1972 Granada Mk1 coupe build - Still going... 14-10-2024

So, just a little update this time......


....NOT....!!!!


I'm delighted to say it's time for a MAJOR update that has been a long time coming...



The car is in paint!!

Can you tell I'm excited??

For about two months I've been hearing that the car would be in paint in about a fortnight. In reality though every time there was something that got in the way. Last week I finally got a date for the big moment, but on the big day I got a message that the painter was ill. Then life got a little messy for a week or so and the car was the last thing on my mind. So in the middle of this week I decide to contact the body shop and they tell me paint is planned for tomorrow, which was yesterdag, friday.

This time everything came together and after work I made my way to the shop. I found them masking my car for it's big moment. What a massive undertaking this was. As there were no rubbers, no windows etc. everything had to be masked in a more rigorous fashion then usual for the regular collision repair work. It was to me really a form of art, the clever tricks to get it all masked. My car had to be masked to the floor of the paint booth as we did not want overspray on my black bottom and grey powdercoated suspension.

Masking took a couple of hours to do and then it was in the booth. From then on it still took quite some time before the paint was applied. There are quite a few steps to be taken to ensure a good paint job. Making sure there are no burn throughs from sanding, degreasing, blowing clean, wiping down with tack rags, things like that. And then it was time for paint....

It took about two and a half+ hours to go from primer to clearcoated. The car was painted in three layers of base coat to build up a nice fully covering layer of paint. Then it was finished with three coats of clear. Ensuring there is room for polishing etc. for many years to come without worrying about wearing through the clear. The coats were given some time to flash before the next were applied. The painter used all his skills to put the clear down so that it would be at it's most shiny. Unbelievable how much technique and knowledge of your materials can influence the result of a paint job...

I have to say, the man did great and the result is superb. One or two specs to polish out but that's about it. The car looks nice and straight.

One remark before hand: the scuttle in front of the windscreen wasn't painted yet. The media blasting had left media in there that could blow back up onto the paint job in progress. To avoid that it was simply masked and will be painted next week when the new paint can be properly protected. An option would have been to use rustproofing in that area, but as that is also a product that is sprayed it could also settle on other parts of the body and cause silicon infection, which is also a bad thing in painting a car. But the paint is fres so blending the two paint jobs will be no problem.

So enough words for now, let's just have a look....

Once more, I know it will not be to everyone's taste, but I just love it!!

Here goes...

Prepping:












Painting:





Painted!:







Same picture different light trying to show some of how the colour "works"






Again, same picture slightly different light to show the difference in colour







In the mean time I also polished a lot of trim and from now on, I'll slowly start putting the thing back together. Plan is to clean out the interior, put in the sound deadening, rustproof the car and put in the glass. I'll probably also put on trim items as it's easy and means more stuff is out of the way...

Now, let's hear what you guys think!!