Well heres the situation. I am losing faith in my car. or should I say me. I have been saving all summer for a paint job since my car is still primer gray. And I had the money almost together and I bought all new emblems and door handles, locks, window sweaps, mirrors and ect. then my wife gets laid off and me and we need to use the money. So I was contimplating selling it. She says no and I am undecided. Because it feels like the finished product is so far away money wise and time wise. I drive truck so my weekends are the only time I have. I need to be talked out of a bad decision. Has anyone here ever paint there own vette. and how did it work out. I have quite a bit of ability and all the tools including a gravity feed gun. But I was thinking of just putting a paint job on it and when I save the money again get a good one. It is killing me with all these nice rides out there and I drive mine around all primered out. (I cant stay out of it) Need help guys please.

PS anyone know where to get the euro taillights for the c3's I saw them once and they looked really cool.

Thanks
Steve

 

For starters, do NOT sell your Vette...

I will tell you, that my last project car was a 1970 Buick Riviera... It was a turd when I bought it...

And everyone kept telling me it would NEVER be a decent ride...

And then, to make matters worse, about the time I was ready to start really rolling on the project, my wife, as Darth Vader said "failed me for the last time," and the divorce began...

But strangely, the car almost became "therapy" for me... And I took the entire car to bare metal and back to a completed paint-job in 3 months... I bought the "how to paint a car" book by John Kosmoski (founder of House of Kolor), and enlisted the promise of a friend who shoots paint on show-cars, that if I did exactly what he specified, he'd shoot, cut and buff, and polish my car for $1500...!!!

Reading the book to get the basic ideas of bodywork, and then having Josh (the painter) visit every other week, I was able to take a POS and turn it into a show-car!!! My total investment- materials, top-of-the-line Urethene metallic-pearl paint, clear-coat, all sandpaper and other sundries... AND paying Josh to do his magic on the car....? Was $6K. And Josh told me that most shops- to do an equally nice job- would have required a $10K check, JUST to start... :shocked:

You wanna' see what the results can be??? Try
http://www.geocities.com/breathial1967/pictures1.html

It is the FIRST car I've ever attempted bodywork on, and (with Josh's instructions) it came out far better than I dared hope...

Though the pictures do not do it justice, the paint was absolutely gorgeous- a metallic pearl plum color, with shaved handles and trunk latch, tastefully dechromed and the body arrow-straight!

But keep in mind, I put over 600 hours of time into the body, before it was shot...

The point, you may ask??? If you want to have the car look sweet, then get as educated as you can before you lay hands on the body... Talk to other forum members... And get somebody local, whose work you have seen, to guide you... Be patient, take your time... And do the bodywork. When it's as GOOD as you can make it, then take it to the shop whose work you saw, and let them finish it...

You'll have a sweet ride, you'll have the satisfaction that the reason it's so sweet is because YOU did the hard work... And you'll save a bundle, in the process!!!

 

I agree. Keep the car. There are several on here that have done their own paint work and their cars look great. My insisted that I not do it in my garage. It is attached to the house so I farmed the paint job out. Plus I don't have all the tools. Sounds like you have the tools already, so you are on your way. I say keep and shoot it yourself.

 

Man you guys are fast typers

Steve step back and take little time off the vette and don't make any quick decision until things have calmed down a little, this way you won't regret it later.

As for painting it yourself if you have good tools and a place to do it I would consider doing it myself. Their are three things that make a quality paint job FIRST IS PATIENCE on your part, you need to take your time and read everything on this subject.
Lars has some great articles on this at corvettefaq.com and for Gods sake have the patience not to cut corners!!!!!!!!!!!!! SECOND a paint job is only as good as it’s PREP AND BODY WORK!!!!!!!!!!! PATIENCE hear is key!!!!!!!!!!!! THIRD is gun technique a little practice hear is key, remove hood and prep the back side of the hood and do your painting their first and practice a few coats/runs their first then I would do the head lights (removed of course) and move on to the door jams, Hopefully your gun technique will be getting good enough to tackle those long smooth sides and Hood top that will show up FLAWS LIKE THE FLASHING BLUE LIGHT AT KMART.

Some advice when you are sick and tired and can't stand to do any more prep and body work YOU ARE ONLY HALF WAY DONE push yourself to do more and more and more this will effect the outcome.

Good Luck AND keep her if you can

 

Thanks guys I really appriciate the feedback.

 

Don't sell the vette !
I bought a 1981 Red vette out of Arkansas thinking $ 5500 was a good price for a car that had never been wrecked except what looked like minor damage to the nose and running light framing . It was supposed to be a new engine with only 300-400 miles on it . I started aqumilating the fiberglass nose , all new interior , Bad *** stereo sysem , and got started on all the body work . I noticed cracks in the drivers side fender so I decided to strip the whole front end down to the glass and what I found was horrifying . The fender had been wrecked and instead of fiberglassing it to repair it , they had used bondo to cover this all up and the new red paint on the car was a sell item . It was all a cover up and boy did I get screwed . The supposed new motor was a freshly painted 305 come to find out and wasnt even close to new . The mistake that was made with the paint job is that like alot of others do , they went the cheap route and used laquer primer grey on it . DON'T MAKE THIS SAME MISTAKE ! Use Urethene primer and paint and if your car is already grey with laquer primer , than strip it back down and take all that laquer primer off . If you dont , soon after you paint it ... the paint will start bubbling up in places where the laquer primer has broke loose . The paint job will be a waste of your time and hard earned money .
Needless to say , I stripped my whole vette down to the fiberglass and sealed it with urethene primer and am getting ready to paint it back red . I am building a 355 chevrolet engine with a 671 blower on top of it and have a brand new transmission ready as well . I just installed a monoleaf front suspension kit on it and am ancious to drive it to see how it rides now .
My point ....
I started to sell my vette long before all this work began but if I had sold it , I would have been sick to my stomach soon after .
I love the car and have basically used it for theropy (broke my neck) to regain my abilities of a normal person . I have invested $17000 to $20000 in this car and I know it will be hard to get it back out of it but its one nice ride and there is no better feeling to me than driving a vette . I have done all the work on the car myself , being that my whole life has been working as a mechanic and body man for General Motors . I also had just went through a divorce .
Keep the car and build it like you want it !