Not a build thread, but a REFURB thread.....

[youther]

Ok here goes. Here's what my car looked like when I first bought it almost 4 years ago. I drove it for two years, not doing much at all to it. The paint was dull and beat up pretty bad. So I thought any paint would be an inprovement. So I decide to try and get it painted, which my budget limited, a friend refers me to the instructor of the local vo-tech center. He is highly respected in the auto body community according to many people.

So I go and meet with him and tell him that I'm just looking fo a basic paint job with some shine. He decides to take my car and paint it. He also tells me about this kid that he has that has some major talent and already had painted some other hotrods. He also tells me that his specialty is flames. I respond that I wasn't really a big flames fan because a lot of people already have them. So I tell him to let me think about it.

I come home and do some searhing here and around the net. That's when I find a picture of Mike's "Wet" Willy car that has red, white, and blue flames on it. So I print off the picture and take it to the vo-tech and let the instructor and the young painter look at it. They say that they can do something like it. So I say ok, let's do it. So I take the car to them on January 17th, 2007

[youther]

So your'e thinking........."what in the world am I thinking letting a youngin doing work on my car" LOL! Trust me, I asked myself that 1 million times.

So they get started on my car doing some basic work on minor dings and such. There was only one place on the car that needed some extra attention, and it was on the roof where it had been chopped. And it was a crack. The rest of the car was solid, no rust.

[youther]

So comes along my first semi-problem.

I would go by the shop once a week or so to check on progress. So I go by one day to find out that the young painter had failed an exam and would have to take the class over the second semester, which meant that he would not be able to take autobody.

The instructor who we will call "Mr S" assured me that everything would be ok. They would continue to prep the car for paint and Mr S would shoot the base and the young guy who we will call "steve" would come over in the evenings and do the flames.

[youther]

So now comes a MAJOR problem.

Like I said above I would go by once a week. Well due to work and other stuff I missed a week. A week and a half had passed and I decided to go by to check on the car.

As soon as I arrive at the center, I notice that Mr. S is not there and there is a sub teacher there. As soon as the students see me they point at me and say "there he is". I'm thinking..........what did I do. The sub intoduced himself to me and vice versa. He says "we have been trying to get in touch with you." I replied that "Mr. S has my cell number." The sub replies, "that's what we need to talk to you about. We need to know whether you want us to continue to work on your car since Mr. S in no longer here with us anymore." I was puzzled to say the least. I say..."what happened, did he quit?" The sub replies..."No, he died of a sudden heart attack a week ago."

I was stunned to say the least. First I felt terrible because I didn't know and missed his funeral. Then I felt bad for the kids because they were close to him. He was a very personable guy and spent a lot of time just shooting the bull with him whenever I would go by.

The sub says that they needed my permission to continue on the car since things had changed and the sub had no autobody experience. That pretty much meant that the kids would have to prep the car and prepare it for base.

My car looked like the pic above and I felt there was no turning back now. hind sight is 20/20, but if I had it to do over I would took the car home as it sat and found someone else to finish the car.

So I told them to continue the work.

[bluestang67]

Find out who the kid is with talent and get him to do it . Heck he may be a natural with the passion . With the new instructor have no autobody experience i hope they get someone soon .

But i thought your car was shot silver and flamed .

[youther]

Find out who the kid is with talent and get him to do it . Heck he may be a natural with the passion . With the new instructor have no autobody experience i hope they get someone soon .

But i thought your car was shot silver and flamed .

It was and is (painted twice).....LOL! I'm tellin what happened during the process. There is much more to the story....LOL!

[bluestang67]

Ahh ok well I'll sit back and enjoy the story and cringe at the right points .