Rich, James & everybody:
The waiting is finally over and paint is actually starting to be applied to my 57. The first color being applied is the Pewter. Santini tells me that the paint used actually has a little gold and blue tinge, which he says will both soften and complement the House of Color Tru-Blue & Magic-Blue mix. Frankly, I can't tell one way or another, all I know is that it sure is different than the Colonial White that were on the parts before and most importantly I LIKE IT. Here are a couple of photos taken yesterday.
Bob
57 AGIN
Getting close to happy time! Looking good!
Bob,those are looking great. I like that silver..I'm guessing with the gold he added to the silver, the color is a little warmer than it looks on my monitor. It's really hard getting accurate color renderings on the camera...particularly silvers....should look killer with that blue.
Do you know if he is using a sealer on the outer body panels? Rich
Looking good, Bob...
Rich:
I'm almost positive he is using some kind of sealer, as he's talked about it a couple of times. When I go over later today I'll ask. Last night when I dropped by his shop, I found him sitting on a bucket hand sanding dash pieces (glove box cover, speaker cover, instrument cluster housing). So progress on painting my 57 is still happening, even though he has about 8 or 9 other projects/insurance jobs underway at the same time.
Bob
57 AGIN
Paint looks great Bob.
Any descent paint shop uses a sealer. Hell, even I do. A lot of times they use a reduced
DP 90 or equivelant :004:
Guys:
The final preparation of my 57's body is now done. Santini sprayed the sealer on August 9th and I took a couple of photos of the car, still in the booth, and the basecoat/sealer he used. I think this should answer the questions about the sealer used. Pete said that as long as the sealer is applied less than 10 -12 hours from that of the color coat no additional sanding needs to be done. Sure enough, when I came back on August 10, the painting was started. (See the next set of photos)
Bob
57 AGIN
Guys:
Here is what the Pewter looks like on the body. Wow, it's finally happening. I took the side trim (behind the door to just in front of the tail light bezel) over to the paint shop this morning, so Sanitni can get the transition from Pewter to Blue just the way he wants it.
Bob
57 AGIN
Getting close Bob. If you dont mind, could you send the full res photos to my email? I'd like to see the colors in some more detail....
James:
Be glad to. I was hoping he'd have the blue on the top this morning when I went over to the shop. When I left the shop last night Pete said he was going to try to paint the top later on. Unfortunately, he didn't and the Pewter doesn't really contrast very much with the gray basecoat/sealer, it only looks like a different color of gray (much shinier and smoother).
Bob
57 AGIN
looking great...got to be exciting..kinda like having a new woman! lol. Rich
Thanks for the pics, that pewter looks awesome. I am beginning to wonder how that would look as a twotone with white on my car? I have seen a couple Customs with the smoke grey and colonial white. In fact my last Custom 300 was that combo originally, not sure there is enough contrast though... Your Custom 300 is looking killer though, Bob...Keep us posted ASAP.
James & all:
Still no Blue on the car, bummer. I dropped all the side trim off at the shop yesterday and per Pete's request I gave him 4 fasteners and nylocks to put them on the car temporarily. He wants to make sure everything is properly centered (tape just won't do). He and I are also discussing what goes onto the car inside the Custom 300 side trim on the car from the hockey sticks to the front of the front fender. He's vacillating between a painted on silver leaf treatment and a vinyl 3-dimensional engine turned tape he's used in the past. He says that when you look at the vinyl engine turned tape, it really draws the eyes into the 3-dimensional image. He says a decision on that needs to be made, so he can see how far into the door jams he will take the side trim theme. Right now I'm open to either treatment, as the car is definitely going the resto-mod route not the restoration one.
When I started on the project I'd never dreamed that decisions like that would ever have to be made. This is sure a learning experience for me.
Bob
57 AGIN
Engine turned IMHO.
I'd want to know the lifespan of the vinyl tape before making that decision.
