paint shop South West to respray Healey 100/4
Discussion
Is Berkshire any good? My old mate Jim has been doing body work for me for over 30 years.He is an old school tradesman trouble is he is trying to retire but has a workshop full of classic cars.If you're in no hurry and can be without the car for some time,(He's not the fastests of workers)Try him 01189744670.The thing is he is as honest as the day is long and will do a good job.
Pete at P&H Motor Repairs , Wadebridge, Cornwall (if that's not too South West for you) does a lot of classic restorations and resprays, he's an enthusiast himself. Very pleased with the job he did on my Gordon Keeble.
Might be good if you can get some nice clear pics up of the car Bruce, so we can give an opinion! Difficult to imagine without them ... would be good to see the good areas and the not so good maybe. How good is the interior? Like new or the original (or just old) - all makes a difference I think. Once you've done the paint, all the chrome will have to be redone and if you're doing that, then the hood could do with redoing and of course, the interior. Don't forget the wheels will want a new coat of chrome. And that engine bay. Get the lump out and start from scratch I reckon. All new wiring, hoses, engine painted, etc
Once you've started, one thing can lead to another!
If the paint is 40 years old, it's not the original but I presume if it has lasted this long it was a pretty good job back then ... I'm no expert but there are incredible things they can do with paint renovation now, new techniques and the latest equipment might mean what was once a car that looked tired could take on a new lease of life with comparatively, not so much money spent ...
Once you've started, one thing can lead to another!
If the paint is 40 years old, it's not the original but I presume if it has lasted this long it was a pretty good job back then ... I'm no expert but there are incredible things they can do with paint renovation now, new techniques and the latest equipment might mean what was once a car that looked tired could take on a new lease of life with comparatively, not so much money spent ...
bruce916 said:
thanks for all the replies, i am torn between improving the paintwork or leaving it as is as 40+ years old
I would be pleased to offer some advice and ideas if you would like to send me some hi-res images to look at.Pop something through to richard@classic-details.co.uk and I'll have a look this evening.
Rich
I agree it looks great in the picture, but if you do want to paint it I'd also recommend Mitchell Motors in Chicklade.
http://www.mitchellmotors.co.uk
http://www.mitchellmotors.co.uk
Sorry, back again. Thinking a bit more about this, the paint may not be as good as it looks in the pic in the flesh and close up ... we can't judge without seeing better pics right by the surface ... but, and this for me is the crux of it ... it might have a few flaws, swirls, marks, etc but then I imagine that everything else has also and they all happened at the same time ... so if the paint is 40 years old, everything else has matured as well ... which I think is great.That is what give a great patina as they say ...
If you now go and remove everything and redo the paint, everything else on the exterior has to match in terms of condition, windscreen surround, lights, all the chrome, wiper arms, wheels, glass, THAT GRILLE ... nothing worse than seeing a resprayed car with perfect paint and then all the refitted items lacking in finish quality. I saw a 240 last year with a new paint job including the engine bay (in white) an then the old filthy engine just dropped in again, old hoses, wiring, rad, coil etc ... I asked the guy was he going to do any of it and he said no, he was a paint sprayer by trade, not a mechanic ... !
An extreme example maybe. The paint on my own car has many flaws when you get up close but no way am I thinking about a respray, just improving what is there ...
A decent, back to metal job is now a LOT of money as well. Lots of places won't guarantee their work UNLESS it is a back to metal job I've found, especially on something as old as this.
Car looks a belter as is, just enjoy it (after spending a fraction of a repaint on a really nice detail)!
If you now go and remove everything and redo the paint, everything else on the exterior has to match in terms of condition, windscreen surround, lights, all the chrome, wiper arms, wheels, glass, THAT GRILLE ... nothing worse than seeing a resprayed car with perfect paint and then all the refitted items lacking in finish quality. I saw a 240 last year with a new paint job including the engine bay (in white) an then the old filthy engine just dropped in again, old hoses, wiring, rad, coil etc ... I asked the guy was he going to do any of it and he said no, he was a paint sprayer by trade, not a mechanic ... !
An extreme example maybe. The paint on my own car has many flaws when you get up close but no way am I thinking about a respray, just improving what is there ...
A decent, back to metal job is now a LOT of money as well. Lots of places won't guarantee their work UNLESS it is a back to metal job I've found, especially on something as old as this.
Car looks a belter as is, just enjoy it (after spending a fraction of a repaint on a really nice detail)!
Edited by uk66fastback on Wednesday 2nd March 11:50
Thanks for all the info and messages, i'm having a bit of a re think and thinking maybe i should use it this summer and then decide, as you says bare metal respray aint cheap and i know there would be some bodywork to fix so i reckon it might stay as it is.
Mind you having driven it last weekend for the first time it seems the car has a 5 mile range only! car starts and runs fine but after few miles starts to miss fire which gets worse, then stops....... Leave it for a while and it restarts and same again. I'm thinking ignition issue so have new coil, points and condenser to fit first so fingers crossed. Any clues out there?
Missfire starts gently then rapidly gets worse back fires then engine cuts out.............
joys of a classic car i guess.........
Mind you having driven it last weekend for the first time it seems the car has a 5 mile range only! car starts and runs fine but after few miles starts to miss fire which gets worse, then stops....... Leave it for a while and it restarts and same again. I'm thinking ignition issue so have new coil, points and condenser to fit first so fingers crossed. Any clues out there?
Missfire starts gently then rapidly gets worse back fires then engine cuts out.............
joys of a classic car i guess.........
I had exactly the problem described with an MGA.
The solution for the MGA - It was the rotor arm at fault. There are a lot of repro rotor arms in circulation that lose their insulating properties when they get hot. The problem is that people then source a new replacement from the same stockist that they bought the first one from and from the same manufactured batch. So the problem persists.
We had this for several days until we swapped over a very old one from a Sprite and the MGA worked again.
Apparently the red colour ones are ok - the faulty ones are black.
Of course your problem could be something entirely different.......
The solution for the MGA - It was the rotor arm at fault. There are a lot of repro rotor arms in circulation that lose their insulating properties when they get hot. The problem is that people then source a new replacement from the same stockist that they bought the first one from and from the same manufactured batch. So the problem persists.
We had this for several days until we swapped over a very old one from a Sprite and the MGA worked again.
Apparently the red colour ones are ok - the faulty ones are black.
Of course your problem could be something entirely different.......
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