There's finally paint on my car after 21 mos in the body shop!

[Dennis K]

Well, it's been a long wait for this day. After owning this car since 1984 and having it in the body shop for 21 months, it's finally painted! Now I just have to wait for them to do the buffing and paint the tail panel and the area behind the grille, and the insides of the doors, then put on the Bumblebee stripe, then it's back home for good and the reassembly starts! As soon as I find out when it will be home, I'm going to schedule some vacation time from work and move into my garage and start working. I told my wife she might not see me for a few months. Here's a couple of pics. The shop was crowded, so I couldn't get far enough away to get the whole car, but here they are anyway.

[73ChargerSE]

What color is that?  Looks good man.

[Goldfinger71]

 

[Charger-Bodie]

Turbine Bronze?    LOOKING GOOD !!!!

[Back N Black]

Looks great Dennis  I know the feeling ,I just got mine back after 22 months.The hard part is over,its all down hill from here.

[BigBlockSam]

 

[Crazy Larry]

just wondering why it took so long - 22 months?

was it a financial thing or was there a waiting list of cars before you?

A friend of mine just had his '32 Ford painted at a shop locally, and they took more than a few weeks - dragging their feet - and then he ultimately had threaten legal action to get it finished after 2 months - that seemed like an eternity to get a car painted....

...and then I read your post and I can't believe it. My friend has nothing to complain about now.

[BigBlockSam]

just wondering why it took so long 

cuz, most body shops suck . i went almost 2 yrs and got my car back in pieces . 

[tan top]

looks good 

[CB]

like that color! good luck with the build up 

[skip68]

   Looks real good. 

[Dennis K]

Thanks for all the compliments, guys. The color is MM1 Bronze Poly, or Turbine Bronze in Plymouth lingo. The reason it is taking so long is because the guy who is working on it is the owner of a body shop and doesn't get as much time to work on it as he'd like. He has a few guys working for him, and one of them has a day off, he has to work on the insurance jobs that have to be out the door fast. There are also some days he gets stuck in the office all day, too. Most body shops won't touch old car restorations since there is no money in it. When he first came out to look at my car in May of '05, he told me he wouldn't do it if I were to give him a deadline, or if I wanted him to give me an estimate or a price quote that he had to stick to. Guys that do the quality of work that he does can afford to be picky about what they work on. He works on older car restorations in his spare time because he loves to do it, even though he doesn't make much money on it, so sometimes the resto work gets put on the back burner so he can catch up on the money making jobs. He came and picked up the car in October of '05, and it started out as a bare unibody shell on a rotisserie, soda blasted down to bare metal, so it's come a long way since then. If I were the kind of customer that wanted it done fast and cheap and good quality too, he would have told me where to go and what to do when I got there. All in all, I am happy with the work I am getting, even though it is taking a long time and costing a lot of money.

[Brock Samson]

i got mine in '84 too, i sure hope you could drive her at least some of that time... after all that you must be pretty stoked to see fresh paint on the old girl... i had mine painted and the holes in the metal patched in '89 cost $10 K then,.. now it's ready for it's third paint job since i owned it.. (the paint on their now done in '99 was a cheap quicky job) anyhow yours looks great! Congrats! how proud you must be... 

[Silver R/T]

looks nice

[41husk]

just wondering why it took so long 

cuz, most body shops suck . i went almost 2 yrs and got my car back in pieces . 

I have to agree, i have found a good painterand now have my Challenger in line to get some paint on it.

[hemi-hampton]

It's pretty much like Dennis K says unless you have a car that just gets the Blow & Go Scuff & Paint treatment. Then you might as well go to Earl Scheib or Maaco for that. If your doing a 3 month resto on a car & a guy comes in with a dented fender needing repaint & it's a one day job you dont tell him come back in 3 months when I'm done with the resto, he was in line before you, NO, The resto gets pushed aside for one day. Problem is another dented fender guy comes in then another & another & your car keeps getting pushed back for 22 months or 5 years. That will happen in almost all body shops unless they only specialize in Older Resto's only & no new car. So, In a nutshell take to a Resto Shop only & dont say I want it done in 2 weeks for $2 grand. Hope that answers your Question. LEON.

[chargerrt]

Looking BEAUTIFUL!!!  I'm loving it 

[Dennis K]

Just bringing this back to page 1 so I can show some guys here at work without hunting for it.

[hemi68charger]

Good for you !!!!  Looks like MM1 Broonze, no?

I can sympathize with you.. My body man had my car for 5 years......... Finally got it back, yet have to take it back soon to reshoot the engine bay and underside.... Outside of the car is gorgeous though...... Sooo, you hot and heavy putting her back together?

[Dennis K]

Yes, it's MM1 Bronze, and I am very eager to get it home and start working on it. I just hope I can slow myself down enough to make sure I do everything right.  I've seen the pics you posted of your turquoise car, too, and I think it's gorgeous. I also like your idea of putting a white vinyl top on instead of black. So keep your pics coming and I will try to do the same.