Zap- :unitedstates:
Zapato:
I agree with that. I believe that the vinyl tape Santini would use may have clear painted over it, which would extend its life. Based on experience with my Shelby's vinyl tape, if it is on the side of the car there isn't too much of a problem. However, if it is on the deck lid,roof or hood it is subject to atmospheric pollutants getting on it and staining the vinyl. I'll be sure to check this out thoroughly before that decision is made.
Bob
57 AGIN
Bob the tape on my 08 GT500 is doing fine. It is parked outside under a car port, gets waxed once a year with McGuires' Gold and sprayed and wiped down with Mothers "spray on, wipe dry" wax every wash. The finish passes the "baggie" test and the white is as nice as can be. I feel the vinyl will do very well on the side and I expect the car will be out of the sun for the most part.
please explain the "baggie test", that's a new one for me.
Zap- :unitedstates:
To check your paint for contaminants (in need of clay baring) put a plastic sandwich bag over your hand and lightly rub the freshly washed surface. If there is stuff in the finish the baggie will grab, if it is clean it will be smooth with no grabbing. Mostly the horizontal surfaces are what get the most of the stuff. Remember, todays paint is basicly a plastic and does get stuff inthe surface.
Well Guys:
I just got back from a short vacation (about 50 miles from home, lol) and went over to Santini's to see what had been done while I was gone. Lo and behold, I found some of the blue actually on the car. Like Rich, I was "stoked." The firewall, top and dash have had the blue applied and cleared (still not buffed out). He indicated that the doors will be hung today and the front fenders and hood will be mocked up (placed as close as possible to where they will be mounted) so he can spray the colors across the adjascent panels to ensure the color mixtures and application are all blended correctly. Things are coming together, at last.
After leaving Santini's, I picked up my new clutch, pressure plate, flywheel and throughout bearing, When The transmission and these pieces go together there will be a photo session which should appear in some publication. I'll keep you all appraised of that, too.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of photos I took yesterday.
Bob
57 AGIN
All I can say is WOW! That blue looks incredible specially on the dash and how it wraps around.
Zap- :unitedstates:
Zapato:
I thought the same thing when I saw it yesterday. One of the things that Santini was quite proud of was the glove box cover, he painted the inside to match the outside. Small thing, but he thought it was neat. By the way, so did I.
Bob
57 AGIN
its the little things that add up to make the difference. are you using all the factory surrounds on the clock etc.... ? Any straight on shots of the dash ?
Zap- :unitedstates:
Zapato:
All I can give you at this time is a shot of the dash before the work started.
Bob
57 AGIN
Wow! That's looking awesome. That man sure knows about details making the difference.There's such an incredible amount of work to gettin' it all done right as he's doing... And so much more still to be done with the color sanding and buffing. He's making it worth your wait Bob.
Quote from: 57AGIN on 2011-08-23 18:39
Zapato:
All I can give you at this time is a shot of the dash before the work started.
Bob
57 AGIN
looks much better now...............
Zap- :unitedstates:
I like the detail work on the glove box. That will payoff big time for the finish product.
Here's the latest:
When I went by the shop on Tuesday night, I found the 57 outside the garage still waiting for the doors and fenders to be hung or mocked up for Santini's continued painting. Lo, it was not to be, as more insurance work came in. Disappointing, yes, but that's what happens when you are depending on others. Rich, wish I had your skills and knowledge. So the wait continues. I took a couple of shots with better lighting and angles.
Bob
57 AGIN
PS: I hope I can clean up the Cragars after all this is done!!!
LOL...knowledge?? The only thing I know for sure is it's so damn slow. If you were doing it yourself it probably wouldn't be this far along and, at our age, the only person you would be get to be frustrated with is yourself. Rich
Bob,
My 63 is in paint now. My painter called to get more money and have me come up there tomorrow to help put on the trunk and hood on for final coat and clear. It's been going on two years. I can't believe it. I forget what a 63 Boxtop looks like. Good luck getting yours back. Jim
They've always called me for mo money too :003: Where Bob took his the "more money" was
probably up front too. :003: At least he'll enjoy it for many years.
