65 GS Post Coupe Restoration (Painting)

[cwmcobra]

Yes, "fun" can have many meanings....

[option B9]

  Hi Everyone, The good news is that I have my 65GS coupe back home. The bad news is that I had to remove it from the Paint/Body Shop. After paying the balance owed last month the GS is painted, but the paint & final fit and finish is so poor that I had to end the 19 month game. I took a total loss of $12,000 plus transport fees. So I'm back to where I started from with more of a mess..
   I asked several of my automotive/hobby friends to come over this week so we can look over the GS together and I can get a better idea of the damage and how to get this project back on track. As it sits right now the nose and trunk lid need to be realigned since the doors and fenders are rubbing together and the paint has peeled off already and the blistered red two stage paint needs to be removed. I will update this posting after the meeting.

            Tony 

[GS66]

There are so many body shop horror stories. I am sorry you have one of them now. Good luck as you forge ahead!

[35chevcoupe]

SUCKS to even hear this Tony . I feel for ya , thats probably one of the biggest reasons it takes me awhile to get things done here at home. Weather its working on one of my cars or my house i try and do as much as i can myself  because its hard to find help these days that take pride in they're work .
Hope you get things figured out .

[cwmcobra]

That's depressing Tony!  The more of these stories I hear, the more I feel blessed to have had a good experience with my painter.  He's even become a very good personal friend.  It doesn't get much better than that.

There is a similar story around how I came to acquire the Verde Howitzer.  The previous owner paid a "friend" who owned a body shop to repaint this car and another.  If I remember, he paid about $20k up front.  The shop owner disassembled the front end of the car, put it in primer, then took his money and left town.  So, he decided to sell it and I am the lucky beneficiary.

Sure hope you can find a capable and trustworthy painter and that you can salvage at least a part of the work that's been done. 

 

Chuck

[elagache]

So sorry to hear this has happened to your car Tony!   

Indeed I hope that you can get some constructive advice from your friends in the classic car community on how to recover from this very serious setback.

Edouard

[kcombs]

So sorry to hear about your ordeal with the paint shop. I think I will do my own painting from now on, I'm not a show car guy, so "driver" is good enough for me.

[Jim]

Sorry to hear about your paint  problems  it always seems like the stuff you can't  do yourself bites you.had our own problems on a different car brother-in-law  is a professional  painter doing our car paint body off frame .had trouble with metallic running when cleared had the big factory rep come to show us how to paint they reformulated the paint 4 times  still splotches  cleam shop ,sand,and remask car each time .so much paint on the car it started to blister on strip it all off and start over .went  to ppg it worked alot better.good luck.ji

[option B9]

Thanks for the support everyone, Yes, It's a setback but not the end ! Tomorrow is the meeting and we will come up with a plan to get the body aligned. Then either somehow repair or replace the damaged paint. If we decided It needs a total re-paint, well that's what I will do.
   The Silver GS Suspension upgrade is on hold because we are waiting for rear suspension parts from OPGI that are on back order since the middle of last month and may not be in until next month. So whatever the plan is for the Red Coupe is going to happen ASAP since I have the time now. And the weather here in NYC will be nice for another two weeks.
   
             Thanks for the support.
                                                 Tony 

[Jim]

Hi, the thing with two stage paint is it chemically  hardens if it sat to long between coats without a good resanding it can start bubbling on you down the road better to restart from bare metal.Jim

[schlepcar]

That is a shame?I don?t know why people can?t just do what they say they will do. Maybe you can do a little digging on your own and make lighter of the situation. Is it possible to communicate with the painter to find out what materials were used ? The type of primer,paint,clear would be good. I guess my concern is what you are calling blisters and perhaps a close pic of them. Providing prep was professional there may be some remedy to what appears to be a disaster. The trunk is just a constant alignment that either is adjusted to fit or not. It can be aligned by sliding in the hinges if they are not bent and should not be a problem. The doors are harder and if they are adjusted nice now?do not touch. If they are not you may as well just remove the fenders and start over. Giving the shop any credit may be wrong on my part but hopefully doors fit and you can shim fenders to get gaps on doors then make sure core support is adjusted so hood has straight gaps. All of this MUST be done before you can do the paint the way you want it. Building up paint materials is a bad idea and if you can correct sheet metal alignment you may be able to correct the paint next by simple repairs and reclearing the panel that needs repair. If the finish is what you would call TERRIBLE, it can be block sanded with 800 grit wet paper and two coats of clear will take care of it. The blisters are the problem because poor paint finish and poor prep are two different issues.

