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I just had a 1971 95 painted; not sure I did it the best possible way, but here's what I think:
-- Color match: The paint manufacturers have huge databases of paint colors, so any good painter should be able to recreate at least roughly the color of the original paint. BUT, if you want to leave any existing paint on the car (that includes interior parts) you probably will be better off having the paint shop mix a custom match to the color that's actually on your car, rather than looking up a code. That way, the paint they mix will account for any shift or fade that may have occurred in your car's paint over the years.
-- What kind of paint: According to the shop manual, your car's original paint job would have been a two-part catalyzed enamel, and that would be my first choice for a repaint as well. This will give a good match to the original appearance and should last well. Some do-it-yourselfers still like to use lacquer because it's easy to spray and easy to clean up, but it doesn't last as well and has to be buffed out to get a gloss. There's no advantage to using a base-plus-clear; it became popular because it makes it easier to get a more even gloss on metallics, two-tones, and other trick paint jobs, but for a solid color paint job it has no real advantages in terms of appearance and will cost you more. However, if the paint shop you pick is most experienced at shooting base-plus-clear, you may want to go with that to keep them happy.
-- Cost: This is really all over the map depending on what type of paint you choose, how much bodywork you decide to have done and how high a standard of work you want, and even how busy the shop is (if things are slow they may cut you a deal to get some business in the door.) Even though paint is surprisingly expensive (the catalyzed enamel I bought to shoot my Sonett's hood wound up costing about $80 for one pint) the vast majority of the expense of your paint job will be the hourly labor that goes into prep work. However, that's also the biggest factor that determines how well the job will turn out!... so don't go in prepared to spend top dollar for the paint and then skimp on getting the body ready for it to go on. Talk to the painter and bodyman, determine your goals for the job, get a quote that's broken down according to materials, prep, etc., and be sure to LOOK AT SOME OTHER CARS THEY'VE SHOT to make sure they can do as good a job as they say they'll do!!
Also, once they tell you the car is done, be prepared to go over it very critically and make sure they've done a good job and cleaned up overspray, compound, etc. It's not uncommon to find a few flaws in the paint job that they can "finesse out" if you point them out right away, but if you accept the car and then find runs, sags, fisheyes etc. weeks later, the shop probably won't want to do anything for you.
Good luck!
posted by 204.76.11...
, Thu, 14 Sep 2006 05:13:22
, Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:35:42, Wed, 31 May 2006 15:59:11
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