Jim & Ron:P
Actually, so far the only up front money Pete has charged me is for the towing to get media blasted (twice) and to pay for some body work done by one of his "contracted" employees, who specializes in body work. I've offered on more than one occasion to pony up some more funds to cover work that has been done. He's not taken me up on that. I believe he uses the on going insurance work to make payroll for he and his employees and collects for the project cars upon completion. I'll be coming to that point in the near future, as I have very good news to report tonight.
The body was masked off and in the paint booth yesterday and today. Last night he sprayed the pewter onto the body, doors fenders, hood, cowl cover, tail light bezels and front nose piece. (OOPS, the front nose piece is supposed to be blue, so it now has another layer of base coat. Today I shot Pete and one of his workers masking off the portion of the car above the side trim. He'll either be spraying the blue tonight or tomorrow.
I'll be posting 3 pictures on each of the several entries to give an idea of what's been going on. Finally everything is coming together at the paint shop.
Bob
57 AGIN
Here are the next 3 photos. Pete really gets into the processes especially in the layout before masking goes on. He thinks out what is visible and what's not and where the best spot to have the two tone breaks.
Bob
57 AGIN
Here's another three shots. Like I said, Pete really gets into the work, check out photo #1.
Bob
57 AGIN
Here are the final shots I took today. I really wish I could have stayed to see the blue going on, but I had another family obligation to take care of.
Bob
57 AGIN
Bob,
Your car has passed the point of no return. It's getting finished. Hopefully mine will be too. The trouble with mine is that after two years I've lost all enthusiasum about fixing up a 63 Boxtop. I'll have everything except trim and interior done on the car and I begrudge having to do that. Maybe when I get it back and drive it ( @ 385 hp/built C6 ) I'll change my mind.
Anyway, congratulations on what looks like a very pretty car. Jim
Look'n good Bob. Gonna be nice for sure. Does the Pewter have any Green cast to it? I doesn't
look like it. I painted a Cad Eldo once Pewter and it had a slight green cast. God knows what
the color came from I used. :003: Looks really good.
Jim:
I kind of know what you mean about the enthusiasm, as I missed just about every show I usually go to this year and am feeling kind of down. But, next year should be very interesting.
I'm also looking forward to driving the car with the new 5-speed and looking forward to see if I can get the car down into the low 13's or upper 12's. I've never had it on the strip with the Paxton blower and the 5-speed has a lower 1st gear, so my 60 ft times should be quite improved. We'll see. I understand that the NMRA (National Mustang Racing Association) coupled with Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords magazine plan on one or two events to be held out here on the left coast in the coming year. From what I'm told, they don't have the same restrictions about showing and racing that the Fun Ford Weekend ended up with. Maybe we can get some kind of a West Coast "Shootout" going out here. There aren't too many Y-blocks set up for racing out here, but bracket racing is also a blast.
Bob
57 AGIN
Shopratwoody:
I don't think this particular color of Pewter has any green tinge. Santini, mentioned something about it having a little gold cast to it, which he says will help set off the blue. I honestly couldn't see it. The Pewter I picked out from the samples he gave me is a stock 2009-10 Scion Pewter that has pearl in it. So if I get dinged a match should be pretty easy. While I will still drive the car whenever I want, I'll probably park it by itself in the grocery and Costco parking lots. lol
Bob
57 AGIN
Looks good Bob. I don't do parking lots. :003:
Bob, I was at a home depot this spring on a very windy day. I see this shopping cart taking flight across the lot, here parked all by its lonesome is some poor bastards z06 vette. Dead center in the door. Mark
Mark:
That is a horrible possibility, but the only alternative is keeping the car in the garage. Out here in Southern Calif. that isn't always the safest place either, given the frequency of our earthquakes, proximity to the San Andreas and Newport-Inglewood fault lines and my stored surfboards and Christmas decorations above my 57's parking space. lol
Bob
57 AGAIN
Bob,Your car is looking reaaly great. It looks like he's using the silver as a base under the blue to give it some punch?? The reason I ask is you said the nosepiece sprayed silver was a goof-up, but didn't it need it anyway? Probably just not as many coats I'm guessing.