[gssizzler]

Sorry to hear this! These cars are costly and hard enough to get done as it is! I have dealt with similar situations myself! Glad you got your car back and in one piece! Even though the workman ship is crap! Leave a great review on the web site!! Seems like the amount of people that are turds is growing every day! I know of two people who had to get the police involved to get there cars back from body shop/restoration place robbers!  One was a 63 split window corvette the other was a 65 gto convertible! Gto was missing many key parts that were stripped off and sold!

[option B9]

         Hi Everyone, Wow ! thanks for all the support. I really do appreciate it. That's the fuel that keeps me going. 
    My friends came over after lunch. 3 friends with 3 different opinions, but they all came to one conclusion.. No need for a re-paint, I just might be able to sand out some of the paint defects. The others I will just have to suck up and deal with. The nose must come forward and the left side of the trunk lid below the rear window is lifted up a bit and we have no Idea of adjustments, so if any of you know how to correct this please post. Also the engine compartment and interior, including the under dash wiring harness  is full of white compound and body shop dust. The new drivers seat is dirty plus it looks like they may have spilled clearcoat or thinner on it. Most of the bolts holding the the fenders are missing too. The 12 volt battery. was so dead it would not take a charge, so yesterday I purchased a new 800 amp battery. This morning the Nailhead started right up and ran fine, But I'm sure all that dried compound is not doing the engine any good..
   
    In the original post on November 1st I did not state the reason for  the quick exit of the GS. The owner could not pay his electrical bill so they shut his service off  last month. And while I was there on the morning of October 31 the Fire Department came in for an inspection of the fire suppression units for the spray booth. They were a year overdue !! So I knew next was the county or township coming back to shut him down and my GS might be gone forever.. So on the flatbed it went. It's not a happy ending, but it could have been much worse.
    Oh, forgot to say that after the meeting today the wrenches came out and we started working. The right fender is good now. The left fender and hood will be worked on Saturday afternoon.  And I have an Auto Body supply house 10 minutes away so getting the correct paint & supplies is not a problem.
    I will take some photos on Saturday and post them over the weekend.
 Thanks to all of you for the paint tips & support.
              
  A special thanks to Robert-V of this website.  A friend & fellow Long Islander that read my post on Monday night and called me yesterday afternoon and let me vent for an hour !    
                                      Tony
 

[cwmcobra]

Tony,

if I understand your trunk lid issue correctly, it should be fixable with a shim between the trunk lid and the hinge.  Seems counterintuitive, but if you place a shim of about the same thickness as how far you want to lower the lid, it should fix the problem.  I did that on the Verde Howitzer and the lid lays very nicely flat at its upper corners.  You'll probably have to try different shim thicknesses but should find a good fit. 

Use whatever shims you might have available to determine the thickness required, then order the appropriate thickness of shims from Inline Tube.  I used both INL 10482 (0.056") and INL 10483 (0.116").  In my case I needed different shim thickness on the two sides.  Whan satisfied, paint the shims body color and install them.

Good luck!

Chuck

[schlepcar]

Trunk shims on the verde car ? I finally found something to pick apart on what appears to be a perfect car?.lol. That is an excellent idea if you can get by without them showing. If it is off too far you can simply rebend what is likely a bent hinge. I believe I put 2X4 between body and hinge and put light pressure opening trunk against wood. After several attempts a little at a time I was successful. When doing doors,trunk,and hood it is best to remove the latch or striker until you are happy with fit. Most of these larger trunk lids have had some stretching past the point of normal over the years so this is all quite normal when preppi