Time to get this project going. I bought this car 15 yrs. ago and it has sat in my garage ever since. So I decided this is the year I will complete the project. Here are a few shots of the before. The car had been hit in the rear, not too bad of damage but it did give it a salvage title. Over the years I have went to the Corvette Expo here close to my town where they have a big car show and venders selling parts. I have bought different things over the years and just tossed them inside the vette to sit. I just recently bought a complete top with rear glass up grade, complete with mechanism and all for $450 and this top is in very good condition. Any way my car has been at the shop for 3 weeks now getting its check up. Replacing all the fluids, belts, hoses, vacum lines, new water pump and a few other items. Lucky for me my brother-in-law is a GM certified tech who owns his own shop! We go to paint this weekend I hope. My question is would you remove the top before paint also would you have the new windshield installed before or after paint? Do I remove the mirrors(I've heard it's a pain to paint with them on the car) I will keep you guys posted and updated with pictures.
Oh, I have also uploaded a shot of my tail lights that I cleaned up this weekend. 1000 grit paper then 1500grit then 3000 grit followed by rubbing compound finished off with polishing compound.

 

Everybody needs hobby, and that should keep you busy for while, hopefully not 15 years.

 

awesome job on the tail lights!

 

Remove the top, install the windshield after fresh paint. Your paint guy will thank you!

 

This is beautyful! ***cries tears of joy***

 

Please keep us updated on the progress.

 

Take the mirrors off too. You'll be glad you did. No paint seam around them.

 

Thanks guys

 

please come back often with pics on progress. also, Im up in Cleveland and on 4th Saturday of month from april till October there is a cruise in around the courthouse and surrounding streets. there are always several vettes there. you should come up and check it out sometime.

 

You can "explode" the car further for paint. i.e. remove front and rear clip and the beltline trim.

 

I have spoke with the painter today, I am taking it to him tomorrow (Saturday). He will tell me what to expect to pay. He has told me over the phone it is up to me how much the cost will be depending on how "nice" I want it, (doors off, rear facia off, etc. ....) I don't want to spend a fortune on this but I do want a clean slick job. This car does have a salvage title therefore I would probably have a harder time selling it. So I may just keep it as a toy. It is fun to knock around in.

 

The salvage title will hurt resale so I think a nice driver quality repaint would be a good idea.
And yes the C4 is a great "toy" to have fun in.

 

Well I went to see my painter yesterday, not good news. Right now I feel like my doctor just told me I have a terminal illness. Like I said before this car had been in a wreck and had been repaired but not the proper way. This guy is not the cheapest painter and he is very particular. He said if he does the job he would take the car apart....remove the doors, hood, rear facia, nose etc. ... He has his shop at his house and his shop is very nice also has a down draft paint booth in there. I did see some of his work..... he's good, real good. I suppose I could find someone cheaper to do the job, or maybe do it myself. We ended up talking for about an hour and a half and turns out we have some of the same friends. I like this guy and he advised me if I am wanting to get rid of the car that it may be cheaper to do the job myself only don't paint it just primer it. He offered to help me with taping it and shooting it if I would get it ready. Sooo I don't know what I'm going to do yet, I need a couple of days to think about it. Here's the situation I am in to this car for about $5200 to $5500 that includes new seat covers, carpet, steering wheel, all new weather stripping, soft top with rear glass upgrade. I have all these things in my garage not installed yet. I was waiting till the car was painted. My problem is I will never get my money back out of this car, remember it has a salvage title. Anything I do from this point on I'm throwing money away or at least that's the way I feel. I need some direction from you guys please.

 

Throwing money away, well you might have a lil "fun" along the way doing these things and then driving the car...
There are a lot worse ways to throw money away ...

And, I would get a "driver" quality paint job, if it were me.

 

I have had several old cars. It is my opinion cars are a hobby to flush with money. Unless you are a business set up for it buying and selling car to make money is hard to do.

If you don't count your labor and can do it your self, you might get more than you spent...not if sure if this is "making" money on it. But if you have to farm out the work, you will never get your money back. It is cheaper to buy a car someone else has finished than to do it your self.

So do it your self with less than professional results and drive it and be happy with what you have. Or put a little into it and sell it.

Flipping houses or cars requires that you not put much money into the project.

Turning a car into something you want for a hobby is a time to forget about money.

JMO.

 

I am going the say Maaco and just get it sprayed in there Premium Quality job then drive it and enjoy what you have. On a Salvage title you will never get even close to what you have in it so now you are between a rock and a hard place....You can dump it and take the loss or drop another $1000-1500 (guessing) at Maaco and have a clean looking driver.

Good Luck,

Karsten

 

Thanks for the advise, I really would like to do this myself but I am limited on space and my compressor will not keep up (not enough CFM) for a D/A so I guess I could use the elbow grease.

 

Id buy a bigger compressor and shoot it your self, looks like your on your way anyhow.

 

As to loosing money first question is. are you going to sell it? I bought a salvage titled 92 back in 98 for 9k drove it three years and sold it for 12k. the way id look at it is if you bought it 15 years ago its sitting there free. Even if you put 7k into paint you no doubt could sell it for 7k in nice shape and probably a bit more. talk about feeling bad about loosing money, how about the guy that bought one new for 35k back in the 80s when 35k was alot of money and kept it pristeen and kept the miles low only to find out his car is only worth 10k in todays money which is about 4k back in the 80s. Corvettes are not a money making deal. If you want to make money roll your dice in the stock market. Think of your vette like this. IF you end up spending 10k to fix it up you have a neat car thats fun to drive for the price of a nice 4x4 atv.

 

You guys make a good point, get that bigger compresser. Also I could recoop my money spent on the paint job aleast, if it is a desent job. Has anyone here painted their car at home in a make shift booth or outside??? Because I need the space, I have a 2 car garage but my wifes 2013 black mustang is in it and I don't really want to park it outside for the duration of my project.