Okay, maybe I'm just impatient.. Maybe I'm just going CRAZY.. But I'm going to tell the story of how I'm trying to restore my Trans Am, and how things keep going wrong. BLAH. Here Goes.

6 Months ago, when I purchased my car I figured.. "Hey, this will be a nice High-School car.." two months later, I wanted to restore the beast. So I finally found a body man who would be willing to do it (he restores classics, ).

After saving up the money, I went back to him.. and he told me I needed to wait four months.. because It was just getting to be winter.. UGH. So I've waited, and waited... And waited... since then.. my car has gotton hit THREE TIMES... THATS RIGHT.. THREE times.. While parked. None of them being my fault, and people think I'm overreacting.. ASDkfjl;askdfj.

The first time happened in the school parking lot, they clipped the rear quarter panel, never figured out who it was.

The second time was in a McDonald's parking lot, he scraped up against my bird and left a dent in the door and in the rear quarter, it took me two weeks, but after finding out who it was, I got him to admit to doing it.. Dumbass.. It was a good friend of mine. Insurance took care of that..

Now this one happened LAST NIGHT.. in FRONT OF MY HOUSE. My step-mom got a call to go to work, at around 12:00AM.. No biggie.. then *CRASH BANG CRASH*... Omg. Yup, she hit my car backing out of the drive way, and I was so pissed off, you couldn't imagine. She scraped the HELL out of my front bumper, and tore the liscense plate off. I just went back to my room, shaking my head.

My car is starting to look like hell, and I havent caused ANYTHING that has been done to it. I think I may be going crazy. asdfklasdklfjasdfkl;jasdf.

Is this just bad luck? Or will everything turn around once the thing gets painted and redone.. if ever.

??? Sorry for this rant. Im just FRUSTRATED..

When do you guys think we will actually start the work? Larry said we would start sanding when "It warmed up", it doesnt snow here, it just gets chilly. And I know he cant paint when its cold.. but would you guys think that March is a good time to start? Opinions?

Thanks.

 

i say you find someone who's willing to do the work immediately..this guy sounds lazy, and chances are he'll slack while working on the car the way he sounds...a person who knows how to work never refuses money..whatahell is this mickey mouse sh** lets wait four months till it warms up?? unless its covered in snow everywhere u can work on it...
find someone new brotha

 

ur in california, im from there n thats not an excuse at all..till it warms up lmao what a chump..take ur money else where

 

WELL I know he doesn't do bad work, I've seen some of the cars he has done, they are beautiful. Lol. I understand WHY he wanted to wait.. where I live it gets down to 20 degrees in the winter, without snow.. Just cold cold. Lol.

We're going to talk to him in a few days, the main thing is.. He is CHEAPER.. And he's allowing me to help him with the work, sanding, removing parts, etc, so I can lower my price further. HE said it will probly come out around 1800 dollars, which is perfect for me.

 

Dont get discouraged bro, a third-gen is never finished. I have been trying to paint my car for almost 2 years. Just gotta wait for the snow to melt, the benefit of living in Mass.

 

Your car has some bad luck. I worry what's going to happen to it after you spend the money to have it repainted, because when something happens again you'll really freak.

 

People are telling me the same thing, I have this feeling that once I get it all repainted, seats redone, new stereo, etc, someone is going to total it or something.

My family is starting to tell me that I should even post-pone getting the car painted for a couple of years.. untill I'm out of Highschool.. BUT I CANT DO THAT!!

What do you guys think? I already park my car in front of an office pretty for away from the school (after asking for permission), and whenever I park somewhere I park like.. WAY far away from everyone else. Its all I can do, but its my only car. What do you guys think? Since I was little I've wanted a perfect third gen, and I finally have the opportunity, people just keep setting me back farther.. and farther and farther.

 

Well, its good that you're not parking it at school anymore, +1.(most high school kids are bad drivers!!! lol).

Tip of the Day- make sure he(body shop guy) looks over ALL your work, this way there is NO excuses WHEN/IF something goes wrong. Lets say that something gets in the paint, or theres a ruff spot from poor sanding. He WONT be able to blame YOU and make you pay for it.

It's great that you want to learn, but don't give him any outs for poor workmanship and don't let him be lazy!!!

Good luck!

 

Yeah I opted to not have my car repainted while in school... and glad I didn't..

It ended up going keyed... soda thrown all over it... egged... Cinderblock thrown at it denting my hood and smashed my windshield...

Nice cars are school are bound to get messed with.

 

I have to agree... until you aren't parking your car at school and are parking your car in a garage, I wouldn't spend a bunch of money to make it look perfect on the outside. It will either A) accidentally get messed up or B) messed up on purpose by jealous people. It's a fact of life, unfortunately. Put the money away for now, it's not like if you don't do it now you never will be able to do it. Keep the car at the point where it won't get worse by itself (like rusting, etc) and get it done when you've removed a lot of the factors that damage it.

Just a not, parking it out in BFE seems like a good idea in general, however it draws unneeded attention to your car, too. Normally parking just on the outskirts is a better way to not draw attention, but also minimize door dings, etc. Also, park underneath a light or next to a object that wont give you a door ding will also help.

 

He's already parking it away from the school!

