What’s in the paint shop today?
Discussion
Nice thread, a real eclectic mix of cars!
Love the CX, my parents had lots of oddball cars when I was a kid. Mum had 3 DAF's and did had Peugeot 404/504 estates, Renault 30 and a brace of Citroen GS before having a couple of new BX estates on the bounce. For 2 people that have no interest in cars, I can see why I like weird oddball s
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Love the CX, my parents had lots of oddball cars when I was a kid. Mum had 3 DAF's and did had Peugeot 404/504 estates, Renault 30 and a brace of Citroen GS before having a couple of new BX estates on the bounce. For 2 people that have no interest in cars, I can see why I like weird oddball s
t 
Fast Bug said:
Nice thread, a real eclectic mix of cars!
Love the CX, my parents had lots of oddball cars when I was a kid. Mum had 3 DAF's and did had Peugeot 404/504 estates, Renault 30 and a brace of Citroen GS before having a couple of new BX estates on the bounce. For 2 people that have no interest in cars, I can see why I like weird oddball st
Thanks Love the CX, my parents had lots of oddball cars when I was a kid. Mum had 3 DAF's and did had Peugeot 404/504 estates, Renault 30 and a brace of Citroen GS before having a couple of new BX estates on the bounce. For 2 people that have no interest in cars, I can see why I like weird oddball s
t 
I loved all the cars you mention, it's been a very long time since I've come across a DAF (edit: I did meet a green Volvo 66 a couple of years back while on a motorbike trip in Sweden, I think I have a pic somewhere on my NAS - I'll post it if I find it). A friend bought an old BX a few years back despite my warnings to avoid like the plague. I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as when he proudly attempted to demonstrate the ride-height adjustment only to release an massive stream of LHM on to the road
The same car took him all the way from here in northern Europe to touring all countries in the far south, so I guess he had the last laugh Eclectic, that's the right word. Most of our jobs are run-of-the-mill stuff of course, but there are certainly a few gems too. We have one in right now, but there's a lot of work to do on it so I'll try to make a big post later on. I also really like the old stuff like the Rover 600 and Opel Corsa, it makes me happy that the owners still care about them.
Summer is a strange time, the business from car dealers drops off and I end up doing prep on furniture, classic cars, mopeds, motorbikes and...heat pumps?
Here's a little teaser of the classic we're about to start work on - it arrived like this
I'll send a random postcard to the first reader to guess what it is
Edited by BrownEaredDog on Friday 14th June 18:11
Scraping with a steel blade on an aluminium panel... 
Got to be 1960'S and a V8 surely, was initially thinking exotica such as a Facel Vega or a Gordon Keeble, but no and besides GKs are 'glass.
Subsequently, upon seeing Trophy200's suggestion of Maserati, I think it may well be one of their 3500GT coupes...?
Got to be 1960'S and a V8 surely, was initially thinking exotica such as a Facel Vega or a Gordon Keeble, but no and besides GKs are 'glass.
Subsequently, upon seeing Trophy200's suggestion of Maserati, I think it may well be one of their 3500GT coupes...?
TwinKam said:
Scraping with a steel blade on an aluminium panel...
Got to be 1960'S and a V8 surely, was initially thinking exotica such as a Facel Vega or a Gordon Keeble, but no and besides GKs are 'glass.
Subsequently, upon seeing Trophy200's suggestion of Maserati, I think it may well be one of their 3500GT coupes...?
That's not a bad shout at all, to me it looked more like a Maserati Seabring but I'm not sure now. Got to be 1960'S and a V8 surely, was initially thinking exotica such as a Facel Vega or a Gordon Keeble, but no and besides GKs are 'glass.
Subsequently, upon seeing Trophy200's suggestion of Maserati, I think it may well be one of their 3500GT coupes...?
Blimey! I'm impressed that you lot identified it so fast, you should come and join the fun over at r/whatisthiscar
It is indeed a Maserati Sebring Series II, well done Trophy200 and Steve. An honourable mention goes to TwinKam and mercedeslimos.
I'll find a postcard for you Steve - if you're up for it of course, PM your address if you are. Trophy200, same goes for you if you like, it was a bloody good ID you made even without the model name
Hmm, come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I saw a postbox - I'll have a fun adventure finding one.
