Body and paint work is usually the most costly expense of a
restoration. In my opinion dealing with
body and paint work is also the most difficult part, both selling the job and
knowing when to call it good enough.
We must keep in mind that these old muscle cars were never
engineered to look as good as they do these days. By yesterday’s standards we are over
restoring these cars. Body gaps were not
always consistent, color depth and shine was nowhere near what they are
today. Today’s paint products have the
capability of laying down flat, with a deep shine that brings out every
imperfection.
A few weeks ago at Carlisle I had the pleasure of taking
pictures of a Superbird. It was a
documented original 6500 mile car. All
of the paint work was original and untouched.
The door to quarter alignment was terrible, there were paint runs on the
rear tail light section, and the entire body was loaded with orange peel. However, it was an awesome car and I would
love to be the owner!
There are many tricks used to make these cars look better
than they did when new. However, these
tricks take time and time is money. So when
a customer restores his/her vehicle they must decide what level the paint work
should be when completed.
Since most customers do not have extensive body/paint knowledge it is sometimes difficult justifying the expense. As a restorer one of my biggest fears is delivering a car to a customer that would later be scrutinized by others at a show.
The customer may be satisfied with the paintwork at the time
of delivery due to their lack of body/paint knowledge. But after showing it at a few shows and
receiving negative feedback they will realize why cutting cost on body/paint
work is not recommended. For that reason
After Hours Restorations will only take part in museum quality restoration
work.
It is standard practice to install and properly align all body panels once the car has been stripped down to bare metal.