 

Its just the fact that It's all I've wanted since I got the car, And now that I have the money, it would be hard to turn it down :/ I have alot of people looking forward to me getting the work done.. (My dad, best friend, brother), etc. If I do get it painted soon, which I PROBABLY will.. What do you guys reccomend I do? I already do so much. :/

 

if you get it painted park as far away from all the students as possible..ive seen gum thrown at car,tires slashed, doors keyed you name..kinda glad my parents never let me drive their cars while i was in hs

 

Yeah, I dont even like taking my car into parking lots, their have been times where it looked tooo... "Dangerous" So I just parked across the street. Haha :P. I do park quite a ways away from the other students though. BY THE WAY.. It looks like me and you are doing the same thing, "New paint, decals, rims polished", thats more or less my exact plan. Hehe.

 

I think you need to find an old beater to drive

 

Thats why my thirdgens aren't my daily drivers! Don't get discouraged though, I'm sure your 'Bird will be awesome once it gets finished!

 

Yeah, I want one. Lol. It would be nice having a vehicle that I dont care about. :/ But then again, I cant afford two insurance costs, along with all the other things that goes along with owning another vehicle. :/ :/

 

Sounds to me it was a good thing he told you to wait for months instead of just painting it right away, being hit 3 times, dang. He does sound kind of lazy. My car was actually painted in the winter, with snow on the ground. They got my car stuck when moving it from the body shop to the paint booth. It did take like 3 months to get her done though, I was mighty pissed, becuase when I dropped it off, they said it should only take a couple weeks. He was also one of the cheaper guys, I really wish I would have went somewhere else. Good luck with the bird man, and like everyone said, wait until your out of school to do any exterior work on that, keep the thirdgen in the garage and take her out for pleasure and buy a beater for daily driving.

 

Ok, even stepmom has to own up to actions, should have been turned into her insurance. Dont bother fixing, set money aside for big fix. Dont wait to get painted or fixed, park away everywhere you go. People will be more careful around nice car. Get a shock sensor alarm, that way noone can smack and run. Dont park where step mom can back into it. Also, dont let anyone smoke or eat in your car. Nothing like being in high school with a nice ride!

 

id get her done but beware some painters arent so good at bodywork-they fill dents with bondo- if you want your car to look good for a long time limit the bondo. you might buy a roll bar kit and mount it around your finished car until you get a garage to keep it in. good luck

 

I saved up all my money my senior year and bought all my parts and had it painted teh summer after i graduated, was planning to daily drive her but after a tree bout wiped it out in my parents driveway during a snow storm i went to storing it in the winter, to storing it year round and now that i have my house it just sits covered in the garage till i get my new motor done...

DONT get discouraged though, my mom backed over the front of my firebird when i was in highschool, it happens and it sucks but it can be fixed, i bought my cummins a year ago and in 5 months of owning it it was rear ended 3 seperate times in 2 months....and its got a 6" lift and 37's...It all comes with the territory of having nice things, people are idiots but what can you do but take the bad and make it better then before

 

i know you hate what it looks like now, but i wouldn't spend good money to get it fixed up just to park it in a HS parking lot. It WILL get messed up again in the lot, lots of d-bags and new drivers in school lots.

wait until you are out of HS to do the work, it may hurt your ego now, but it will be worth it in the end.

As for the guy who said the body guy was lazy because he wanted you to wait 4 months, winter is a very busy season for body shops, and insurance work comes first. If the guy took on your project now, it would be siting there for 4-6 months before he would be able to do any real work to it, and you would be without a car. Its better to wait

 

I got mine painted after high school cause I knew it would get dinged up and it did. Kids just don't care about anybodys car but there own, if they even care about there own. But i'm not saying that it's going to be perfect if you get it painted after high school cause then you got college and they can be about the same and if not college then in parking lots anywhere. My best advice for college/highschool is to get to know people that care for there car and park with them. Even if you do this you still have to worry about people backing up into you. I had a girl do that in high school and she just pulled off like she had no idea that my car just stop her from going back anymore but lucky my friend pull out in front of her to stop her and I asked her and she was like "no, I didn't even notice" no she just didn't notice me standing there and didn't want to pay to get it fixed. Over all high school parking lots are not a great place for freshly painted cars.

 

Thanks for all of the advice guys, I really do appreciate all of it. I still think I'm going to go through getting it all painted though :/ Its just something I've been wanting to do, lots of people have been waiting. And well.. I just want to have a nice car honestly.

When it gets all finished up, if ever, (We are actually going to talk with the body guy today), I will plan on installing an alarm system, and parking it as far away from other people as possible. (Where I am now seems to be working okay), And I tend to NOT park in any congested areas.

I am starting to understand why people say I'm crazy, even my dad says "I should just drive it.. Its JUST a car..", But then again.. I think he's just saying that to AVOID me restoring it for a while.

 

Hey RS Reaper, just noticed that you're from Stone Mountain. Did you go to SMHS? I went there from '84 to '86 (class of '89)

 

yeah, but it never fails, you park as far away as you can in the middle of nowhere, and when you come back out there is a car parked right next to yours and you have a door ding.

 

UPDATE! The car went into the shop today, Larry said he could finally start working on it, he finished up a few of his cars and he says hes finally ready to dedicate his time to it. He said he will be using single stage paint.. What do you guys think about that?