It’s hard for me to believe, but my brother backed into my vette last evening. His mini-van bumper just missed my front bumper & took a swipe of paint about 12 inches long & about 6 inches high & put two minor cracks in the fender.

I bought the car this last winter. It’s a 71 with 42,000 original miles & no hits. Excellent shape.

I wanted to get some advice about what can be done.

I want to be fair, but I am going to require that the fix be correct for this car.

Can 30 year old paint be matched properly?
Does the paint need to come off any areas to be painted?

What needs done, Help!

Thanks in advance!
:flag

 

I figured it was just "soccer mom" drivers that were careless, turns out that anyone behind the wheel of a minivan is a menace :jester
The cracks are an easy fix but I bet that there will be no way to match the paint properly.

 

This is a real shame. Agree it will be impossible to match the paint. You would never be happy with the repair on a partial repaint basis. Only proper way to fix it, unfortunately, is to paint the entire car. Hope you and your brother are still speaking..... :cheers:

 

Wow sorry to hear that....That will not be cheap!! :eek:

 

What color is the car?
If you take some of the flaking paint to a profeshional paint shop, they can run test on it and give you a breakdown of the pigmint so you can very closely match your paint. An experianced painter should be able to blend in the damaged area very well.


[Modified by Wightnite, 5:08 PM 6/7/2002]

 

you can match it... it will be tough, but it can be done

 

Relax...it happens. The nice thing about vettes is that the body is fiberglass, so no damage gets done to the frame in these situations...it's just cosmetic destruction. The fender can be mended easily...you can do it yourself if you want. You should take the car to a classic/antique auto painter. They have the most experience at matching and blending paint. What they will probably do is wet sand the whole front clip and hood, then paint and blend so everything matches back up to the windshield and doors. It won't be noticeable if they do it right.

For another thought...you could consider this an opportunity to paint the entire car. Get the expensive paint, but do it yourself...it's a blast! Otherwise it will cost you upto $3,000 for a decent paint job. another option is to do your own wet sanding, buy your own paint, then take it to MAACO or one of the other body shops that paint like 10 cars a day. They usually have the best deals, but the shops around where I live told me they don't paint classic cars.

 

I will give you a happy story - many years back I took my '71 to the dealer to fix a steering problem. When I retreived the car, I found a 12" gash in the side, right above the "Stingray". Happened to match the exact height of the rolling tool box in the shop, which had flecks of War Bonnet Yellow on it... Hmmmm. The body shop at the dealer matched the color so well that to this day (ten years later) no one can tell the side was damaged down to the fiberglass threads. A good shop can get a good match on your color. No guarantees, but it can happen! :yesnod:

 

Well, Mike...a crispy $50 says you won't be happy with a paint match attempt. You will be able to tell...especially YOU.
In my opinion, this is what we pay our insurance premiums for. Whatever you do, make sure you will be 110% satisfied. After all...it IS a Corvette.
Weasle :cool:

 

The color is steel city grey.

 

It's gonna be tough mike. if memory serves me (and it gets worse all the time) the 70s chevys were still single stage laquer. silvers and greys fade pretty fast too, specially here in vegas where the sun really gives em a beating. look around for a shop that has some old time painters and you might be able to find someone that can still burn a blend on it. i know a couple here that could, it can be done. if it was bc / cc no prob. good luck man and i feel your pain.

 

That was my original color also. My advice:

1. Register your car at http://www.71corvette.com :yesnod: we need all the members we can get.

2. If you ever wanted to have your car judged for originality, do so now, then goto step 3.

3. Have car repainted, new paint will make steel cities look all the better.

 

Ya, and then your rates go up 'cause you had a claim. Just have your brother pay for the fix. Don't go through insurance, trust me.

 

You got me to register when I joined the forum. Thanks!

Without thinking the other night I said "I didn't even get a chance to have the car judged". That made my little brother feel real good. I think he was about ready to throwup, in fact that day he got a pretty bad sun burn, moving around real careful and all, and after hitting my car he said he didn't feel the burn the rest of the night, that pain just went away.

Thanks for the advice about fixing before judging. I wondered about that. Do you know how many opportunities over the summer I might have living in Wyoming, Billings MT 2hrs, Rapid City SD 3hrs, Denver CO 7hrs away.

After hearing from you guys, (and by the way, thank you very much) and doing some thinking, my stand is, that if I can't find a shop to agree that they can fix it by keeping the repair very local and blending or feathering the paint in, that if they need to paint the whole fender, clip or front end, that the existing paint needs to come off then repaint. I had no imediate plans to repaint the car, but I know when the time came that I would do it just as the restorations books I have, say to do it. Strip it then repaint.

I have an original car with one coat of paint. I spent a lot of time reading and doing researching before even looking. I had to travel 1800 miles to buy this car. It seems to me that in this case my stand on what needs done is fair. If some of you don't, please resond & give me your thoughts.

Thanks again!

Mike

 

It's an accident, they happen. This is not a moving/driving violation on your part. Your brother has insurance for this (hopefully). Your insurance rates will not go up, they do not need to know about it at all. Have the car repaired by his insurance company. If for some reason he has no insurance, your policy probably covers you under 'uninsured motorist'. In this case have it repaired by your insurance and have him pay the deductable. Your insurance will not go up in either case. :cheers: