New Family Room Furniture

Countdown 11 days until the planned day of reunification of the body and chassis. This morning I went over to SoCal Upholstery and picked up the interior bits. The leather looks really good. Susan graciously suggested it sit in the family room for a few weeks until I'm ready for it in the car. 

Here's all the pieces. The headrests mount to the rollbar when it's in the car. The seat covers and armrests were stitched by Al Knock Corvette Interiors. The rest was done by the local shop - headrests, steering wheel, shifter cover, shifter boot, and shifter knob.

Here's the shifter boot, cover and knob. The button was painted with the instrument cluster and rest of interior parts. Match is very good, and it was pulled from the ABS dash pad, and not the leather. Other side of the boot is double stitched like the shifter cover and arm rests. The shifter cover is upholstered over a fiberglass cover I molded last week after I touched up my mold I made a number of years ago. I still need to make a fresh Aluminum plate - I don't need both the SES and Alternator lamps that were in the previous version. 

Here's the steering wheel. The hub cover was painted with other interior parts by CW Rod & Restoration. 

She's Red

After work Friday I grabbed my camera and went by the shop to get some more pictures of Mutt all painted. I told Susan I'd be right back. She said "Right." An hour and a half later I made it home with pictures in hand. 

 Driver's side from the front

 Driver's side from the rear

Rear straight on.

Rear from the top. 

Passenger side from the rear. 

 Passenger from the front. 

 Head on at the front. 

Today is the Day - Red at last...

Yesterday, Ron finished the masking and sealed the primer. After that, the coves were painted. 

Passenger cove

Driver's Cove

Today the victory red was painted. Here's the shot from the tail of the car on the driver's side. 

From the nose of the car, looking down the passenger side of the car.  

Looking at the nose of the car, with the engine bay still masked off. 

Bye, Bye Grey Primer

It's been a long time, with the first media blasting done 14 years ago, and the grey primer seeing duty in two Corvette caravans, several open road races, three moves and three job changes, but it's time to go. Ron finished the wet sanding today, and the crew rolled her into the paint booth to say goodbye to life in primer and say hello to life in color again. The car left the factory Ermine White, though not clear if the coves were painted. It saw numerous other colors over the years including blue, yellow, brown, light metallic green, and white again. Now it's finally time to see Red. Ron expects to paint the car tomorrow after just a bit more masking and prep.

 Here she is rolled in the booth and set up on jackstands.

A shot from the side.

 Masking off the nose and front wheel wells.

Masking off the firewall. Deck lid hinges were down when the glovebox and trunk were sprayed, so trunk hinges down this time and deck lid hinges up.

 Masking off the interior.

 Masking off the trunk and rear wheel wells.

Exterior Paint Part Two

Tuesday, got pictures from the shop of the coves painted on the doors. Wasn't expecting paint that day with Cut, Chop and Rebuild filming on site that day. 

 Driver's door now just awaits color sanding.

Same for the passenger door. Ron also got most of the wet sanding done on the body Tuesday.

Exterior Paint Part One

Yesterday I pulled out and packed up all the interior parts that needed a trip to the upholstery shop - the seats, the armrests, shifter boot, shifter knob, a fresh shifter cover I molded up last week,  headrests from the roll bar, and the hardtop to get the new headliner fitted and glued in. I brought them to a small shop in Santa Ana, and they'll be ready by next Monday.

Got some fresh pictures from Chris from today's painting Ron did on the car. He shot the top side of the trunk lid, deck lid, hood, and the red on the exterior of the doors. It almost looks like silver coves, but soon the gray primer will be covered with Ermine white paint.

 After some curing all the panels will be color sanded and polished. The red on the hood already has some pretty good depth to the reflection in it. I'm liking it.

 Another shot of the doors, trunk lid and hood.

Convertible deck lid in the foreground, trunk lid and hood in the rear.

Memorial Day Weekend?

I purchased this car back in 1996 on memorial day weekend. Right now, the plan is to have the newly painted body reunited with the car for Memorial Day weekend 2011 - 15 years to the weekend from my purchase, and about a quarter century from when I initially laid eyes on it. In talking with Chris this morning, we're going to aim for me to take the friday before Memorial Day off and bring the finished chassis to the shop to reunite with the body. 

Light Saddle center console and Victory Red glove box and convertible top well.

Convertible top well.  

Red trunk

 Doors and trunk lid from earlier in the week.

Chris was masking off the painted underside of the deck lid, in prep for final prep and painting of the top side. Plan is to paint these monday, then try to get the car ready for the booth before the end of the day Monday.