In March I booked my 442 in for painting. Due to the economy they couldn't take my car in until July 2. I was told that it would take about a month to complete because they wanted to do it right and strip the car down.
The last time the car was painted (1987) the guy told me he wanted to strip the car too.
Stripped 442 (1987)
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Anyway, I called Bruce (the fellow who owns the shop that offered to paint the car when no one else would) and asked how the car was coming along. He said "Not good." His main body guy didn't show up for work and he was looking for someone to hire. The economy is so hot here that there is a labour shortage. We're short 4-5 people at work ourselves. Bruce said that he had a guy lined up to start on July 28.
On August 2 I went in with my camera to check the progress on the car. Bruce said the new guy never showed up. So he's looking again.
One month later (nothing done)
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I got a call from Bruce . He said they found some rust and if I wanted to see the car in its current state.
So, I grabbed the work digital camera and headed over to the body shop. When I got there, I expected to see this.....

But I was shocked to hear that the guy who originally left, was back! Bruce said that he was an excellect body man but a bit of a flake. He said that he gave him enough that he won't be going anywhere for a while.
Anyway, below are some pictures of the 442 . I'll keep you guys posted as the car progresses if you're interested. It seems that "stripped" means different things to different body shops....

 

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Bruce did say that for a 32 year old car with original fenders, quarters and doors, the car was in "remarkable" shape.

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Rust!! Now history.
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Here it is a week later. Not much done but the work on the rust area is moving along (albiet slowly). DSC_4131.jpg

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Pass. quarter is in pretty good shape.
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More to come......going to see it tomorrow.

 

looks like it's coming along very nicely. i want to paint my car but i have a bit of rust in the rear an don't no id should just cut it out of a diff cutlass an have it welded.

 

Well, that is what stripped means to me too (down to bare metal). Your car does look to be in very good shape for it's age. Be thankful that repair to him means "new metal" not "more mud". Where did those hood scoops come from? I sure don't recognize them. Anxiously awaiting progress pics...

 

AWSOME! That car is definitely stripped down to it's birthday suit.

 

Just curious, 442Much, how much are you spending on this strip down? Mine could use a similar job, probably more, and the thought is worrying me. If I have to sell the house, the wife won't be onside!

 

I like how they bagged the engine compartment ...

 

This paint job is gonna be about $10,000 CAD. Based on the last paint job, I shouldn't have to have another one done for at least 20 years. They tell me they are using the Glasurit base clear.

Ken

 

Check this out.

http://www.vfnfiberglass.com/site.htm
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Well it's moving along...slowly, but it's moving. Took these pics today because wasn't sure if they'd be open over the long weekend.
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Well that's it for this week. Hopfully it will be in primer when I see it next time.

 

Car looks great. One of my 442s is a 77. I had it stripped to bare metal
like yours about 8 years ago. The plastic rock shields that go in front
of your rear wheel wells will cause a rust problem again. They seem
to trap moisture no matter what. I'm assuming you have these also.
Do you also have the plastic rear fender/bumper fillers. If so, I can tell you where to get new ones if you have a problem finding them.

 

Hi,

Those plastic pieces (at least one) caused the rust in the first place. I removed them 21 years ago. I've had this car since 1979 and have collected many pieces for it for many years. Thanks for the offer though. I usually hang out at www.73-77olds.com and see that a few of those guys are here as well. That's a good source for 73-77 parts.

Ken

 

OK, went to see the car today. Bruce said that they would be starting the prep work on Monday. That "stuff" on the car is an aluminum compound of some sort. Anyway, we're getting close. I noticed that they removed my original weatherstipping. I hope there are no issues with reassembly. The pictures below were taken at lunch time today.

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More next week......

 

Looks to be coming along nicely. Sharp ride

 

Thanks man. More pix tomorrow night.

 

That big job is sure coming along nicely; I can't wait to see the finished car! I like the original color...
So far the wait looks to be well worth it. I would rather them take longer and do a good job. I know that long initial wait was difficult...

At this point, I think you should just install new weatherstrip if yours is more than a few years old. Dull dirty weatherstrip against a near-perfect body will stand out in the worse way. This is the thing I don't like about restoring cars - one thing always leads to another and none are cheap!
Keep those pictures rolling in!

 

OK, I realize that this might be boring for some of you, (it's taking longer than I thought)! Went to the shop today and Bruce was out for lunch. The receptionist knows me by now and said that the guy working on my car didn't show up to work and Bruce had been trying to call him all week. She said that I could go back if I wanted and take pictures, so I did. I'll call Bruce on Monday to see what's going on.

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Around the rear window. I'll ask Bruce to add tape to the glass, but it's possible all the sanding is done??

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No weatherstripping

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There was no rust on this side, but they did some work here anyway.

