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My Pantera is Getting UNwrecked

ahudsonahudsonMember
Well, after some positive negotiations with a very kind insurance company, things are moving forward on the car.

Link is here in case you missed the drama:

http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2290052674/m/2350074655

Very professional bodyshop agreed to take it on. So far...


1. Removed dent from quarter. INCREDIBLY small amount of surface skim only. Unreal work.

2. Stainless off, bumpers out, some glass, exhaust off (to get to rear) lights out, markers off, LOTS of pristine masking to areas not to be painted.

3. Called to say, "found some rust". Heart sinks. Go to inspect and he'd found TWO SQUARE INCHES of rust in two separate places (bottom of driver's door, rear corner and adjacent in lower quarter.) Cut it out, treated behind, welded anew. All done.

4. Prime coat on. Guide coats coming. They accidentally primed some of my wires - we caught it - but from now on, if it wasn't or isn't to be green again, no priming.

5. Gave me lots of stainless, plastic, rubber and glass bits to polish, get rechromed, replaced.

6. Called our buddy Jerry at PIMotorsports. Order for weatherstripping, window felts, trunk/hood seals coming.

7. Door handle hardware sent to be rechromed. Antenna chrome coming new. Stainless hardware where available.

8. Am taking my refreshed parts to the body shop today, picking up more 'to be cleaned' parts (bumpers, more).

9. They're spraying Eastwood rust converter, encapsulator today and tomorrow in the nooks and crannies that'll never (we hope) see daylight again.

To follow up, I decided to go 'base/clear' on my car. Much back and forth, pro and con, finally went with the 'better' modern solution.

I figured I'd conceded with radial tires, a modern battery, better brake pads, upgraded cooling... so why not? I cringe at what my 'originiality' brothers are going to say about this, but I've made my decision, so flail away.

Thanks again all. More to come.
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ahudsonahudsonMember
YOU VOYEURS! You just want to see my Pantera naked don't you? You heard all those comments, and I've heard the whispers too.

You know, about my car's "virgin paint", that it's "untouched", and has a "perfect body". You just put your shifter back in the gate ol' boy! I know your type...

Because I'm one too.

Pictures coming, I promise.
ahudsonahudsonMember
And with the MAGIC of 2 part Epoxy Steel resin, plus some stainless fender washers that fit PERFECTLY, things turned out mighty firm and stong...

Final steps included:
7. Coating suspicious areas with Oxygen robber/rust converter.
8. "Sealing" those areas with 3M weatherstrip adhesive. This stuff could stick a Doberman to a passing bus.
9. Cleaning all rubber with Griots rubber cleaner.
10. Wiping with Eastwood's PRE
11. Coating with SEM Bumper coating
12. Marvelling AGAIN at how darn smart I am. (Okay, I learned everything I know from Georgie and this board!)

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Last edited by ahudson
ahudsonahudsonMember
Without question, people will walk by this car in the near future, looking a the 2-stage reflection, seeing the highly-detailed engine bay, noticing the 'stealth' improvements in the under carriage and say...

"DUDE! Who restored your bumper?!!"

I will sign their autographs, sheepishly, for a sum somewhere below $10.
ahudsonahudsonMember
quote:
Originally posted by four walling:
quote:
Originally posted by A Hudson:
This stuff could stick a Doberman to a passing bus.


That is one of the funniest and most graphic descripitions I have ever heard from a non-professional comedian.Are you a comedian by profession?


As it turns out, I'm a non professional everything. But I'm glad you got a laugh of any sort out of it. Thanks for the comment!
Last edited by ahudson
ahudsonahudsonMember
quote:
Originally posted by Lowmerk:
Hey you can keep your day job. Although I would let you work on my Pantera.
Denis


You mean I should NOT go into professional comedy?!?! I agree, but I don't think I'm right for your Pantera: I'm slow, disorganized, largely untalented but very expensive.

On a side note - I recognize that lady and the cat on your avatar. Isn't her name something like, "Bagheera" or other exotic sounding name? She was a popular model on the west coast, like in the late 80s or something. Am I even close?
ahudsonahudsonMember
They were understandably concerned - as was I - about the windshield sealing, replacement, and potential disaster. They pulled all the trim, front hood, rear hood, side glass, but are 'roping' the front windshield. They got an oxygen robbing paint down in the crevice created and are satisfied with this, plus priming, then paint, then laying the rubber back down. Should I prompt them to do more?

The insurance company was extremely friendly, though the original estimator a bit out of his league. We negotiated to about $5600 or so and all's well (seemingly) at this point.

They're MIXING the paint today, and shooting a test panel (off the car) this afternoon. I'll go by to see it... with one eye squinting... until I'm sure. It'll be fine I'm sure.

Thanks for the inquiry.
ahudsonahudsonMember
Now I'm replying to my own posts. Sad really.

I went to see the car today after they had shot 'test panels' with the Glasurit rep who'd come to custom mix the dark green paint. His books yielded no cross reference, and his spectrogram thingy tried diligently, but could only get 'close' to the original color.

Dilemma.

They can do my car in a very 'close' color (one of them I actually prefer over the original) that VIRTUALLY NO ONE who wasn't staring at the original shade would EVER detect. Or...

They sent my hood hinge off to the factory chemists who WILL NAIL the correct color formula (he was emphatic about this).

So, do I wait ANOTHER WEEK for this extra 1% of exactness? Or say, "go for it" with the "almost" color now?

Cast your votes.
ahudsonahudsonMember
quote:
Originally posted by RobertVegas:
I would wait the week. You will have painter's remorse for a LONG time if you constantly notice that your car isn't right. And you will always wonder if others can see it too.

There are my two pennies.

R.


quote:
Originally posted by DeTom:
Wait a week.



Sanity returns. Called the shop - we're going to wait on the Chemist, who has got the hinge and MAY have paint for us early next week. Thanks guys. Sometimes anticipation over-rides rationale.
markcharltonmarkcharltonOld enough to know better and still young enough not to care. My '71 Pantera
quote:
Originally posted by RobertVegas:
Sometimes I pay for overnight shipping on parts that don't get installed for two weeks. Doh!

R.


Gee, I thought only I did that... Wink

Adams, just to be lone voice of dissent (I love that role), I would go with the close color that your prefer over the original. I mean who's to say the factory got the color right in the first place? Big Grin
ahudsonahudsonMember
quote:
Originally posted by lastpushbutton:
Waiting will give the primer even more time to cure....that's a good thing. I did the rope thing last week myself. It'll be OK... make sure when they paint it it's on jackstands .. nice and high Wink


Thanks for the encouragement on the primer. Just got back from seeing it - took some more photos but they're boring as heck. More of the same really. (Just fodder for my file and the insurance man if they need it.)

But the chemist from Glasurit (BASF) was on the phone with the paint rep, and we've got us a color. Turns out it was a 'standard' color with 1 gram of black. Wow. They had a 1 gram of 'brown' with the standard but it was a little 'too drab'. This color is on the money.

The body shop has NOT shot enough of the rust inhibiter in the nooks and crannies for my taste, and that point was made clear today (I hope.)

Now "high on jackstands" you mean because of the underbody in the rear? I'll pass that along, but please clarify so I can pretend to be intelligent when requesting. Thanks!
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