Posted by Dave In Long BEach [172.69.65.45] on Friday, May 05, 2023 at 09:31:56 :
In Reply to: Is It Just Me Or Has Anyone Else Noticed??? posted by Marty [172.71.150.112] on Thursday, May 04, 2023 at 15:12:31 :
My experience with getting the bodywork and final paint on my PW varies from one end of the spectrum to the other. I found an old-school guy in Long Beach, been in business for decades, no email, no website. Told him my story and he put me in his "book" of work, but he only did one restoration at a time so I was looking at a year. OK, this project has always been has been an exercise in waiting, so a year it is. I check in every two weeks after my rotation to the Gulf of Mexico for oil & gas work,... "yep you're coming up". I even took my SUV in after a tree branch fell on it and insurance paid. He had it back in two days! Great! After more than a year of waiting, he tells me sorry, LB city has seized his property by eminent domain to expand the railroad spur into the Port of Long Beach and he might go out of business, but he is looking for a new place, so hold on. 3 more months,.... nothing. I start shopping around for an alternative and go to another old-school guy just 2 miles from my house. He is straight-up honest and tells me he can't get any good workers and if he could it would be another year before he could get to it. Grrrrrr,... BUT!,.... If you go across the street and down to the end of the alley, there is a family-owned auto body and paint shop. The uncle is the painter (30+ years of painting) and his nephew is the owner/operator. I go meet Pedro and tell him my story, and he says "Sure, how about we start tomorrow?" Well, that was November 10 and on April 27, I brought my flawless body in Ponchartrain Green back home for re-assembly on a donor frame while I continue my work on the mechanicals going back in my original frame. This Saturday, we load the completed sheet metal on the trailer, take it back to Pedro for "Cut and Buff" and then it will reside in the shop under cover until I can transfer the sheet metal over to the final project. Pedro uses Valspar/House of Kolor paints and 3M body fillers & glazes. Nowhere is there more than just a skim coat of filler and I was allowed to come by and observe, anytime, unannounced. During this time I saw dozens of insurance jobs go in and out of his shop, but mine was the only full restoration project. Happy end to a long journey, but that is all part of the experience for me!
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