Another Ghia back on the road

Here we have the finished product!  After a good long while in the shop, this Ghia is headed home today. I know the owner is happy to have her car back. Im not sure what wheels are planned for this beauty, but I will post pictures of it when she gets them on.

Hit the Ridge

This Honda Ridgeline hit a deer a couple of weeks ago. It really must have been a good sized one too. It really did quite a bit of damage. We replaced the fender, bumper headlight and grill. It did quite a bit of damage under the hood as well. A new air box, new apron, and a few brackets were all called for as well. As you can see the finished job turned out pretty nice.

Too close

You know those posts that keep you from hitting a gas pump or the ATM ?  Dont you hate it when they move them?  Thats what we have here. It happens to the best of us from time to time. Luckily we were able to straighten this one out with out having to install a new panel. We will be fixing the rear bumper as well but most of that damage was just on the surface. We started by removing all the parts that were necessary. We then welded some tabs to the quarter to pull that sheet metal back into shape. We then used a stud welder to pull out the remaining low areas and tapped down the high ones. We then used filler to start smoothing up the body. This is about as far as we got today. Tomorrow we plan on having this one in primer and ready for paint on Thursday.

Just a trim

Here we have Prius thats in the shop to get a few panels repaired and replaced. A new quarter was in order here and that is on and trimmed out. We did come across a few small parts that had to be ordered and those are on the way. Tomorrow we hope to get this on painted so we can start reassembly on Thursday.

Come together

This is the Ghia that had was nailed by the run away golf cart. As you can see the paint and body work came out really nice. We do have this one all back together now and its ready to head home.

Gotta split

The owner of this Mercedes dropped her car off to get this terrible looking split in the bumper fixed. She just picked this one up a few weeks ago and just couldnt bare to ride around with the split in the bumper. We removed the bumper and ground down all the area around the split. We then used products from SEM corporation to repair the bumper. Technology has come a long long way as far as glues and epoxy’s go for fixing plastic parts. Once the repair area was fixed, a few coats of primer was sprayed on the damaged area. We then sanded and prepped the bumper for paint. Thats where Paul took over and laid down a nice red base followed by a few good coats of PPG clear. The owner also dropped off her new front plate so we installed that for her as well. Its all back together now and ready for the last few weeks of summer.

Clearly, its better

This FJ belongs to the C in JMC. We purchased it last weekend and as you can see its in pretty good shape. But,  and yes thats a big BUT, the roofs on these FJ’s are not clear coated. Well, being that paint is my thing, I thought I would buff it up nice and shiny and put a good coat of polish on there for her to keep that top nice. Thats when tragedy struck. As soon as the buffer hit the paint, it took all of the white off on the ridges of the roof. Sigh. I wasn’t really ready to paint the roof on here but I couldn’t just leave it like that either. Plus, the rack was faded a little and could use some sprucing up. Off to the shop it went. We removed the rack then sanded the roof. Next we masked off the rest of the vehicle and then into the booth. After a few coats of white base coat, I followed that with 2 coats of PPG high solids clear. The next day it was time to paint the rack. Here we used an eggshell black to bring it back to life. The paint on the rest of the vehicle was in nice shape so I had the local car wash guys clay bar it for me then I followed that with a few buffing compounds and a couple coats of hand polish. A whole lot of sweat, not blood and no tears later here is the finished product. The paint really looks deep and has a great gloss now. The roof now will need nothing but a coat of polish twice a year for the rest of its life. I know the wife missed it while it was gone, but its looking great now.

Ready to roll

Here we have the finished product. This Camaro is all fixed up and ready for the road again.

Fine ’69

We are just about to wrap up this Mach 1. We had a storm come through a few weeks ago that damaged a few panels on this Mustang so we took care of that for the customer and while it was here we went ahead and buffed the rest of the car to get him ready for the upcoming show season. We also wired up sequential LED turn indicators that mount in the hood scoop for him.  We are waiting on a new hood molding to come in which will be the final piece for this hot rod. It will be ready to go once that part comes in.

Its a wrap

We started on this ’67 beetle a while back. We had quite extensive metal work to perform as well as a full reassembly after painting it all over. Here are the finished shots of it. Its color is factory, zenith blue. The owner upgraded the wheels but left the car all stock. We had the interior done by a local shop in Burlington and they did a great job. The owner picked up this beauty Friday. I know he will have many good years of enjoyment.