. The gaps are nice and tight and everything is lining up great. After these few pictures the next ones you will see from me will be of 2k primer and block sanding.

 

[swtato]

taping up the beast before the 2k urethane primer is applied...

Indy or bust...

younger brother checking on big brother...

 

[swtato]

block sanded again

 

[swtato]

got some color on the old pace car today. We decided to go Orange. It looked really good.

Okay okay, it was only the guide coat for blocking but at least it was something other than gray right? The car was 2k primered yesterday, guide coat applied, and blocked again, and then wetsanded. We are moving right along and the next pics are of some real color.

 

[swtato]

Black is on and silver is coming soon.

ready to go into the booth for epoxy sealer primer:

after expoxy sealer primer:

with basecoat applied:

and finally after clear:

 

[swtato]

Here are some updated pics, bumpers and doors jambed in ready to go back on the car:

Here is the current state of the car, we have wetsanded by hand the entire car getting it ready for the two tone and to clear the entire car again. This will give a very deep and nice shine with a lot of depth to the paint.

We are now putting the entire car back together before we lay out the two tone silver. Once its back together we will lay out the silver and paint/clear. Then wetsand/buff and start putting the decals on.

She is getting closer every day!

 

[swtato]

****UPDATE****

I had my guys come in this weekend to try and get a finish on swtato's 78 pace car. We are very close and cant wait to see it finished.

On Saturday I had my guys come in, prep the body, go over everything and lay out the two tone according to the pace car measurements. A friend of swtato took measurements of his pace car decals and layout and did a great draw up including pictures of every exact measurement. I dont have the members name in front of me but I bet swtato will know it and let us all know. These diagrams were a HUGE help!!! It was still a pita getting it right.

Once the layout was exact we started to tape up the rest of the car and get her ready for paint...

On Sunday we (I say we, but its my painter I just wish I could paint) sprayed the silver and then untaped and unbagged her. We prepped the car and after a lot of passes with the tack rag we are about to spray the clear.

After its cleared more pictures to come....

I snapped a few quick shots of the front after she was cleared, once we get it out in the sun I will snap some more.

wetsand wetsand wetsand buff buff buff and some more buff and she will be ready to put together hahaha.

****for those of you wondering why I have posted so many pictures and details in this thread, its because Mike (swtato) lives about 850 miles away and I want him to get to see everything thats being done, he cant just drop in the shop anytime he wants.

 

[swtato]

Ok, here are the new pics Jake sent me. He has done an incredible job and I cannot begin to express how grateful I am. Jake has the car sitting outside in his lot so it is a little dusty back there.

I still can't believe this is my car!

 

[swtato]

We have wetsanded the entire car with 1500 grit sand paper, we are now going back over the entire car with 2000 grit sand paper. Once its complete we will buff everything out with a wool pad and a special compound, wash, foam pad, and then de swirl. I cant wait to see the results.

 

[MYBAD79]

wow.... that's looking great. Awesome documentation :1st:

 

[saudivette]

Man, that is beautiful. Great write up (or maybe pic up??) and the end result is gorgeous :thumbs::thumbs:

 

[mrvette]

Sure looks purdy....gotta love it, really nice super job....

I do have to ask, in all honestly it looked gorgeous on the first delivery....certainly seemed nice enough for MY standards....

You going for the super show car winner, I guess.... methinks you got it....

 

[swtato]

Sure looks purdy....gotta love it, really nice super job....

I do have to ask, in all honestly it looked gorgeous on the first delivery....certainly seemed nice enough for MY standards....

You going for the super show car winner, I guess.... methinks you got it....

Actually, the paint was crap! It was a crapy repaint and if you look at the first picks the paint on the halo is oxidized to the primer almost and the were cracks and chips everywhere.

You may have thought it looks good in this pic, but my Pace Car is actually the one int the driveway not the one by the curb.