It is indeed a Maserati Sebring Series II, well done Trophy200 and Steve. An honourable mention goes to TwinKam and mercedeslimos.
I'll find a postcard for you Steve - if you're up for it of course, PM your address if you are. Trophy200, same goes for you if you like, it was a bloody good ID you made even without the model name
Hmm, come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I saw a postbox - I'll have a fun adventure finding one.
Nightmare said:
That was some enthusiastic hand sanding by the look of it
We suspect that the marks on the bonnet were made by a rasp, and that's not the worst of things - this poor thing has obviously had a tough life Edited by BrownEaredDog on Wednesday 26th June 17:51
OOoooo I didn't realise there was a prize!
Save your postage, Royal Mail will probably just lose it over here anyway
Big shout out to Trophy200 for putting us onto Maserati thought I wouldn't have got there so quickly if they hadn't led the way.
I'll settle for you just posting pictures of the finished car
Save your postage, Royal Mail will probably just lose it over here anyway
Big shout out to Trophy200 for putting us onto Maserati thought I wouldn't have got there so quickly if they hadn't led the way.
I'll settle for you just posting pictures of the finished car
C5_Steve said:
OOoooo I didn't realise there was a prize!
Save your postage, Royal Mail will probably just lose it over here anyway
Big shout out to Trophy200 for putting us onto Maserati thought I wouldn't have got there so quickly if they hadn't led the way.
I'll settle for you just posting pictures of the finished car
That's a deal Save your postage, Royal Mail will probably just lose it over here anyway
Big shout out to Trophy200 for putting us onto Maserati thought I wouldn't have got there so quickly if they hadn't led the way.
I'll settle for you just posting pictures of the finished car
One of my colleagues has started work on the car today, he says it's a complete nightmare. Sorry it's been a while for the few that have been following this; life still ain't great. One of the few good things is my job though, so I'll try to keep posting
The Maserati is nearly done - It's taken ages and many, many hours. The customer wasn't in a hurry so it ended up as a bit of a side-project for a while. I don't have that many photos of it as I've been away from time to time and haven't otherwise had anything to do with the job but here are a few pics:
Long break here as I was AFK due to all kinds of crap. Needless to say, there were hundreds of hours' work to get it here...
Ready for clearcoat:
The Maserati is nearly done - It's taken ages and many, many hours. The customer wasn't in a hurry so it ended up as a bit of a side-project for a while. I don't have that many photos of it as I've been away from time to time and haven't otherwise had anything to do with the job but here are a few pics:
Long break here as I was AFK due to all kinds of crap. Needless to say, there were hundreds of hours' work to get it here...
Ready for clearcoat:
Edited by BrownEaredDog on Friday 25th October 21:06
In other news, we've had a Golf GTi mk1 in for paint. It's been - ahem - "restored" before and is a bit of a mess, particularly the interior. There's bloody silicone sealant everywhere for some reason.
If any of you lot have a photo of the luggage bay of an unrestored mk1 small-light Golf GTI then I'd love it if you could post it here - we're not at all sure of how the trim was and how much was bare metal. I've found some photos on the net, but they are all of restored cars.
BMW i3s
- I still miss mine 
This is still the perfect recipe for a fun EV, not massive horsepower and weight. They were never a big seller over here, so it's rare they end up in with us.
A Toyota IQ. I'd forgotten about these. Anyone know what the rear three-quarter panels were made of on these? It looks and feels like GFRP, but I may be wrong.
...and finally, a bit of whingeing from me. How in the name of all that is holy can anyone kerb their wheels as badly as this?
Some of the damage was so bad that I had to grind the rim back as far as possible and still needed to use UV putty in multiple thin layers to fix it. It'll hold for a good while, but the wheels should really have been taken to have a complete refurbishment at a specialist. Some punters are just too cheap and we sometimes forget that some Teslas are pretty old and knackered now - not long until they're in shed territory.
That's it for now.
If any of you lot have a photo of the luggage bay of an unrestored mk1 small-light Golf GTI then I'd love it if you could post it here - we're not at all sure of how the trim was and how much was bare metal. I've found some photos on the net, but they are all of restored cars.