Jim...not to get away from the subject of Bob's project...but it seems like you were talking not to long ago about working on your '63...do you have 2 of them in the works? For some reason I was thinking you had a fastback.
Looks great. That should be on unique 57 with that color..
Hi All:
Well, I can finally tell pretty much what it is going to look like when the painting is all finished. When I went over to the shop after work today, I found the 57 in the spray booth and blue has been applied. It really is a striking color combination. Santini is already trying to talk me out of using the Cragar S/S rims, which were a perfect complement to the period correct turquoise over white color the car was before. I still like the Cragars, irregardless of the fact that the car is more of a resto-mod now, than a 60's period correct 57. He's already pretty much convinced me to do away with the raise white letter TA Radials. But I absolutely refuse to go to a 20" rim with rubber band tires. Anyway, I've attached 3 photos of the 57 in the spray booth. Pete said that he's going to put the car outside tomorrow and let it dry out for about a week, before buffing it out. Then I can have the car towed home and Rick and I can begin the final chassis cleanup and reinstall the engine, trans and other pieces before taking it back to Santini's to install the fenders, front & rear windows and lots of other miscellaneous pieces.
Bob
57 AGIN
Nice Bob,
Now the work begins :003:
"Santini is already trying to talk me out of using the Cragar S/S rims,"
Funny that came up...before I painted my car silver I had always envisioned it red with torquethrusters..Now that it's dark Silver I'm thinking polished billets..Foose style. I agree with you though, there's no way my car's gettin' 22" wheels with narrow tires. But who knows..by the time I get around to buying wheels and tires I may decide the narrow tires aren't so bad!
Billet Specialties Legacy, 16s and 17s, silver center and polished rim......black walls.
Here are a couple of shots of the 57 drying in the sun taken outside the booth on 9-1-2011.
Ford Blue Blood, I tried looking up Billet Specialties Legacy wheels and couldn't find any Legacy models. What manufacturer? American, Foose, Ansen, etc.???
Here's the last two shot before Rick and I start rebuilding the 57 at home.
Bob
57 AGIN
OOPS, two quarter views were the same. Sorry about that. Here is the one I left out.
Bob
57 AGIN
Has just a little gloss....... :003:
Bob I think that color combo is going to look fantastic when she's all back together...You're already ahead of me there..your doors and dash are in! Rich
Rich:
Your car is definitely further along than mine as, I've seen some real nice upholstery on yours. I'm still trying to think about the upholstery, as the car is definitely no longer "period correct in color. I do know a couple of things though: The Glide Engineering bench front seat will stay. The front bench has a fold down arm rest that holds a coffee cup, I'm going to see if I can have it modified to hold two cups. I'm thinking that I will have the upholster put a little more padding on the sides of both the seat and the upright back support to give the seating a little more sculpted and comfortable look (somewhat like a bucket seat, but not). There will definitely be arm rests, at least up front (I really liked what you did, but mine will be different). Finally, the back seat will also have more of the same padded & sculpted look and will have to fold down so I can get my surfboard inside the car. The car may have changed its colors, but it will still be my Multi-Purpose-Vehicle (MPV), Cruising, Showing, Drag Racing, and Surfing.
Bob
57 AGIN
Ford Blue Blood:
Yes, it is a bit shiny now, but from what Pete tells me, after the car is buffed out in a few weeks, the colors will both really POP (whatever that means). I'm still waiting to see what he has planned for the trim to replace the gold anodized pieces. Mine were still OK, but somewhat faded. We'll see what he comes up with and whether I'll let him do it.
Bob
57 AGIN
Look at having your pieces re-anodized. There should be a lot of places doing that in SoCal. Hard to beat oem trim.
X 2^^^ :003:
Ford Blue Blood, I tried looking up Billet Specialties Legacy wheels and couldn't find any Legacy models. What manufacturer? American, Foose, Ansen, etc.???
