What would it cost if...,,

[D S.]

....your vintage Corvette was painted like it was when it was new?

Scott Sims
Texas Chspter

[Michael H.]

Re: What would it cost if...,,

....your vintage Corvette was painted like it was when it was new?

Scott Sims
Texas Chspter

Good luck. The first hurdle would be trying to find someone willing to do it the way the boys did it at the plant. No sanding of the fiberglass. No sanding of the primer in any areas other than the hood, deck, tops of fenders and doors.
The bodies on most old Corvettes are already way past ever looking like they did when new. The bottoms sections of doors and fenders have already been block sanded to remove ripples and waves. And, quite unfortunately, the louvers have been sanded smooth, removing the natural grain of the raw glass. (yup, these areas were never sanded smooth, by anyone) Leave the rough grinder scars on the forward section of the front fender opening lip. Etc etc....

All body men/painters feel that they have to make everything smooth and perfect so the customer is satisfied.

Then to achieve the correct look for non direct hit areas everywhere, you would need the same type of spray equipment that was used on the assy line. High pressure, pressure feed spray gun.

Then you need special paint, not available to the public. This special paint is called "reflow formula" and is designed to reflow/gloss up at a specific temperature range. That means it can land somewhat dry and slightly rough but still come out high gloss after the reflow baking process.

And probably dozens of other reasons why a genuine factory original appearing full repaint is not possible.

[Adam S.]

Re: What would it cost if...,,

Scott, probably about a little cheeper than todays 10K jobs ,that is if laquar paint was plentiful & not EPA restricted, lots of opinions on this subject, I would think there would be manny more backyard people painting there cars because lacquar is very easy to spray but more laborsome to add the extra coats needed for a nice finish that could last many buffings & waxings needed to keep up the shine on street used cars as in golden days gone by

[Loren L.]

Re: What would it cost if...,,

To add to Michael's list, perhaps virtually one partial paint coat between the park lights on C2s; overspray blackout everywhere; glue drippings from yellow weatherstrip cement virtually following the pathway of the applier, never anything "trailer queen" unless it was a factory show car.
To illustrate, in 2002 at Monterey, I had a gentleman spend 20 minutes telling me he was an expert with plexiglas and that he could polish the edges of the cutout in my hardtop's rear window for the gas fill. I responded that that would be interesting, but it would be a waste of $75. He quickly stated his services would be free. I told him the $75 I was referring to was for the enlargement of the gas fill area in a 1960 photo so that I could learn that the edges were NOT polished and to determine the length of the stainless steel screws. He probably still does not understand.

[Ken P.]

Re: What would it cost if...,,

Just take it to the blind man on 10th and Main, he doesn't charge much.

[Rich P.]

Re: What would it cost if...,,

More than you think. Your paying for knowladge not sloppieness!!!

[D S.]

Re: What would it cost if...,,

With respect to C-1 through C-3s just how many paint coats were applied on top of the primer? Remember....most of us know that there were runs and carelessly painted areas on new cars back in the day. Today's Corvettes that we see at Regional and National NCRS events make the cars look "heavily laden" with paint making the process way expensive. So, if an owner took his/her Corvette to a reputable paint shop and said, "Paint it like it was painted back in 19XX" wouldn't you think that the lack of quality would make for a lesser expensive paint job but resemble more like it was supposed to? When a person restores a car isn't that a part of restoration process---to make it like it was?

[Rich P.]

Re: What would it cost if...,,

To add to what Mike H said, the neuances that go into the body of an early Corvette can only be learned by many years of working on truly unmolested cars.

Just a few examples.

Do you know that the hood surround of a 63-67 corvette should have gently radiused edges on the hood gap (except the front edge of 63's) while the edge of the hood should have very sharp edges because it was ground to fit?

Same applies for the convertable deck lid gap/edges.

Do you also know the the front wheel well opening of a C-2 should have a sharp edge and grind marks on the lip from cleaning the bond agent from the dog leg bonding strip, while the remaining edge of the wheel well will have a very pronounced radius?

Have you seen the underside of a front lower valance bond seam to the parking lamp panel? Do you know that the top part of that seam should have a slight build up of glue because the fixture to clamp the panes in place left a slight gap? Same goes for the rear 1/4 to tail light panel joint under the bumper mounting boss.

I could go on and list hundreds of items like this for each model year. And to clarify when I say "YOU" I don't mean you personaly, I'm using it as a general term for all interested!!

Now you have only started to talk about the body prep not even the painting aspect. There are ways to duplicate with both lacquer and new paints, the factory finish. That would take a small book to explain. What I tried to do with my previous post was to over simplify the answer. I will guarntee you this of all the people who have tha abilaty to paint a car 99.999% don't have the understanding of what it would take to do a true factory job.

To specifically answer your question. It would take more labor to prep a car for a factory paint job than a typical restoration paint job.

Hope this helps, Rich

[Richard S.]

Re: What would it cost if...,,

Regarding the reflow paint, it is my understanding that this process only works at temps above 375 degrees. While this is perfect for steel it would cause fiberglass to soften and melt, thus buffing was used on laquar paint to produce the shine.

[Rich P.]

Re: What would it cost if...,,

Corvettes were baked at 185 degrees. Steel cars baked at 375 (or 350) degrees. Before the steel cars were baked they woud sand the top surfaces and they heat would "reflow" or melt into an flatter surface. Corvettes were not sanded before just baked. This is why they would buff from the belt line up on corvettes to flatten the peel a little.

Rich

[Michael H.]

Re: What would it cost if...,,

Regarding the reflow paint, it is my understanding that this process only works at temps above 375 degrees. While this is perfect for steel it would cause fiberglass to soften and melt, thus buffing was used on laquar paint to produce the shine.