It sounds like any option you have is going to be a bandaid fix. The only real solution is painting the whole car unless you know a painter who is skilled enough to mix paint to match the faded color that the car is right now. My mother used to work in a high end body shop when I was a kid, and she would do paint touch ups like this. It took a lot of skill to match the paint on older cars.
I'm gonna take the gas door to the paint supplier that provided me w/ all the stuff to get the car ready for paint the last car. They have some scanner thingy that will account for the fade when they mix the paint. As for skill in blending,..I have none.
But then I never did the fab stuff I did on the Fox until I started on it either.
Whew, Ive been sweating all day in anticipation that you would keep those chipped side scoops body color. You know, there is one more solution to all your paint problems... Rattle can it either flat black, or grey primer. Fixed.
Uhh no.There'll be no rattle can for this car.
I'll have to live w/ whatever mismatch ends up being the deal when I get to that project in a couple of weeks.
I think 85_SS said it best. It needs a repaint and knowing you, if you touch up, you wont be happy with it. I know I wouldn't be. A day later, a thread will get made detailing the complete tear down of the car to be repainted.
But def paint the tail light panel flat black. I was gonna do that to my '99 before it slipped away.
This isn't a project car. I cannot afford to have it sitting for a prolonged time,.. so there'll be no total strip down and repaint in this car's future. "Knowing me",.....(and I know me pretty well).....what'll end up happening if it turns out less than acceptable to me,.....it'll slowly eat my ass up until I sell the thing.
I do have to admit,.....I am really growing to like the body style. For years,..I wouldn't even look at one unless it was one of the bad-ass three: Mach1;Bullitt;Cobra, and even then mostly for the engine that was under the hood.
I coulda traded the red car for a really nice mach1 straight up two years ago, but
I was still out of touch w/ what the red car was worth at that time too.
Am I pretty sure I'm gonna flatten the tail light panel though.
Just Plastidip the entire car. It will cover everything and when you are ready to paint the whole thing, you can just peel the plastidip off.
No,...I think I'll pass on that suggestion...BUT....I have been trying to get it nice where it doesn't matter, and I have you to thank/blame for it.
The wife comes out on Saturday and my T shirt is spotted w/ grease spatter, my hands and fingernails stained w/ grease for the next week,..my face splattered w/ various chunklets of wet sludge, and she asks: Why in the hell are you scrubbing the wheel wells where the tires go?...And why are you doing the same to the underside of the floor?
"Go back inside woman,..you know nothing of the sense of accomplishment one takes when even the underside of the car is cleaner than most folks topside.......Now do as I say,..make me a sammich and fetch me up a beer before I come over and rub up against you!" "Besides,...someday,...I may meet Scottbi-Wan-Kenobee of Klean,....and I have appearances to keep up".
Repainting hood, rear bumper, side skirts, rear sail panel.... Just repaint the whole thing. You will be happy knowing you did it right.
Joe
Well Joe that may be the way it is,...but this time around,...I'm just gonna have to make the best of it.
