Refurbishing Bob's 57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

James, & all:

As you know I'm in the process of repainting my 57.  I'm doing this primarily because of some bubbling in the lower rocker panels and what I'm starting to see in the drip rails and the seam where the roof attaches to the pillars in front & rear.  Santini (the painter) suggested that I only media blast the lower 18 or so inches of the car to keep from discovering major restoration requirements like we frequently see on Overhaulin' and to keep the costs down.  As it turned out there were only a few bad spots found in these problem areas.  These have all been taken care of using metal patches and one front quarter panel from EMS.  The major problem remaining was the thickness of the Turquoise and White paint that was applied to the car over the original Colonial White paint, it was way too thick.  Santini and I discussed what was to be done and he was going to block sand the paint thickness down with 80 grit.  I thought about it for a couple of days and then suggested that it might be less expensive to send the car over to the media blaster and take my chances with finding major restoration requirements.  He said that given the lack of finding additional problems in the lower portins of the car, there was a good chance that there wouldn't be too many surprises.  So I bit the bullet and had him send it back to the blaster.

I just got back from seeing my 57 come off the truck as it came back from having the rest of the car media blasted.  It turned out great, absolutely no additional rust was discovered.  I still have to pick the new colors, but my worries about the lack of preparation by the previous owner have been put completely to rest.  WHOO HOO!!!  While Turquoise & White was a very period correct color combination and the 12 years I've had the car it has somewhat grown on me, I've decided to pick a color combination that is all mine.  I'll keep you all posted and add some pictures to the gallery.

Bob
57 AGIN

[JimNolan]

I take it your car didn't spend it's life in Montana, YOU LUCKY. Jim

[JPotter57]

My `57 has rust in that same spot in the third pic.  I had originally intended to do a pie cut and take it out while enlarging the opening at the same time for tall tires, but have since decided against it, and will repair it correctly.  Looks good so far, Bob...

[RICH MUISE]

AH so this is what "agin" means. lol  I think it was a wise choice having it media blasted all over..peace of mind is worth the $ you spent.
Rich 

[shopratwoody]

Looks good Bob. It'll be yours now That's the only way
to do it right IMO.

[JimNolan]

Bob,
   You do know you're taking a car that was beautiful to begin with, restoring it to higher standards, and the only person that'll probably know the difference is you. The guy that did the bodywork on my car has a bunch of pictures of my car on his website. One of the pictures he's using to show what a good job he did is the picture he took of it when I first met him to get a quote. That said, the satisfaction you get knowing what your car is made of is awesome.  You may be pennyless afterwards but you feel awesome driving it down the road. Jim

[57AGIN]

Thanks Guys:

Here are the shots I took of the car coming off the truck from the media blasting yesterday.  Santini said this is the best he has ever seen of a 54 year old car coming back from media blasting.  Needless to say I'm really stoked.

Bob
57 AGIN

[shopratwoody]

I can relate to that Bob. I did mine by hand, except for the louvered
hood.

[RICH MUISE]

Love the look of bare metal. The name Santini sounds very familiar...could I have gotten the name from some of the t.v. shows or hot rod mags?   Rich

[JPotter57]

He did a lot of the state of the art stuff back in the 80s for the mag cars.  Very talented guy.

[57AGIN]

Yea Guys:

Santini has been in the business for a long time.  He's done the paint on several Overhaulin' cars and his paint jobs have graced the covers of numerous Hot rod and other car magazines.  He seems to be a really down to earth guy and has to work hard to make ends meet in today's economy and environmental regulations out here on the Left Coast.  He loves to rag on me and my passion for 57 fords, he keeps on drawing flames and bow ties on the doors & fenders (prior to skim coating, sanding and painting.  I know he's teasing as he has a couple of Fords, Chevys and a 70 Cuda project car all waiting for his spare time to work on for him self.  His prices were not out of line with the other estimates I had gotten and Haggartys Insurance is starting to use him for work on injured collector cars.  I still haven't decided on the final color scheme for the car.  I've a friend doing some PhotoShop renderings of my car (from photos I provided).  Hopefully, this will keep me from being unpleasantly surprised when the final paint job is on the car.  The stainless trim and chrome is out being refurbished and I just received my "care package" of gaskets, rubber and other miscellaneous pieces from Dennis Carpenter.  The EMS right front quarter panel was received on Thursday and the required patching was already done when I went to the shop today.  Will keep you posted on the progress, and I sure hope to have the car back together before the April 10, 2011 Fabulous Fords Forever car show at Knott's Berry Farm.

Bob
57 AGIN

[RICH MUISE]

Bob...love this post. This is a real "feel good" story...from the results of media blasting to hearing a nationaly known painter/bodyman has not become untouchable for the average guy, and being an average guy himself. refurbished s.s.,new rubber...way to go Bob.
It would be real interesting for the rest of us guys to see the photoshop results your friend came up with whether or not you liked them...just to see what can be done with the computer. I've played with it a little but just haven't had the time to really learn the program to do it right. I really think they'd be a market for an easy to use,emphasis on easy,program that would let you load sample pics and be able to change colors. The difficulty here I think is having a palette of Automotive colors to 'paint' with (maybe the ability to scan colors from a color chip sheet and easily add a selected colot to the palette). Maybe you could do a post on your samples??Rich

[geraldchainsaw]

what state is the car show,   Knotts Berry farm in???

[bossguy]

I'm pretty sure I got an online ad from Summit (maybe Jegs) where you could click on your model / year car, click the color you wanted to see it in, click for windows tint and click on the wheels you wanted to see it with. Very cool! They of course didn't have a 59 Edsel for my son but they did have a 59 Ford wagon. I couldn't find a way to save the finished product though.

[RICH MUISE]

Gerald...knott's is in or near Anaheim (maybe Buena Park), Calif.
Bossguy...interesting..if anyone has any more info on this let us know.