After 7 long months my '67 Caddy is nearly complete.
The custom paint and body work done by Ben Bowman is first rate. The color is called Passion Pearl and is offered by House of Colors. The flames were created using PPG bright white and adding three ounces of pearl to accent. All four of the white base coats were mixed with white pearl and then Ben used blue pearl in the clear coat to accent the perimiter of all the flames, finally the last two coats of clear included violet pearl which covered the entire white of the flames. The pearl accenting is very subtle and is most noticeable in direct sunlight. Ben's expert body work makes the whole car a show piece. The car is very straight and the paint work is near flawless. My next goals will be to re-carpet the interior, undercoat the inside of the trunk, and replace all rubber gasketing on the car. I expect to be able to slowly attack these projects over the next year.
...The big day is finally here, a trip to the paint booth, first step was a three hour long thourough clean out of the spray booth to limit as much dirt and dust potential as possible...then we wheeled the old car in and began the tedious task of masking her off in preparation for the white base coat...
Now that the car has been covered with four coats of bright white base coat, now it's time to begin squirting on the purple...The white base coat took all of the first day in the spray booth. On day 2 we did the purple and the clear coat...
The whole car has now been covered with four coats of passion pearl and is ready to begin getting six coats of clear coat...The car takes on a whole new look as ever squirt of clear coat builds up making the purple come alive.
To get to this point Ben and I had spent two ten hour days in the spray booth, meticulously ensuring that every detail was just right and that the temperature control was right on the money between coats for optimum drying performance. The next and final step of the paint process will take a few more days and requires the space afforderd by a seperate page on this site. Here's where the fun begins, laying out the masking and wet sanding the hood and front fenders in preparation to paint the pearl white flames.
To see the laying out, taping and painting of the pearl white flames visit the flames page...
Flames
