To Paint or Not To Paint...

All along, my plan has been to have my neighbor friend paint the car.  He owns a collision repair shop and has done full restorations, so he's definitely qualified.  There's just one hitch in that plan, though--it's quite expensive.  A good paint job is on the order of $5,000.

While I have managed to scrape up that money (over a long time), it just hasn't sat right with me.  I mean, I've done everything else on this car--why shouldn't I paint it?  Aside from the fact that I was told the paint fumes would kill my dogs and my neighbors, that is.

A new friend at work saw a photo of the car on my desktop and asked about it.  When I told him what I was planning, he said "Hey, I paint cars.  I'd be into doing this with you."

Really?!?

Given that ray of hope (pun intended--his name is Ray) I started doing some research into paint.  It appears that with today's low VOC formulations, priming and painting wouldn't be toxic as long as I take precautions.  The price is lots, lots better--about $800 for top quality materials (primer, sealer, base, and clear).  The car's not that big--a gallon will do the job.  It just means more work, but I'm into that.

I can build a paint booth in my garage out of PVC pipe and sheet plastic.  With a good in line air filter and drier, I have a clean supply.  Ray's got the guns and the know-how.  I'll build a frame to hang the doors, hood, etc. for paint, and a frame to elevate the body so we can paint underneath.

I even took the sample to a paint shop and they color matched it to a Valspar paint code.  It's amazing what technology can do.

So I'm going to do it.

I can do this.

It will be great.