Hey all, my girlfriend and I have just completed repainting my car, a rare 1983 Pontiac Trans Am "25th Anniv. Daytona 500" pace car. When I got the car, the paint was decent...but it was single stage and faded. We had plans to take the car on the 2011 Hot Rod Power Tour and I asked her if she'd be willing to repaint the bottom half of the car (the top white color was acceptable IMO), and she said we should just strip the car and repaint the entire thing...so I said "alright!" LoL so here is a short version of the repaint project we have been working on since first snowfall of 2010 and into spring 2011...

Here's some pictures of when we started the tear-down of the car.

 

 

Started the body work

 

Weatherstripping/window felt/decals/supplies

 

Car is filled and sanded. Ready for primer









Masked and spreading plastic over car

 

Sprayed etch-primer over metal

 

Primed and awaiting sealer







Taking hood apart and treating rust

 

Laura spraying on the primer



Primed hood and under the doors






Masked the car for jambing

 

After sealer and painted white

 

Laura mixing up the medium sand gray metallic





Just after she sprayed (why the pics are so hazy)





Unmasked and ready for clear

 

Clear is on! (Poor quality lighting screwed up the pics, but good enough for now)

 

The car outside so we can clean the garage floor





Back in the garage and with the car on jack stands and without wheels (to access the wheel wells better)







The car masked up and cleaned

 

The booth mostly up!





Omni 2K primer mixed as sealer (Laura didn't like how it sprayed, so we're gonna stick with normal sealer from now on)



Sealer applied to car








Mixing the "cameo white" (looked more like "cream" color in the mixing phase, but got brighter when sprayed on the car)

 

White applied to the car

 

Car masked off and fine-line taped for the gray





Mixing the "midnight sand gray"







Unmasked and looking great!



Clear coated and looking better!

 

After installing the hood and rear hatch glass

 

After white is cut and buffed

 

Car is back on the road!

 

Stripes/decals applied













These pictures are of the entire car 100% complete. I took these today at work. Laura and I just applied the striping kit from Phoenix Graphix on Monday night. Car looks awesome! I can't wait to take it on the Hot Rod Power Tour next week!

 

Wow paint looks amazing!

 

Helluva job & the best part about it is you can take pride in saying you did all yourselfs.

 

that is sooo cool...what does the paint cost to do that? I wish I had my own booth/area to do my car...how much prep time did u put into that?

 

Looks great.

 

Wow, Stunning paintjob..

I was going to go the original Sand grey on my 83 Bird, but now I am thinking of two-tone..

Beautiful car.

 

Sweet paint, nicely done.

 

that came out awesome, great job!

 

Thanks all! The base coat was $30 a quart (don't remember how many quarts we used) and the clear coat was $80 per kit (gallon of clear and hardener), and we used about 2 1/4 kits of clear. I wish I had all of my receipts so I could go over how much I spent on it, but the expensive part, labor, was free

 

How was the quality of the OER t top seals?

 

I think they are a very quality product. Everything I used OER stuff for is awesome. I got some door seals from 1A Auto and I think they are made by Super Soft or something. They are alright, but where they screw to the door suck major ***! The factory ones had a hard bottom where they screw into the door so they weren't all mushy...whereas the Super Soft ones were just plain rubber and they were a bitch and a half to screw in cuz they kept on going through the rubber! They seal alright, but the mounting is a complete joke.

 

I take it you both work in a autobody shop? Awsome work, i would do mines, but dont think my bodywork is up to par, also that i want my car black again.

 

Thanks bro! She worked at a place in Sibley, MN that restores cars and while she worked there, she was the head painter. She knows what she's doing for sure. LoL I helped where I could...but I tried to stay out of her way because she's very picky about stuff.

 

Looks great! Want to paint my car next? Similar colors

 

Me to...mine is all black though

 

I really need to do my t top weatherstrip, and I am trying to find out which are best. Can you take some pics of the OER weatherstrip on your car?

 

I hate you

great paint job

 

This thread is EPIC........