Corvair Forum

When I was loading the Spyder on my trailer to get it home to fix it, I sadly scraped the paint on one door. No dents, just some paint damage.
I contacted a local, highly rated body shop about doing a repair on the paint, and I was told by the body shop: "Thank you for inquiring with us on the repair to your 1964 Chevy Corvair. Unfortunately we are unable to assist you in this particular repair. Our estimating system does not go back far enough for a 1964 model vehicle."
And this was AFTER I explained that there was NO sheet metal damage, just some paint that needed to be feathered, and blended in!
Have any of you EVER run into something like this?
They don't have a guy who can come out and actually LOOK at the door and say "Yep, that's about 2 hours of labor, and some paint, it'll cost you about $150 to get it fixed"??
Have so many businesses forgotten how to do ANYTHING without the computer telling them what to do??
SHEESH!!

you gotta love the digital age

http://www.andysautosport.com/radiator_ ... rvair.html

Andy

AndyF wrote:you gotta love the digital age

http://www.andysautosport.com/radiator_ ... rvair.html

Andy

Well, THAT'S the problem!
I've been buying mine from someone else!
He gave me a GREAT deal on the hoses, as well as a new radiator cap, and even offered to throw in 10 gallons of Anti-Freeze AND a brand new Motometer to mount on top of the Radiator!
Still, getting in there to tighten up the clamps on the bottom of the Radiator is a bitch, all that sheet metal shrouding keeps getting in the way!

I couldn't resist... I sent their customer service department an email questioning the validity of this webpage and the credibility of their stores.

Sadly, it seems there are a LOT of people out there that are educated FAR beyond their Intelligence!


"But...but...I saw it on the internet, so it MUST be true! Corvairs HAVE to have a radiator, or why would companies offer to sell hoses for them??"

A lot of current body shops do only late model collision work. They do not want to be bothered with working on an old car with not only a particular owner (All us old car guys are particular about our rides), but, a car that is difficult to mix and match paint for , and is nearly impossible to make a real quote for. They have no computer data for times and do not know what they will find under the old often repainted multiple times surface. Working into these older materials can also present challenges and cause problems during repair. Honestly most of these fast paced collision centers would lose money working on a classic compared to fixing a similar job on a late model car that was estimated similarly. Our classics take more time and we should pay more accordingly but they do not know how much more to make it fair and yet still profitable (indeed the more is often not discovered until the job is underway). You need to try to fins a place that at least partially specializes in older cars that also has a good reputation and performs quality work...I know that is a lot to ask:/

To get a good paint match call around to some local automotive paint suppliers in your area to see if any of them have an Acquire RX color matching system. I had to match some paint on my classic mustang. I drove the car to my local paint supplier and they used that system to mix me up a pint of paint. It was an exact match. I was impressed by how accurate it was. There may also be a body shop in your area that uses this or another color match system. The local paint supplier can recommend a body shop one to do the spraying if they color match the paint for you.

http://dpcprd.asp.dupont.com/dpc/en/ca/ ... _RX_PG.pdf

Actually, I got lucky there. When I got the car, some of the extras the restorer included was a small can that had had some paint in it. it had dried out, but the code was on the label. My car is painted in PPG Duracryl Lacquer, code 3889, "Yellow Gold", which is G.M.OEM code 51, 1977, 78 and 79 color for Camaros and Firebirds.
There is a parts house nearby that custom mixes paint who is going to make me a pint or a quart, so I can take it with me to the body shop that told me "Sure, No Problem! Bring it by, and we'll look at it! Sounds like you need the paint feathered in, smoothed out, and touched up!"
I DO understand that working on a classic can be REALLY difficult if you have to get into structural repairs and the like, but the first place I called didn't even want to look at it! Hey, if they don't want my money, I'm sure someone else out there will do the job.

Ask around at local car Shows and see if there is any old school guys that do this work on the side make sure you ask for the good ones.

Just because you have a formula number does not mean the mixed paint will match. It all depends on how accurately it is or was mixed. If converting from the lacquer to a newer paint type color varies in the transition sometimes. Getting a a late model repair shop to use lacquer may be a trick as well.

Agreed Ted, you must also take into account the age of your paint job, the colour fades and changes over time making it immpossible to mach unless you have a good painter who can mix to compensate

The paint on the car is less then 2 years old, so fading should not be a problem.
Since the scrape is on the lower edge of the driver's door, almost directly in line behind the Chrome fender emblems, I also know that if it is not an exact match, a pair of black rally-style tape stripes above the rocker panels would cover it. I got lucky in the fact that there are NO dents in the sheet metal, just some small areas of paint flaked off. Besides, to be honest, the paint job on the car isn't the greatest to begin with. It's basically a "15 Foot" paint job. Good from a distance, but not quite so much up close.
I have been considering having the stripes installed anyway. I know some purists would object, but I have seen some EMs with the side stripes that look quite sporty.
There is a local graphics shop that does a lot of work for custom cars, as well as doing the graphics for Police Cars, and Emergency vehicles, so they are very professional. In this area there is a large custom and street rod presence, since Somerset is "The Car Cruise Capital of Kentucky". Really.

It's nice when you hear instead, "Oh yeah. I remember that color. I've painted a couple of old Chevy's in Orchid Iris whatever-they-called-it." The '66 Monza I bought a few weeks back is at the paint shop right now getting a full sand and prime and respray in Evening Orchid. (Yes, I know it's '65 only color, but that's what it was when I bought it, and we like it.) I would have taken it by Ted's place for a look, but it's completely stripped of glass, lights etc, so it has to be towed, and Tucker is a bit of a hike from Lula. Once I've got it street legal, I'll take it by Ted's place for a review by the expert.

I remember not too long ago when I called a local body shop and said: Hi I have a Corvair....click.

sailadams wrote:It's nice when you hear instead, "Oh yeah. I remember that color. I've painted a couple of old Chevy's in Orchid Iris whatever-they-called-it." The '66 Monza I bought a few weeks back is at the paint shop right now getting a full sand and prime and respray in Evening Orchid. (Yes, I know it's '65 only color, but that's what it was when I bought it, and we like it.) I would have taken it by Ted's place for a look, but it's completely stripped of glass, lights etc, so it has to be towed, and Tucker is a bit of a hike from Lula. Once I've got it street legal, I'll take it by Ted's place for a review by the expert.

I am no longer in Tucker. Working from my house in Snellville now.

Here is what I did to her....
A lot of what you see on the door is dust from the gravel road I live on.