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Perhaps it would be better if I posted here only when the car is finished as this is going on longer than I'd hoped.

 

Nah, the suspense is just as fun for you as it is for everyone else.
Plus this inspires me to get started on my 87 442 frame off and get my 84 painted like an H/O.

 

All right then, I update on Thursday

 

Keep them comming takes some of the pain away noing there is someone else playing the waiting game to get their toy in action.

 

Hi Ken,
I had work done to my 1983 Ninety Eight Regency Brougham at Tristar around 1992. Bruce and Uwe were looking after the project for me back then. Really nice guys and they warrantied their work. Unfortunately whoever they put on my car believed that anything can be fixed with about half an inch of bondo, and the door contours were all wrong. I ended up buying another set of doors and doing the work myself in my garage. After I installed them, they looked perfect. Didn't have a compressor so I had Southtown Auto (on Argyll) make up the spray bombs. Turned out better than the work Tristar did.
Hope you have better luck than I did with them. The pics look good, but the time factor you're looking at for your project sounds like the same issues I ran into back then also. BTW I'm just up in Castledowns so it's not far to go. If you don't mind, maybe we could meet there one day when you're planning more pics. Also be a good time to talk to you about the Northern Lights Chapter??

 

Hi Allan,

I was going to get some pix Thursday but I called today and they said that no one has worked on the car this week because the bodyman hasn't shown up since last Thursday. So no updates this week. I'm going to Radium with the club for the car show this weekend (I'll drive the Intrigue) but I'll be hounding them next week for sure. Do you ever go to the cruise nights around town?

I've had a friend (in ID)who's a bodyman check the progress for me by the internet and he says so far so good. He's been explaining things to me from the pictures I post.

Had a great Oldsmobile Show in the Town of Olds this year, check the club website for the pictures. As I said, next week I'm off so anytime you want to meet let me know.

 

This might be nitpicking, but just got my truck out of a body shop that botched the job big time. Tough to find one that does the big iron, much less a good job on one. You might want to talk to the shop about the placement of the stands before they do any final fit of the body seams. Those front stands in particular are too far back and are going to pull the nose down. I know that the clip is still mounted, but thought it was worth noting.

 

Thanks man. I'll mention it to them.

UPDATE. The bodyman is still AWOL. I called today and they said that they were putting someone else on the job. I asked if the this was the same guy that was supposed to paint the car. They said "no". They said they had guys that just did painting. We'll see where we are on Saturday.

 

OK. Went to see the car yesterday. The guy was there! Not sure if he was the guy who would periodically leaves or his replacement. Didn't want to ask if he was the "flake" or the "replacement" as he still has the car!
He said that he was going to prep the door jambs and was going to paint the bottom portion of the grill (actually, I told him the bottom portion should be painted). Anyway he told me that the car would be sanded and ready for paint very soon. He also said that I would have the car before the end of the month. I guess we'll see about that. Don't know if there's any noticable change, but here are the latest pictures.
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Photo op. He wasn't really working.

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Wow, lots of work there . Looking good. Hopefully things will go smoothly. It's always a challenge getting bigger jobs done these days it seems. I always liked those mid 70s cars. Good luck.

 

Coming along now! Looks good so far Can't quite tell, did they reposition those stands?

 

You have to have nerves of steel to be able to not lose your cool with these guys. Good luck and keep us posted

 

Everyone heads up!!! Don't hire this guy to work on your car!! He's only in it for the pictures - Apparently NOT a real worker or that car would be done.

Ken, how's it going to date? That car would have been in the paint bay for primer and paint at any other body shop by now. I don't get how Tri Star is tying up this much space and time in a production shop. Gotta be they're slamming insurance claims together and you get the leftover time.

Now I'm curios, how did you end up using Tri Star? Referral? Advertising? I can't believe that Dougs Place, Eggberts or Ames would turn you down? That would be really unusual. Only thing that might set me back is their prices, but they all do quality work.

Noticed that the interior of your car is not draped. Probably going to have all kinds of bondo dust and crud in the vents and crevices.

More power to you for staying on top of this project. When I talked to Bob over at Ames about a rotiserrie on my 72 he said it would include a CD library of all work b4 during and after to document the work and the car. Also said that when finished it would be a trailer queen. He's done lots of restos that have placed 1st and 2nd in the local MotorRama. (My 72 is currently appraised at a 2+ with NOS and reconditioned OEM parts , that's why it wouldn't cost an arm and a leg.)

Next time you need new paint LMK and I'm gonna call Chip Foose on OVERHAULIN' and get you a 7 day miracle. The smile you'd have on your face would make a cheshire cat jealous.

 

Looking good, keep those photos coming!!

 

FL1970, sweet looking vert! What color gold is that? Original Galleon?

 

How goes the project?