1966 Triumph Spitfire

Some random progress. My cutting and buffing skills are improving, but still not great. Lots of little scratches. I hoped for a 20 foot paint job and I think I'm easily below half that, so good enough for this first-timer.

Only the bonnet left to cutt and buff, so I moved to the interior for a bit just to keep the motivation up.

Cheers,
Chris

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Bumper needs some work, but the bling it getting on there!

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Interior distraction from cutting and buffing the bonnet.
 
Yup, that's my plan. Some 0000 steel wool and No. 7 polish. Some of the pits are pretty deep but they are all very small, so it should shine up good enough.

Thanks!
 
The cutting and buffing is done. Far from perfect and there are probably too many scratches left in the bonnet, but, overall, I'm happy with my results. As I've said before, if you had told me 2 years ago that I would make the car look like this all by myself, I would have had a hearty laugh.

In the throws of final assembly. Just wanted to say thanks, again, to everyone for all of their help and encouragement. I've still got the wheels to paint, so I'm not done yet!

Cheers,
Chris

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cmfisher4 said:
The cutting and buffing is done. Far from perfect and there are probably too many scratches left in the bonnet, but, overall, I'm happy with my results. As I've said before, if you had told me 2 years ago that I would make the car look like this all by myself, I would have had a hearty laugh.

In the throws of final assembly. Just wanted to say thanks, again, to everyone for all of their help and encouragement. I've still got the wheels to paint, so I'm not done yet!

Cheers,
Chris

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Milestone! Going for a ride is getting closer and closer!
I still have my wheels to do as well: wires. Should be interesting.
 
Once you get it assembled you can still go back and correct that bonnet and other areas.
A rotary buffer and some Meguiars M-100 would take those scratches out very quickly and it doesn't make a big mess like the M-105 does.
 
I've painted the insides of my wheels with black epoxy (3 coats) and am going to leave them like that.
Now I'm going to flip and start the white process for the outside. My plan is 3 full-strength coats of white epoxy, then 2-3 coats of white base (SPI) and 2 of UV clear. I'm going to treat the wheels as "production" work and follow those times between coats, thereby painting base and clear in same day. It will be about 48 hours between the last coat of epoxy and the first of white.
Any reason I just can spray base over the full-strength epoxy? I don't think I should be concerned without putting down a reduced coat since I'm within my 7-day window (temp will be above 65F the entire time and they will remain in the garage until done with clear) but I wanted to check.
Once done with clear, I'm going to put them in the sun for a day or two before I mount and balace. There will be hubcaps, too, but these won't go on for a while.
Thanks! She's getting close!
 
Got the wheels painted through clear. 3 coats of white epoxy, 3 coats of pure white, and 3 coats of UC. You can really tell the difference in white between the epoxy and the pure white, though I think my caramel colored activated had something to do with that.

Cheers,
Chris

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3 coats of epoxy. You can just discern the yellowish tint.

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Wheels are made a bit different, from different Marks of the car. Mixed and matched, unfortunately.

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3 coats of pure white and clear. Very pretty.

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Still a bit hazy in there after the clear.
 
Nice Chris. I'll be waiting probably 5 days between epoxy and basecoat on the wires.

Here's the painting setup I invented.
 

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Some glamour shots today. Still not legal, but closer all the time. At the end of the day, I'm not as happy with the paint job as I hoped I would be. I do believe I can buff it out a bit more (rotary vice a DA) and get most, if not all, of the scratches out (recommendations have been made to me here also). But, you know what, she looks great from 10 feet...and I was hoping for looking good at twice that, so I'm happy! Besides, hard to study the paint when your sitting inside and driving her!
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Wow Chris, I had a feeling you had been busy!
She looks fantastic, no more messing around with that damn door alignment finally!
Do you have to get an inspection where you are? Here they will just register anything.
You can always drive over to Ohio and we will see if we can screw up the buffing together...maybe that's not such a good idea.
Congrats, it's sure nice to see it outside!
 
Well, the door's aren't quite there yet, but I'm not sure I can get them much better. Yes, unfortunately, I have to have a VIN number assigned since the car is too old and has never been registered here. That comes with a safety inspection. I don't think it's very invasive, but they do look at the frame and things like that.
Heck, I figure between the two of us, we could figure out that buffing thing!

Thanks!
 
Temporarily registered as of last Thursday. First long drive on Sunday (about 40 miles) with another short one on Monday. Permanent registration this Thursday. Some leaks (she's British, after all), but a solid showing all around.
I'd like to thank Chris_Hamilton, crashtech, Eric, AAE, texasking, elwood, '68 Corona R/T, Slofut, JimKueneman, Sprint_9, and so many others that I've missed. You guys were and are an inspiration and a great help.
Of course, I'd especially like to thank Barry and his crew for founding and running a great company. You guys helped me through with great products and even better advice.

Take care and I'll let you all know when I start my next project :p

Chris
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cmfisher4 said:
Temporarily registered as of last Thursday. First long drive on Sunday (about 40 miles) with another short one on Monday. Permanent registration this Thursday. Some leaks (she's British, after all), but a solid showing all around.
I'd like to thank Chris_Hamilton, crashtech, Eric, AAE, texasking, elwood, '68 Corona R/T, Slofut, JimKueneman, Sprint_9, and so many others that I've missed. You guys were and are an inspiration and a great help.
Of course, I'd especially like to thank Barry and his crew for founding and running a great company. You guys helped me through with great products and even better advice.

Take care and I'll let you all know when I start my next project :p

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Congrats, that's fantastic! Whaaaat a journey, right?
I like the "emissions testing" sign behind the car lol
 
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