Customs '62 Impala build story.

I feel ya. Thinking back, the last car I painted was my roadster, three years ago. I was a pretty good painter and was current with products when I was building totals, doing an average of one a month, in addition to my hot rod projects, but that was a LONG time ago! I've gotten as far as urethane primers, top coats, base-coat/clear, but that's about it. I've used Panel-Bond quite a bit, I'm comfortable with it's use on this project, although I got some grief here about using it for this repair. I'm confident it's gonna be fine. I'm getting anxious to see this thing in color, hoping I can get it laid down evenly.

 

Just for nostalgias sake, here's my previous '62, this Sport Sedan I did for our son. 283, 'glide, we drove it cross country twice. It did NOT like elevations over 10,000 feet. I love this color, and would paint the Coupe that color, but I don't want to blow the car completely apart to do it. Ginger brown it is.

 

I used the panel bond when I put the scoop on my Ford hood. I used some scrap steel (about 16 gauge) and made up some test pieces. Man does it hold well. I'm sold on it for use down the road. I have an OT '66 Belair that needs a wheel lip, I'm not up to tackling that yet.

 

That brings back some memories for me as well. My Father had a '62 Sport Sedan. Stock 6 cyl w/ PG. Light Green. Kinda wish I would have got it from my Mom after his passing, but I knew I'd put a V8 in it & lower it, add scallops, Bellflower pipes, etc. Not sure he would have approved my upgrades.

 

I had only 1 X frame Chevy, a '61 4-door hardtop. It was truly a Flintstone car. The 283 was strong, I swapped it with my cousin for a 396.

 

It's in primer! Lots of work ahead, but one step at a time.

 

When you think you've got it perfect, but the long board tells you "Not so fast". More blocking, more filler, more blocking, and I think now it's good. We'll see after I block the next double wet coats of high build...

 

The long board never lie's...

 

Man, this thing is big. I've been sanding for days. Yesterday I shot the second coats of primer, today I got busy turning all that primer into dust, and lastly, a slurry of dust and water. It's looking great, but the work is taking a toll on my hip, which is scheduled to be replaced the last week in August. I could barely walk last night, took it easy today and only worked an couple hours on the car.

 

Hell, my shoulders are killing me just looking at all the acerage you have to sand! You don't realize how big a car really is until you start blocking it!

 

As I was sanding the roof with a roll-ey block and 320, my shoulder was clicking and I thought, "That doesn't sound good." It doesn't feel very good now either. I have a surgery date for late August (after the Relix Riot!) for a left hip replacement. I was going to try to wait until we got to Florida, but that ain't gonna happen. The surgeon here, who did my right hip a decade ago said he can still do the "Birmingham Hip" procedure, so that sounded WAY better to me that sawing off the end of my femur and pounding a big spike into the end. I'll be glad to get it done.

 

Once you recover, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t had it done sooner. My wife had hers done a couple a years ago, she had the “penguin shuffle “ for several years before she finally couldn’t stand the pain to walk and got it done. Now she can out walk me again.

 

I know, been through it with the right 10 years ago. I treated that as a 3 month paid vacation and built most of our Spartan trailer during that winter.

 

I had paint mixed yesterday, 3 quarts of urethane single stage in the ginger brown (an '89 GM color called, "Medium Camel") and a quart of pale yellow for the roof. I got busy this morning and masked the roof off, cleaned everything up, mixed up some paint and shot a coat on the roof. It was MUCH more yellow than the chip I looked at to pick it, so I had my wife come out and tell me what she thought.
"You need to go get a different color", she said, and she was right.
Back the paint store and had them mix a quart of a Volkswagen color that is MUCH better. I had one self inflicted wound pulling the tape and plastic when a fold of plastic flopped over onto the still tacky roof pillar left a mark. I retaped the roof pillar, shot a couple double wet coats of color on the wound. It's almost invisible now, I'll knock it down with a little 600 then 1200 and wheel the pillar, it'll be fine.
I gotta pull the hood and trunk lid, I can't reach over the fenders reliably enough to not lean into them to get the middle. I'll put them on saw horses, mask off the roof and should have it color by the weekend.
I feel good.

 

I had the same problem with my high school 57 BelAir, wanted a stock(ish) yellow/white two-tone, I had my friend paint it, the yellow was real loud, asked if some of the extra white might tone the yellow down, he said worth a shot, no guarantees as he wasn't charging me, turned out ok.

 

I have three quarts of the color white I painted our son's '65 Ranch Wagon, and thought about using it, but it's like arctic white, no yellow at all, would have been too stark. It was only another $80 for the quart of the color that I ended up using, so I think money well spent. People complain about the cost of materials nowadays, but I've spent about $600 total for paint supplies for this car, pretty reasonable in my estimation. The color coats are all PPG, lays down really nice and it's super glossy. Also, very forgiving for home shop users.

 

The deconstruction continues. I'll get it all masked off and shoot the color tomorrow. My wife and I struggled to get the hood and deck lids off, but we did it without messing anything up. I'll get more help to put them back on.

 

Excellent!!

 

I'm using the stuff on my race car. I ain't scared.

 

Perfect day to paint. It's gonna be nice.

 

Yum, rootbeer!
Looks really good Brian.

 

Right? NOTHING like the original color I was trying to match, but, it's all OK. As long as I never have to match it...

 

Here it is done, tape and paper pulled. It is indeed a root beer color, which I like, but had I known that third quart of color was so wildly different I'd have picked the same color I did our other '62 in. This'll grow on me, I suppose.
The reason it's so different is that the paint store had only enough toner to mix 2 quarts initially. They got more, I went back the next day and a different guy there mixed quart #3. I mixed 1 and 2 together, they shot EXACTLY the same shade of ginger brown as the original, so I thought nothing of it and didn't mix 3 with what was left of 1 and 2. Had I done that, it'd have still been different, and maybe not in a good way, as I got 2 full wet coats of #3 on. I did think I maybe should stop and have a 4th quart mixed, but who knows how well it'd have matched either.
Since I don't have a mixing table, I'm at the mercy of the guy at the paint store to get the formula right. It's still a fine looking car, I do like the color, and as long as I never have to match it, it'll be fine. If something happens, I'll just shoot the entire bottom half of the car again...

 

I think it looks better than the original color!

 

Looking good Mr Brian! As a part "specialist" and mixer as my day job I hate to see that happen to anyone but have seen it before. I like the color though! Worst case if something happened and needed some more paint surely they can shoot it with the camera to get a formula.

 

That's what I thought. It's all good.

 

My pal Butch and his wife Pam came over and helped us get the hood and deck lid on. It went super smooth with 4 people, no scratches, no slip-ups. As I was putting the trim and emblems back on, I thought (briefly) that I'd ought to just repaint it with the lighter shade of Ginger (an '89 GM color, "Medium Camel") but everyone that's seen it has had nothing but positive things to say about this color, so I'm calling it done. It looks like a root beer float, it does have more character than the lighter color it was, so I'm at the point where I guess I have to leave well enough alone. Now I can order tires (red lines), a wiper motor and get the rear gears swapped and it'll be good enough for who it's for.

 

Looks good to me.

 

Looks great!!

 

That color is what artist Bob Ross would have called "A happy accident". Looks so nice....well done!