Good Morning Gurus!

Well, I picked up my daughter's car from the paint shop last night. About what one would expect from a $500 paint job. Not too bad, really. It sure is purple. But it seems to fit the car.

I call it "The Purple Nurple" but my teenage daughter is not thrilled with that, and has asked me not to call it that in front of her friends. Geez, I thought it was cute!

I do have "before" photos, but they are on my iPhone, and I need to upgrade some computer software before I can get them off of the phone. Guess I shoulda bought that computer instead of two sets of tires, a new bass guitar, two amps, a stereo for my Amigo and an electric drum set. But I sure am having fun with all that other stuff!

I was messing around on the drums last night, and something just clicked. I actually came up with a really nice beat that I am going to work into a song. I don't think I would give up playing bass to do drums, but it's always good to expand one's horizons...

What's up in your world today?

Have super one!

well... it's actually cold here this morning... a balmy 41 when I went to get the papers.

For this area, that's cold. This little house isn't the least bit insulated, so all the heat stored goes away. It gets below 60 in here first thing in the morning.

Have you tried emailing the pictures from your phone to your computer?

New drum lick, cool. You will have to arrange and record it!

My mom's area (Delaware) might be getting hit by a winter storm... off to weather.com to check it out.

Man, I feel like a complete idiot! Of COURSE I can email them to myself!

Thanks! I'm so ashamed....

Note peeling paint on side of trunk and rear bumper...

My hood needs a paintjob. Need a new bumper to. Emblem for the front as well then of course the hole needs to be closed up. 500 dollars sounds good! I really am not concerned with the best paint in the world, but it does have to look fair. After a year of driving, it's going to get chipped up and faded out.

If you can remove your tail lights, side markers and other stuff, you can get a better job, and save some money. I did ask the shop to go ahead and paint the black door handles purple, but they also painted right over the black door trim on the side of the car. I was not expecting that.

Anyway, talk to the shop first. They can tell you some things you can do to make their job easier, making your job cost less and turn out better.

For $500 you get an integrated clear coat that is not as good as a two stage base coat/clear coat job. But if you just want the car to be presentable, I guess it's alright. Not sure about any special process for painting on SMC rather than metal though... They might charge more for that. Dunno...

Door jambs are an extra $90 each, so if you change the color, it costs more to do that. I did not have them paint the jambs though. So it looks a little cheezy when you open the door. But I figure this is my daughter's first car. She's gonna bang it up a little anyway. But she really digs it the way it is.

Good luck with yours!

I'll try and get the "after" photos up in the next day or so. Unfortunately there is lots of snow on the ground, and the car has gotten very slushified. I washed it after the drive home to show my kid, and in the half mile from the car wash to home, it got ugly. Friggin snow!

My buddy had a MAYCO special once, it came out pretty good. He got the intergrated clear done. I eventually want my vette done but I want it sanded down and a custom job applied. Might be a few years before that happens though.

Yeah. It's more about the people at the shop than the shop itself. If you get a good vibe of the guys at a Maaco shop, then you're probably alright. Take a look at some of the work they've done, and see if it looks alright.

It is possible to get a nice paint job from a Maaco shop.

I asked my dad about maaco a bit ago and he said hed rather throw 250 bux out the window than give it to them. He has a friend he is going to call tomorrow. If you saw in the pics, the front of the roof is damaged because he did not tell me he did not bolt the roof down and it flew off at about 35 mph. If it was the clear one, it would've been toast. I suppose they sand it down then repaint it black because it's made of fiberglass. I would LOVE to have the car repainted but that would be way 2 expensive. My car got keyed twice and one fo the times was right in front of me. I wouldnt bother painting the rocker panels underneath though. Waste of time. I'd like to change colors to a Lemans blue. That would be a nice christmas present. Throw ona chrome front plate with the 93 edition chrome emblems and it will be "bling bling"! :tongue: I love chrome.

So what happened after you kicked the guys ass who keyed it? I had hatters in my H.S. when I was young. Someone keyed my camaro I had....they held the key just right and dug it all the way to the metal and it was a 1/4 inch wide and went for about 30 inches.

Didn't fight him. He was in a "car group". Seven of them vs me and my friend. One of his friends said if you fight him your taken on all of us. The kid that keyed my car is only about 5-5 so hes short. Plus hes 19 now....so yea.....this was back in 11th grade (two years ago). That was a wild year If I knew that I wouldn't get arrest for beating him up and I knew his friends would jump in, then yes I would let out the rage. N e way, told my parents and they checked the parking lot for cameras to use against him but nope none were there so there was no proof. So yep.....It's got a 6 inch key mark on the back bumper right above the two left hand taillights. When I first pulled up in 10th grade with my 90, I got complete hell for it. It was "Charcoal Metallic". Few people said it was gay, it looked purple, corvettes are stupid.....blah blah blah....I didn't know cars could be gay or straight. Then came this car and since it had the rims and stuff, people thought I thought I was goody 2 shoes and blah blah blah.....Then when stuff did start breaking, it got called a piece of shit. Some of my friends stopped being my friend because of the car. Negative attention from strangers as well. Know that I am in college, no one really cares. Lotsa mustangs though. GTs mainly. They are the people that watched me get out of it and stuff but thats about it. I don't see why people get jealous. I have seen people in ferraris and I could care less. Same with C5s and C6s. Don't care...

Everywhere I go I allways have someone walk up to me and ask me about the vette. I have had 3 offers on it already but its not for sale. Who knows, next time someone makes a good offer I might just take them up on it

You probably won't get any offers now that you said that. I used to have a Chrome Yellow 95 Ford Ranger Splash. I loved that truck, and I had folks pull into the parking lot where I worked to ask if they could buy it. I wasn't about to sell it, as it was set up just the way I wanted.

Then I fell on hard times and had to put it up foe sale. Nobody wanted it, and I had to give it back to the bank. I buy my cars with cash now. If I can't afford it, I don't want to own it.

But enough of that. Enjoy the car!

I am with you.. I am done with car payments.