I’m coming home

Today, Carolina Girl went home. The final touches were performed which included the installation of the front and back glass, emblems and a final detail.  Keep your eyes open for this one. As nice as it turned out, he will be driving it when the weather permits.

Finishing touches

This Chevelle is approaching the end of the line. We have been working all week on the finishing touches and fine tuning some things. Tomorrow the windshield and back glass go in and all that will really leave is a final buff and polish. We will put the grand finale pictures up when we finish up. We hope this car will be at the Reidsville car show and Fall Festival on October the 11th.  Come on out, its fun for the whole family.

Its Friday, get your grill on

Today we were able to put in some time on the Chevelle. We installed the left fender extension, all new bulbs and the grill. We also installed the hood latch and grill support. It really is starting to take shape here.  A few more minor adjustments here and there, and install the front bumper and this one will be just about wrapped up.

Carolina Girl

Remember this muscle car? This is the ’71 Chevelle that we have been working on for a while now.  The owner took the car to his mechanic to get the last few mechanical things buttoned up. It came back today for us to finish up the last few things we need to do. Today we installed the hood and started building the front end. Keep an eye on this one as we wrap it up. Its is a real head turner.

Clearly, the windows are in.

Yesterday was spent on the Chevelle. We installed the door glass, power window regulator, outside window scrapers, door handles and locks. It all went together very nicely. The roof rail weatherstrip was installed last Friday so the doors and quarter windows are pretty well wrapped up. We will do another buffing on it before the customer pick up, but this is just about the end of the road on this one for us. The owner will be putting the finishing touches on it.

Nice rear!

We have been working on the 71 Chevelle some this week. Today we built the front fender extensions. We installed the headlight buckets with all new hardware. We also installed new turn signal lenses, chrome trim and gaskets. Yesterday we installed the rear bumper. This is the original bumper that has been re-chromed. We painted all the original brackets, new tail light lenses, new emblems and bumper guards round out the back end.

Rear gear

Today we started building the back of the Chevelle. New chrome on the factory bumper, new tail lamp and rear side marker lenses followed by a new rear wiring harness were all installed today. We hope to make some real progress on this car this week. I hope I didnt just jinx it.

Shine time

Yesterday and today we spent a big portion of time buffing out the ’71 Chevelle. Jordan and I blocked out the body with 1000 grit sandpaper to remove the orange peel and get the surface as flat as possible. Once that step was complete we hand sanded the body again with 2000 grit paper. This step is to remove the 1000 grit scratch and leave a 2000 grit scratch. Once that was complete we went back over it one more time with 3000 grit on a DA sander. This step really helps save a bunch of time with the buffer. Speaking of buffing, this is where Chris took over. He started out with a medium cut compound to remove all the sanding scratches. Once those were out, he switched to a polishing  compound that brings the shine back and removes the fine swirls left over from the first step. After that, its gone over one more time with an ultra fine polish with the buffer then a final hand polish to finish it off. All these steps really make the color pop and the shine is now a mile deep. Going the extra mile really makes all the difference.S

Ghost in the machine

Today we were able to work on the Chevelle today. We had enough time to sand the hood down and lay out the stripes and clear it. The first thing we did was sand the hood so we would have a smooth ground coat to put the stripes on. We the measured out were the stripes would go and started taping.  The center was found first followed by marking how wide they would be. Once they tapped off we put the hood in the boot. We ghosted these stripes in. This way the owner get Super Sport stripes, but they dont stand out and over power the overall look of the car. The last two pictures show the look we are going for. Depending on the way your looking at the hood and the lighting at the time, depends on if you will see the stripes or not. Its a pretty cool effect and adds just the right touch.

Look closely, you might miss it.

 This is a few parts off of the ’71 Chevelle we have been working on. The color is quite unique. It is Carolina blue. The car is called a Carolina Girl. Chevrolet painted a few cars each year and sent them to North Carolina as a special edition. This one has lived its entire life in Burlington. In fact, It grew up, only about a mile from the shop. The new owner wanted to keep it the original color but wanted to add his personal touch to it. Well, we figured out what that touch was going to be this week. He likes racing stripes, but didnt know for sure if he wanted them on this car. When we described how we can ghost stripes, he got curious. So Wednesday we ghosted the stripes in for him to see and luck was on our side. We nailed it. If you look closely, you can see the stripes just barely visible. The owner and his family were very pleased with the way they turned out. We also wet sanded and buffed the fenders today. This process is part of our “High Performance Finish” paint jobs. We did get the doors buffed out last week, so all thats left is to buff the body and paint the stripes on the hood, then reassemble.