Bob have seen them around for a while, re-pops/new-pops of older racing wheels. Saw them in an add in the 2011 November Street Rodder page 29. Looks like a Billet Specialties wheel, they list a web site as www.billetspecialties.com Have not looked to see if they are there.
Ford Blue Blood:
I did look at the Billet Specialities site. They have a lot of different styles of wheels lots of vintage stuff and from a wide selection of makers.
Bob
57 AGIN
Bill...same here..looked but no listings for legacy. They did have a legends series. Rich
Legacy wheels are there just go to www.billetspecialties.com and type in legacy on their search window.
Zap- :unitedstates:
Zapato:
Thanks for the info. When I got to their site, I typed Legacy rims into their search box and got a no such item response. Then, I actually followed directions for a change and typed in legacy and got the pictures of the Legacy style rims. They look pretty good. I'll keep them in mind when deciding about the rims.
Bob
57 AGIN
Yeah, those look good, I was expecting some foose or coddington looking billets, these actually look good.
Hi All:
The sanding of the clear coat has begun. Yesterday I stopped by Santini's and found the 57 half in and half out of the garage, eith one of Santini's workers blocking the rear of the car with 800 grit. Pete said that he will do the whole car with 800, followed by 1000, then 1500 and finally 2000 (I may be off a little in this as my memory is not what it used to be, lol). This will be followed by the buffing wheel and about 3 different buffing compounds. I continue to be amazed at the man hours and attention to detail involved in doing a decent paint job.
My wife and I are going on vacation for 3 weeks, so I won't be able to see the transformation taking place. Rick and Santini have been teasing me and telling me when I get back the Bel Air moldings and "Bow Ties" will be finished so the car can be put together again. What are friends for anyway???
Here are a couple of the last of the non-shiney photos.
Bob57 AGIN
Bel Air moldings......LOL.You better have the guy that brings your mail in to check on the car too.
Bob,
I won. I go get my car today. I'll get a picture of it and post it on this thread. The trim's not on it yet but " IT'S COMMING HOME PAINTED." Jim
Jim:
I'm happy for you. Guess you could say, "I'm just glad that one of us is finally able to start getting our rides back onto the road."
While I'm anxious to get back to work on 57 AGIN, I'm not just sitting around feeling sorry for myself. Santini's guys are busy going though the sand paper and the wife and I are sifting sand through our toes over here on the "Big Island" of Hawaii. The wife retired from her teaching job this year and scheduled our vacation this year to begin right after school started, so she wouldn't be tempted to listen to the pleas of the new Principal to come back and help them start the new school year. Of course her schedule didn't correspond to mine at all. I've missed the following car shows: Shelby's on the Santa Monica Pier, Mustangs at the Queen Mary, Cursin' for a Cure (Rick and I were going to be treated to air-conditioned indoor parking at this show), The All Ford Picnic, and almost worst of all My high school's annual Alumni Day Car Show (where I usually show my 57, I get to drive on campus with my headers open, something I'd have been expelled for just a couple of years ago {60}). lol Believe me next year I'm scheduling the vacation. By the way Rick will be representing the club and our 57's at most of these shows.
Anyway congrats on getting your car home for the final assembly, good luck and do it right.
Bob
57 AGIN
Bob,
The light in the hanger doesn't do it justice but this is my 63 just back from the painter. I guess I'll leave the 57 alone for a little bit and work on the 63. Jim PS Enjoy your vacation.
Jim:
It's really tough when we have to decide which of our toys to play with. Enjoyed your journey to the drags and the painting saga with your 63. Keep up the good work and the informative threads on this site.
Bob
57 AGIN
Jim when you get tired of the 63 just let me know, I can live with the box top even though my first car after I got back from Nam in66 was a 63 1/2 "Z" motor/4 speed/3:89 T-lock from the factory....... :003:
awesome lloking car Jim...I had forgotten they had that roofline in '63. It's been a gazillion years since I've seen one..I usually picture the fastback like Bill mentioned in my mind. I love 'em both..'63 is one of my favorite Ford years. Wish I had my '63 turquoise on turquoise convertible 390 I had back in '66 ( actually my first wife's).