BMW i3s
- I still miss mine This is still the perfect recipe for a fun EV, not massive horsepower and weight. They were never a big seller over here, so it's rare they end up in with us. A Toyota IQ. I'd forgotten about these. Anyone know what the rear three-quarter panels were made of on these? It looks and feels like GFRP, but I may be wrong.
...and finally, a bit of whingeing from me. How in the name of all that is holy can anyone kerb their wheels as badly as this?
Some of the damage was so bad that I had to grind the rim back as far as possible and still needed to use UV putty in multiple thin layers to fix it. It'll hold for a good while, but the wheels should really have been taken to have a complete refurbishment at a specialist. Some punters are just too cheap and we sometimes forget that some Teslas are pretty old and knackered now - not long until they're in shed territory.
That's it for now.
Edited by BrownEaredDog on Friday 25th October 21:09
He's back! I was literally thinking last week I miss your posts
Can't wait to see the Maserati finished (if you manage to get any pics of course). That Golf looks, erm, interesting! As they say, do it right and do it once
i3s seem a bit of a gem everywhere, in the UK they hold their value really well it seems as if people are catching on to how good they are. They were definitely unloved for a while though, I think they're very cool little things. Glad to see someone cares enough got them to keep it in good nick. We just had the girlfriends 350Z fully re-sprayed after deciding to deal with a few bits of common rust. Her choice, she loves the car and it made no financial sense whatsoever but sometimes cars are a little more than just things to get you from A to B.
Sorry to hear things have been crap away from work but really appreciate you updating the thread and hopefully getting towards finishing a few bit will be a small bit of satisfaction.
Can't wait to see the Maserati finished (if you manage to get any pics of course). That Golf looks, erm, interesting! As they say, do it right and do it once
i3s seem a bit of a gem everywhere, in the UK they hold their value really well it seems as if people are catching on to how good they are. They were definitely unloved for a while though, I think they're very cool little things. Glad to see someone cares enough got them to keep it in good nick. We just had the girlfriends 350Z fully re-sprayed after deciding to deal with a few bits of common rust. Her choice, she loves the car and it made no financial sense whatsoever but sometimes cars are a little more than just things to get you from A to B.
Sorry to hear things have been crap away from work but really appreciate you updating the thread and hopefully getting towards finishing a few bit will be a small bit of satisfaction.
I didn't manage to get photos of the Maserati before collection, sorry My colleague did though, so I'll get him to send a couple to me and I'll put them up here. There's not much more to see to be honest, it was a dull day so the paintwork didn't really pop. I'll try and link to pics of the car when it's found its way to the exhibition which will be it's new home.
I'm in absolute agreement about your girlfriend's 350z, Steve - it's a corker of a car (the VQ35 is a great engine, and the sound is especially with a fruity exhaust); it might cost quite a bit to get a full respray, but the finished result is (hopefully) always fantastic - it's almost like buying a new car
I'd love to see some photos if you have any?
<off-topic, but It's My Thread and I'll Ramble if I want to - to plagiarise Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin>
Agree about the i3 too - I adored mine. Fun handling due to light weight and low CofG, brilliant use of materials both structurally and in the cabin and fun, weird styling that might even look better today than it did back at launch in 2013. I only sold mine due to a relocation/longer commute back then and the fact that I didn't (and still don't) have the possibility of home or work charging. It's the same old EV chestnut - the public charging infrastructure and capacity simply isn't improving as quickly as it should.
I simply can't fathom why BMW didn't pursue this avenue of EV development - light weight due to advanced tech. Instead they're following the herd and partaking in the huge battery/massive power race. Such a shame. Now I have a shorter commute again, I have set my beady eyes on a couple of i3s that seem to be hanging around in a dealer not too far from me...
</off-topic>
Thanks once again for the kind words Steve The things that aren't good are mostly beyond my control, so I thought I'd pull myself together and enjoy the things that I can control such as this thread. Maybe it's only you and a couple of others that read it, but that's still great and it's therapeutic for me to post these updates
Right. Here's a vain attempt to keep this post vaguely on-topic It's going to be a quiet week or so as the boss has gone on holiday to SEMA, the lucky bugger.
Sunroof delete on the Golf. The person that did the deed (many years ago) clearly let the metal get too hot in places so the roof was a bit...wavy. Slimy filler to the rescue.
