Fresh New Look!

One of the more transformative and difficult tasks on the menu for Project 68 is paint and body work. Everyone knows how time-consuming and difficult the overall process is but we are up for the challenge!

Starting with the car as it sat, it was full of primers, paints, old bondo and rattle-can aftermath, etc. A lot of yuck that simply had to go, so the decision was made to go all the way to bare metal. This was a 12-month process (with racing in the middle) that began with an SCT and eventually transitioned to hand sanding and cleaning.

After a ton of research on the process I’ve come to the conclusion that the appropriate way to do this – in my opinion – is to go to bare metal, epoxy primer to seal it, sandwich method for bodywork and epoxy primer again to fully seal. Body work and paint in general is a “Ask 10 people, get 15 answers” industry, so using best judgment and people I trust while staying moving was my game plan. I did not want to get into analysis paralysis with the process and understood that at points, I’m going to screw up. Just go with it and do your best.

Doing this on a budget was also the biggest challenge as expensive paints were not only not a desire but not financially logical for a race car. Summit Racing Equipment to the rescue with very affordable epoxy primers and filler that turned out to be a stellar buy.

After getting the entire car to bare metal, the sandwich method was applied and after filling near 250+ hail damage dings, she doesn’t look half bad!

While there are still plenty of spots to fill yet I am planning a high-build with a built-in guide coat when the time comes so now that the car is at a stopping point to enjoy. We will prepare the future with high-build, sealer and match it to the paint I will be using in the future, Gun Metal Grey Metallic!