i got there late today, but i managed to get some photos of the car, from the sounds of it, its been drying for a few hours or so prior to me arriving, when i got there it was shut in the booth with the fans on. this is how she sets right now, the fresh second coat of primer, from my understanding this has to be sanded down, then the first coat of our base red paint sprayed, then sanded and a second coat applied, and re-sanded i guess? and then our c strip and hood in black two coats, then 2 coats of clear coat over all.
here is the photos. http://s1109.photobucket.com/albums/h428/okwrk871/Primer 112311/
i wish i had photos of the engine, as it looks outstanding, but like i said, its still lacking putting the radiator, electric fan, plumbing the cooling system, the a/c comp, and tuning the engine. i did not want to touch the hood to try and get a pic of the engine, i think it was taped anyways. but this is how far our budget has got us. my father assumes just to finish the paint will be a solid 2 weeks. i do not care to try to speculate on how much time we have in the paint. the money they had saved for this is gone, so like i said, if its to go any further its on a loan, and my father wont take a loan to finish it unless its a guaranteed flat bid with a date to be completed, and the bid is a price he can stomach for the car to be done, turn key and drive off, completed. the guy has been told this, so i guess he is working up a price.
my biggest concern is the question of how many hours are legit on the last two weeks. all the work put into the last two weeks was 140 hours, an it was focus on the hood, and the drivers side rear wheel well. in the original photos you can see the said wheel well and the main dent in it, then you can see the hood on another, and i made sure to get photos of the final results of those two. i know the original was not stripped so its probably impossible to tell, but no one said it was bad, but suddenly they got hit with 140 hours to bondo the hood and repair that wheel well dent?
we kind of figured it was going to run high, twice as much though was and is unimaginable for us. but the issue is that here we are, just now a sanding away from the first coat of red paint, and the predicted price is gone. and my father assumes its only half way. i like to think its got maybe 1/4 of what has been done left to do, since the body should have been the hardest part. but they still have to put body parts on, the minor engine parts back on, tune it, and the interior, and of course the paint. so i see the concern. but i am still hopeful that the words the guy said are true "its almost done" so hopefully he will give us an honest price and write up a legal note of work to be completed for that price and end this.
fact is, as far as this adventure has gone, what would have really helped was to be updated, i mean we came to see the car each week and pay the bill, but a notice would have been nice. "hey, here we are 2 weeks from thanksgiving, and we are not as far along on the body as we had thought we would be." and " he we are not done with the body, but we are running a bit higher than we predicted on price, there were these trouble spots and we got hung up on this." but they cant say anything, it just is what it is. and how can we object, or bring to light our being suspicious of wasted time, when our beloved car is strewn about their shop, we certainly do not want to piss them off.
do not be mistaken, this was not a project for fun, this is not something we looked forward to having to do, it was a means to an end, after 3 years of tinkering together, we got to the stuff we could not do ourselves. we are not doing this to have something to sell, we are doing this to bring back to life, an object we all enjoy in our family. this kind of work is a once in a life time thing my father will never have to restore anything on this car again, and i will simply end up putting the stock pieces i wanted back on the car in 10-15 years when its mine. so this did turn out to be a larger deal then we had started out to do. i guess at some point we were supposed to realize they were envisioning a much higher state of perfection for the body work than we were, but how were we to know. i mean we set a budget, get it done, but stick close to budget. true, telling him our figures may have been a mistake i was worried about that, but how else do you hire someone to do something that you have to hire to do it because you are not setup and knowledgeable about the subject to do so for your self, and get the point across of exactly how much work is to be done, without detailing a figure to act as a guideline?
i appreciate the kind words and the recommendations i got in pm. we are going to wait out and hear what this guy comes back with, and depending on what happens i will be looking to respond to them at that time.
in the mean time, how do you feel about the hood and drivers side wheel well. am i crazy? or is 140 hours to do that, seem questionable? now that i have posted photos of those.
here is the photos. http://s1109.photobucket.com/albums/h428/okwrk871/Primer 112311/
i wish i had photos of the engine, as it looks outstanding, but like i said, its still lacking putting the radiator, electric fan, plumbing the cooling system, the a/c comp, and tuning the engine. i did not want to touch the hood to try and get a pic of the engine, i think it was taped anyways. but this is how far our budget has got us. my father assumes just to finish the paint will be a solid 2 weeks. i do not care to try to speculate on how much time we have in the paint. the money they had saved for this is gone, so like i said, if its to go any further its on a loan, and my father wont take a loan to finish it unless its a guaranteed flat bid with a date to be completed, and the bid is a price he can stomach for the car to be done, turn key and drive off, completed. the guy has been told this, so i guess he is working up a price.
my biggest concern is the question of how many hours are legit on the last two weeks. all the work put into the last two weeks was 140 hours, an it was focus on the hood, and the drivers side rear wheel well. in the original photos you can see the said wheel well and the main dent in it, then you can see the hood on another, and i made sure to get photos of the final results of those two. i know the original was not stripped so its probably impossible to tell, but no one said it was bad, but suddenly they got hit with 140 hours to bondo the hood and repair that wheel well dent?
we kind of figured it was going to run high, twice as much though was and is unimaginable for us. but the issue is that here we are, just now a sanding away from the first coat of red paint, and the predicted price is gone. and my father assumes its only half way. i like to think its got maybe 1/4 of what has been done left to do, since the body should have been the hardest part. but they still have to put body parts on, the minor engine parts back on, tune it, and the interior, and of course the paint. so i see the concern. but i am still hopeful that the words the guy said are true "its almost done" so hopefully he will give us an honest price and write up a legal note of work to be completed for that price and end this.
fact is, as far as this adventure has gone, what would have really helped was to be updated, i mean we came to see the car each week and pay the bill, but a notice would have been nice. "hey, here we are 2 weeks from thanksgiving, and we are not as far along on the body as we had thought we would be." and " he we are not done with the body, but we are running a bit higher than we predicted on price, there were these trouble spots and we got hung up on this." but they cant say anything, it just is what it is. and how can we object, or bring to light our being suspicious of wasted time, when our beloved car is strewn about their shop, we certainly do not want to piss them off.
do not be mistaken, this was not a project for fun, this is not something we looked forward to having to do, it was a means to an end, after 3 years of tinkering together, we got to the stuff we could not do ourselves. we are not doing this to have something to sell, we are doing this to bring back to life, an object we all enjoy in our family. this kind of work is a once in a life time thing my father will never have to restore anything on this car again, and i will simply end up putting the stock pieces i wanted back on the car in 10-15 years when its mine. so this did turn out to be a larger deal then we had started out to do. i guess at some point we were supposed to realize they were envisioning a much higher state of perfection for the body work than we were, but how were we to know. i mean we set a budget, get it done, but stick close to budget. true, telling him our figures may have been a mistake i was worried about that, but how else do you hire someone to do something that you have to hire to do it because you are not setup and knowledgeable about the subject to do so for your self, and get the point across of exactly how much work is to be done, without detailing a figure to act as a guideline?
i appreciate the kind words and the recommendations i got in pm. we are going to wait out and hear what this guy comes back with, and depending on what happens i will be looking to respond to them at that time.
in the mean time, how do you feel about the hood and drivers side wheel well. am i crazy? or is 140 hours to do that, seem questionable? now that i have posted photos of those.
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