Engine bays on old cars are always so much fun to prep I just love all the sharp edges and impossible-to-get-at areas (also filled with hidden razor-sharp metal of course) that are home to lots of lovely rust.
I'm guessing that the sealant that's been smeared all over the place must be some kind of heat-resistant putty. I sincerely hope it's heat-resistant, as they've applied it liberally to the suspension turrets and bulkhead......and the slam panel and the wings and the bumper supports and just about everywhere
To cap it all, the owner of the Golf says it might never even get finished
Oh well, it's fun to work on; I'd make him an offer if I had the cash...
Thanks for reading guys
My colleague did though, so I'll get him to send a couple to me and I'll put them up here. There's not much more to see to be honest, it was a dull day so the paintwork didn't really pop. I'll try and link to pics of the car when it's found its way to the exhibition which will be it's new home.I'm in absolute agreement about your girlfriend's 350z, Steve - it's a corker of a car (the VQ35 is a great engine, and the sound is
especially with a fruity exhaust); it might cost quite a bit to get a full respray, but the finished result is (hopefully) always fantastic - it's almost like buying a new car I'd love to see some photos if you have any?
<off-topic, but It's My Thread and I'll Ramble if I want to - to plagiarise Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin>
Agree about the i3 too - I adored mine. Fun handling due to light weight and low CofG, brilliant use of materials both structurally and in the cabin and fun, weird styling that might even look better today than it did back at launch in 2013. I only sold mine due to a relocation/longer commute back then and the fact that I didn't (and still don't) have the possibility of home or work charging. It's the same old EV chestnut - the public charging infrastructure and capacity simply isn't improving as quickly as it should.
I simply can't fathom why BMW didn't pursue this avenue of EV development - light weight due to advanced tech. Instead they're following the herd and partaking in the huge battery/massive power race. Such a shame. Now I have a shorter commute again, I have set my beady eyes on a couple of i3s that seem to be hanging around in a dealer not too far from me...
</off-topic>
Thanks once again for the kind words Steve
The things that aren't good are mostly beyond my control, so I thought I'd pull myself together and enjoy the things that I can control such as this thread. Maybe it's only you and a couple of others that read it, but that's still great and it's therapeutic for me to post these updates C5_Steve said:
sometimes cars are a little more than just things to get you from A to B
Exactly, well said! It's why we're all here on PH, and it's also why I love watching Hub Nut and The Car Wizard on YouTube just as much as I love watching Harry's Garage and Iain Tyrrell's Workshop.Right. Here's a vain attempt to keep this post vaguely on-topic
It's going to be a quiet week or so as the boss has gone on holiday to SEMA, the lucky bugger.Sunroof delete on the Golf. The person that did the deed (many years ago) clearly let the metal get too hot in places so the roof was a bit...wavy. Slimy filler to the rescue.
Engine bays on old cars are always so much fun to prep
I just love all the sharp edges and impossible-to-get-at areas (also filled with hidden razor-sharp metal of course) that are home to lots of lovely rust.I'm guessing that the sealant that's been smeared all over the place must be some kind of heat-resistant putty. I sincerely hope it's heat-resistant, as they've applied it liberally to the suspension turrets and bulkhead......and the slam panel and the wings and the bumper supports and just about everywhere
To cap it all, the owner of the Golf says it might never even get finished
Oh well, it's fun to work on; I'd make him an offer if I had the cash...Thanks for reading guys
Edited by BrownEaredDog on Wednesday 30th October 20:29
Shame if that Golf doesn't get finished after you doing the remedial work, as you've been all over it you know it's condition so absolutely worth an offer if the price is right.
Here's a couple of pics of the GFs 350Z, I've never owned a new car but you're spot on. She's already added to the extensive detailing supplies we (rather I) have to keep it immaculate. Really can't help but stare at it now everytime I walk by it. Not the greatest pics for a black car as this was in the detailers but as the good weather has gone now in the UK this may be it for a bit
Here's a couple of pics of the GFs 350Z, I've never owned a new car but you're spot on. She's already added to the extensive detailing supplies we (rather I) have to keep it immaculate. Really can't help but stare at it now everytime I walk by it. Not the greatest pics for a black car as this was in the detailers but as the good weather has gone now in the UK this may be it for a bit
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