I have a customer that would like me to repair and repaint her 72 vette.
I have not seen the car yet so my discription and questions will be general ones. I am told it has damage around the hood hinges, can this be repaired? Also it has been painted a few times and will need to be stripped. Is either soda blasting or plastic blasted an ok method of paint removal on a Vette. I have done a few spot repairs on Vettes one had a lot of what I would call spider cracks in the paint. I just sanded it down to the primer and reprimed and color coated and cleared and the spider cracks did not re-appear. I thought at the time that it could possible of been painted with a Lacquer paint which over time will spider crack. My understanding is that this year of car does not have a gel coat and one would not have to be sprayed on this car, is this correct.? Enough for now I am sure when or if I get this car in the shop there will be more questions. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Rondo

 

Depends on the extent of the damage.

Yes

Factory fiberglass was not gel-coated.

 

Is the damage around the hood hinges, on the hood or the inner fender skirts? It's pretty common for the hinge area, of the hood underside reinforcement, to crack and even come loose. This is especially true if the car has been hit. These can be fixed, but the cracks often come back, because of the loading and fibration, in this area.

If it's cracking in the area of the inner fender, this isn't to uncommon either. There is a reinforcement under each hinge, that often go missing. The inner skirts can be repaired, and if the reinforcements are in place, repairs here shouldn't effect rigidity.

You can media blast or chemically strip a Corvette. I would want someone familiar with striping Corvettes, do it though.

The 72 Corvette originally was painted with laquer. All Corvettes built prior to Sept. 81 (at the St. Louis MO plant), were painted with laquer. When Chevrolet switched Corvette production to Bowling Green KY, in June 1981, laquer was replaced with base coat/clear coat enamel. If the 72 still has original paint, it will be laquer.

In 1972, the Corvette was still using fiberglass panels. Later years used SMC, instead of fiberglass. Media blasting or chemical striping wil often expose fiberglass strands. As such, once the body has been striped, it may be neccessary to gelcoat it, to properly seal it. Ecklers makes a spray gelcoat, that a lot of people swear by. There are also many good sealer primers available, that will work well with the original fiberglass. I would inquire of your paint supplier, as to what they recommend for resealing fiberglass.

 

Rondos: send GB and me $475 each for professional consulting.

 

Hi R,
My first suggestion is to be very careful about talking price with the customer until the paint and primer are off the car. It's only at this point that you'll know what's going to be involved.
I give the same advice to owners... the shop can't really give you a price until the car is naked.
Good Luck as you get going!
Regards,
Alan

 

Thanks a lot for all the replies. Very helpful, I might even get my first look at the car in a day or two. I do not give price quotes on any of my jobs. When you work on old stuff you just know that you are not looking at all the damage. I give and hourly rate and bill every $1000.00 dollars. Work stops on the car until payment is recieved. In doing this for 26 years I have only had one customer not pay. His car is sitting in my car haul trailer and will stay there until I get a title or payment. Again thanks for the help, I am sure I will be picking the brains of the experts a lot during this project.
If I only had addresses I could send out that $4.95 advice fee.
Thanks again,
Rondo

 

Just jerkin' your chain. Good luck with the customer's car.

 

Yea, I know. Talked with my potential customer again last night. It is funny how little things just pop up. Like the guy she bought it from move the headlight below the bumper. No big deal right??? I guess the guy only intended to race the car so he moved them down. I can hardly wait to see this thing. I guess maybe I should start looking for another hood. I anyone has somewhere I could look it would be appreciated. I know I won't find one in the middle of Wyoming.
Rondo

 

It depends on which hood you need. The regular small block used a different hood than the one shared by the LT-1 and 454.

Good used small block hoods can be picked up for a few hundred dollars. New hand laid fiberglass replacement ones sell for around $700, while exact repro press molded fiberglass hoods run $1,100. Used big block/LT-1 hoods sell for $600-$1,000, with new ones costing about the same as new small block hoods.

ACI fiberglass sells excellent hand laid hoods and Sermershiem's in Evansville Indian, makes the best correct press molded hoods.

 

There is a paint section down below on the forum. You might get the best info there.

 

Thanks for all the input. It gives me a good start. Haven't heard anymore from the customer so I will just kind of wait now and see what develops from here.
Rondo