paint jobs

[klb76]

I am looking into painting my corvette, I am going to stick with the original color but I want to customize it a little. I would like to put racing stripes on it but I can't decide if they would look like. Does anyone have pictures of a C3 with stripes? or pictures of good paint jobs?

 

[Bullitt]

What type of stripe design are you considering? ZL-1, Baldwin Motion, twin Shelby-like stripes, etc.?

--Bullitt

 

[klb76]

I would really like to go with the two stripe design similar to the shelby stripes. I just have never seen that on a C3 corvette before. So I was hoping that someone had a picture of a car with that design.

 

[Hijinx]

Obviously, this is a personal opinion, but with the hood design of the C3, it really lends itself better to a single wide stripe. I plan to painting a dark blue stripe (to match the interior) on my '73. It will start in the well of the L88 hood I have and be just as wide as the raised cowl of the hood. It will be boardered by two pinstripes and be continued over on the rear deck lid. On my '73, the space between the rear bumpers is just about exactly the same width as the cowl. I've seen this and it looks sweet. I think it will be tough to make two stripes look right on your C3. Again, its personal preferance.

 

[Bullitt]

Yeah, I agree with Hijinx that one stripe would look better. There's one thing that people who copy the Shelby stripes don't realize. It's that those stripes are not the same width down the entire car. They actually taper down as the stripes reach the rear of the car. Without tapering down, the car never looks right. I would say that every car probably needs a taper, since a lot of cheap stripe jobs never look right.

I can send you an email pic of the Astro Corvettes that were given to Apollo space mission astronauts, that are quite unique. Send me your email and I'll get it to you, if you want.

--Bullitt

 

[vmrod]

I plan on doing the wide, single stripe as well. (tapering to a point at the nose.)

I wonder...if you had 2 racing stripes, what if as they passed the hood-cowl, they slowly came closer together? (Not to meet together, but just bend closer together.) Might be cool.

I drew up a sketch, and used colored pencils until I figured out what I wanted my car to look like.

 

[1DOWN6TOGO]

i have about a year, before i paint my C3. but the topic caught my attention, and i started thinking of how i would have her painted as well. i've seen a couple of pics of the Motion design. it's rather interesting. can anyone explain to me what the history and significance is of it?

thanks

sam

 

[Evolution1980]

KLB76,

If you can get me a decent couple of pics of your car, and a relative idea of what you want, I can do a little Adobe Photochop action on them to give you a rough idea...

I have a couple of pics of some C3's with different paint schemes. If you want, I can email them to you. Just let me know...

 

[impala]

As long as this thread is talking about paint jobs I will use it to ask input about plastic media blasting versus sanding. My car is getting close to the point where the mechanics are done, not that the tinkering will ever really be finished, and painting is next on the list. It seems plastic media blasting would be a tremendus time saver over sanding to prep for paint.

Thanks,

Eugene

 

[klb76]

hey my e-mail addy is kcf1@alfred.edu I would appreciate any pictures of paint jobs on the C3. I would love to get you a pic of my car but I won't have it until about a week or so, when I got in to bring it to college one of my power steering hoses had a burst. So I parked it and will have to wait to go get it.

 

[Stingray6974]

Impala,
Unless the person doing the blasting is extremely careful (haven't seen anyone yet), you will end up with more bodywork than you can inagine. Blasting is fine on a metal car since the material never changes. On a vette the soft spots are all the bonding strips. The bonding adheasive comes off much easier than the paint and then it tears up the fiberglass edges. If the blaster gets in a hurry the entire body will be so textured you'll have to put a layer of bondo over the entire car to get it smooth.

Mike

 

[impala]

Stingray6974,

Thanks for the inut. There's a U-Blast It shop near where I live so the thought was to do it myself to save time. After reading your post I think it would be safer and faster to just sand it.

Thanks!

Eugene

 

[vmrod]

I sanded my car myself. I used an electric orbital buffer (used to wax cars). I bought some heavy duty sanding disks, and stuck them on the buffer. It worked great.

A word of advice....sand the car so that it is smooth. You don't need to get all of the paint off, or go down to the gellcoat. I went down to the gellcoat, and in some spots even past it.

I have fiberglass strands sticking out in a few places, so I'll have to put some gellcoat over these areas.

 

[klb76]

I got a question about the gel coat. If the car still has the original paint, then when I sand it down as long as I don't take it through the gel coat anywhere I shouldn't have to put new gel coat on right? also I have two "small" body repairs to do, will that have to be gel coated?

 

[klb76]

Well, its hard to believe for me but finally I am getting ready to paint my car so I thought I would breathe some life into this thread again. I have one week of finals and then it is time to get to business, (after some minor mechanical work). I have already fixed all my body damage, replaced front and rear bumpers, and installed sport mirrors (imagine how this thing looks in 4 different colors ). My only problem is I am conflicted on the paint scheme. Over the past year I have narrowed my choices down to three.

a) Bright Yellow with the raised cowl portion of the hood painted black

b) Black with Dark Dark Dark Blood Red stripes similar to the design of grandsportc3's 68 vert.

c)Bright Yellow with black stripes similar to Andre's 82 CE paint scheme

I am leaning towards option b, but it would be a little easier for option a being that the car is currently "mostly" yellow :L I am anxious to hear everyone's opinions, good or bad, as all criticism is constructive here at the CAC

klb

 

[Evolution1980]

What hood do you have?

Can you find me a picture of the 68 GS convertible? I didn't know such a car existed.

I can do up some photoshop for you, as well as show you some different paint jobs. I'll try to get them emailed to you tonight or tomorrow.

 

[klb76]

What hood do you have?

I have the stock hood for the 76, I don't believe it is the original hood for various reasons but for all intents and purposes it is the same as original.

Can you find me a picture of the 68 GS convertible? I didn't know such a car existed.

here is a link to a pic on his website, http://home.earthlink.net/~omader/vette68-10.jpg As far as I know there wasn't a 68 GS convertible, that is just what he calls himself... it is a beautiful car, he is a regular member on CF and made a short appearance here a couple of weeks ago.

I can do up some photoshop for you, as well as show you some different paint jobs. I'll try to get them emailed to you tonight or tomorrow.

That would be awesome!!! I suppose I should have asked you if you minded if I used your paint scheme. I hope you don't mind. I tried out the photoshop thing and just made a mess of a good thing so I appreciate your help there. Just in case you forgot, the paintjob on your car is stunning, I would love for my car to get the attention from others that yours gets from me.

klb

 

[Evolution1980]

Check yo' email.

As for copying my paint scheme? Hey, it ain't mine! It's no more mine than the it is the 82CE!

Thanks for the compliments!

 

[huladick]

Me2

My 1980 is in serious need of paint. The top areas were neglected and now almost white. It is code 75L. The paint is also cracking/crazing. One body shop said I needed to do a chemical strip and them prime/paint. Does this sound right or can I sand and paint ? Thanks

 

[78SilvAnniv]

I like option A

But I also REALLY like Andre's paint scheme! I love it in blue, but I can't picture it in yellow...

Yellow and black are a great combo.

I had a Hugger Orange w/ black stripes on a 74 Camaro in college. The stripes had rounded edges, begining at the back fascia above the bumper (10"-12"? wide, each stripe), running over the rear tail fin, up the back deck, roof and hood (which had an L-88 scoop). The front stripes tapered narrower to fit the mold of the hood and ended on the front nose piece, with rounded edges. The center area between the stripes did not vary in width, only the stripes themselves on the hood. The stripes also had a single pin stripe all around. Sorry, no pics of that car.

I am curious to see what option B would turn out like, I'd be concerned with the deep red blending into the black and being invisible.