New here, never owned a Mopar … but my mom has a Pacifica …. First heard of this painting alternative on the following thread http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t196565.html , I have been reading the Moparts threads and a number of those linked on the Moparts threads since the original poster put the links in on June 25th 07. The Gen2 Camry I have does not need paint. I first read about the Hot Rod article from one of those links to another site, one of the 2 page mostly negative threads on July 3rd, and have been looking for a copy since, but since they pull them from the shelves by the 25th of the previous month, no luck. Would be happy to get a pdf of it even.

Well the reason I am here (one of them) …. And my first auto paint project since high school 25 years ago, I bought a Del Sol for my kid last year … fixed most problems and had less than half book value into it, then I had a little accident that demoed the hood that already needed replacement and messed up the bumper cover. Since I have only had hit and run or accident problems with RED Cars I have owned and the paint (looks like cheap repaint) on this Del Sol was chalky on top and looking like different spot repairs on the sides, I had already gotten many BC/CC quotes of $2500 and up plus a month or two to fit into shop schedules and complete. I thought this was outrageous for the second smallest car on the american roads and the car has been sitting in my garage for the last year. Good thing I wasn’t looking to get my 90 F150 repainted. I was looking for a color change … but may go to a darker red, like the Pettit Burgundy of 73Bugg, maybe even a two tone, but not black here in the south even though it looks great and seems most of the better paint jobs I have seen are black. I went to Schieb, they had done a reasonable job on my high school car which I had prepped. Their best $799 job (special price is usually $599) …. The ones I saw coming out of the shop at the time at least, had more orange peel than a bushel of oranges, and the 5+ particles of dust per square inch on top made me feel that I would spend an additional $700 removing that paint for a better paint job. I didn’t even try Macco since they quoted me over $250 to paint my grille surround on my 01 Beetle Sport (first time I saw Chargers Beetle, and his wifes Sport I knew they are way cool). Unfortunatly Hurricane Katrina left the shop that did that job totaled.

After the Del Sol … my F150 has dents and scrapes in all panels except the roof and the hood and right fender which were repainted before I bought it. It is white and the OEM single stage paint is holding up great otherwise. Then there is my long lost project, my 73 Mach 1 which was 80% restored (needed seat covers, carpet and headliner) when it got nearly 3 foot of water during a flood in 95, and I have not done much with it since I didn’t have a garage for it most of that time. It has been through 2 more floods that at least reached the floorboards, Katrina and at least 2 other hurricanes that have brought branches and other debris upon it, AND a Tornado swept up my street earlier this year. So it ain’t looking it’s best anymore, and as always, the cost of painting it (again) has been one of the reasons it has sat untouched. I would love to get that 325hp 351C-4V back on the road, but my 20PSI Beetle fits the speed/performance bill nicely, and it’s sneaky too.

Well, Sorry for the length …. I do have a few questions I will ask later on after I have read all of the thread. I do want to know if I am missing some of the threads … I read all 43 pages of Part1, the first 20 of 80 pages of Part 2, and all 24 of Part III, I keep seeing references to “All 200 Pages.” I can’t find more than 147 pages … and even if I include the 40+ page so far Word DOC I have cut and pasted some of the better posts to, I don’t have 200.

Pix of my Del Sol Project I hope to start painting when the weather cools in October or so. I will be working the body and buying tools that I don’t have until then, especially since I can amortize the cost over at least 3 vehicles I have to paint that I currently own.

What my top paint looks like, gotta be worse than that Z ...