Painting - Secret pleasures

["Daegrigg (Don)" <daegrigg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think Jeff's comments are spot on and happily support what has been a
secret pleasure of mine for years.  It's preparation, preparation,
preparation.  Few years ago, I bought an 86 Graduate that had sustained hail
damage and was subsequently written off by the insurance company.  Through
the dimples, I was very impressed with the paint job and surprised when the
PO said MAACO.  I had seen MAACO work before but not like this.  I asked
which MAACO and paid them a visit.  Outside sat a beautiful series 3 Veloce.
I asked the owner if the "shooter" who had painted my newly aquired car was
still there.  The answer was, Yes and the rest if great history.

This painter and This MAACO was great.  After I did the prep work and
removed almost all trim, he painted the car and for $400, it made the $2000
paint jobs seem way over priced.  I had the same good fortune with two other
cars and the same painter.

Here's the key - look at cars that have been painted by the shop.  I am
usually not too concerned about masking errors because they can be fixed if
the overall job is good.  Also, is it single stage or two stage.  Most shops
like MAACO only do single stage and that covers most older Alfas.  There are
seven MAACOs listed in my local yellow pages - I would trust only one with
my Alfas.


PS - MAACO "Porsche Red" is a dead ringer for IRR - Italian Racing Red.

Ciao Tutti,

Don



----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff Greenfield <alfaguy@domain.elided>
To: <bshorey@domain.elided>; 'Spencer, Graham'
<Graham.Spencer@domain.elided>; <alfa@domain.elided>
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 10:34 AM
Subject: RE: painting ... long


> Brian -
>
> I think the difference is more in the finesse that may be needed to work
> with the lighter and in some cases alloy body panels of the more exotic
> stuff. Different primers and other materials are used to prep aluminum vs
> steel.
>
> I'm not saying I'd bring a rare 1 of 3 alloy bodied Fermaggio Prima Vera
> down to local vocational high school for them to learn on, but ... in
> general it all comes down to the preparation.
>
> A good shop (and more importantly the guy who actually does the paint
work)
> should be up on all the latest technology and products, and should know
what
> to use for what application. This alone can be daunting, as the sheer
number
> of different products (paint types, primers, etc) is phenomenal these
days.
>
> The end result is a direct product of the preparation and amount of time
> that goes into the preparation. I'm sure that the amount of time spent on
a
> 100 point pebble beach restoration of a Ferrari GTO is phenomenal, and
that
> is why the costs are so high. But, the process is the same nevertheless,
and
> I don't think there is whole lot of difference between types of cars, and
> besides the paint does not know what is stuck to.
>
> Peace ... may yours be shiny and remain so :-)
>
> Jeff
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brian Shorey [mailto:bshorey@domain.elided]
> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 10:01 AM
> To: 'Jeff Greenfield'; 'Spencer, Graham'; alfa@domain.elided
> Subject: RE: painting ... long
>
> <snip>
> > Go to some local cruise nights if you can. Look at the paint on some
> of the
> > amurican muscle cars and hot rods, talk to the owners about who and
> where
> > they were painted and how much the job cost. It does not matter to a
> body
> > shop if they are painting a Ford Falcon, GTO (Ferrari or Pontiac), or
> an
> > Alfa ... it's all pretty much the same to them.
> <snip>
>
> I'm not a paint and body man either, but I think there is a difference
> between some cars, especially vintage ones.
>
> I can remember reading something in Sports Car Market Letter, written by
> Michael Sheehan, I think, about the differences between body prep on a
> vintage Ferrari vs body prep on other cars of the same vintage, modern
> cars, etc.
>
> Now, maybe he was simply trying to justify the hundreds of hours of body
> prep he whacks his customers for, or maybe there was some real
> difference.
>
> For the stuff we're talking about, I personally tend to agree with all
> that you said.
>
> bs
> --
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