New paint for 94 SC

What color to paint ?

  • Stock Opal color ..

    Votes: 24 48.0%
  • Black

    Votes: 18 36.0%
  • Other color(s)

    Votes: 8 16.0%

  • Total voters
    50

Ddubb

Registered User
calensc2.jpg


Hello all, just asking the SC community opinion on my Tbird.

I never take a pic with the front end of my bird in it .. looks ugly, crumpled fenders, hood corners, bumper. Rest of the body has lots of little dings and dends. Since this picture was taken about 1 year ago, most of the top parts of the car have clearcoat flaking off. It looks pretty bad. I can tell it was a re-coat, lots of little clear drips in certain areas.

SO, now I have a straight hood, and good fenders. Need to paint most of this car, I am trying to decide if I keep it the current color ( car is mostly stock appearance and will continue to be ) .. or paint it a different color. I prefer a factory Ford color, but something else could work, nothing fancy like an orange paint job .. :p

The rims definately need some work and new paint also. Hmmm

Only color I had in mind is Black, or keep it this color. I dont know what it is, something Opal .. its not my favorite color. Im open to suggestions. Not red or white .. already done that.

Thanks

- Dan
 
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One of my '94's is Opal Frost and I like it. It's not a flashy color but I think it flows good with a stock SC. I have another '94 that's Black and highly modified so I have the best of both worlds, hot and flashy & cool and subtle........:D
 

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I love black cars but I went through the same thing. My 91 was black and I wanted to paint it blue. Then I was reminded that a color change is a big pain in the butt. Look around your car and see all that would need to be painted. Engine compartment,under hood, trunk, door jambs. If you have the work done its alot more money. I went back to the stock black color on mine.
After painting the car myself I now know why paint jobs cost 3k plus. Its alot of work. Beware of those one step paint jobs out there. If you realy like black your best bet to find a black one for sale. Just my .02
 
repaint

Over the last 10-20 years, I have 5 cars painted by Maaco in Lincoln, NE. These are franchise stores under one name, so quality will vary store to store. I dont know about your store, so you must check. Introduce yourself to the manager and ask him to suggest what he can do for you. Take his best paint job, and ask about a clearcoat-color sand job. The ones I had done were in the $1000 bracket, and they all looked fine. A friend has a 40 Ford 2 door and his was $3000, BUT he said this when we were talking at a car show where his car was displayed... And for your own satisfaction, if you dont paint it the same color, there will always be some little details or spots that didnt cover well or were missed. About the only way to do it really right is to paint it part by part, and then you are looking at big bucks.

I will now step down from my soap box. (IMHO)
 
Ed, Yeah I think my color is the same opal frost .. it almost looks like a purplish blue - it's an okay color, but like I said .. not on my list of favorites.

I would be doing the paint job myself ( of course ) .. I had just finished painting a fender and door on my mom's Black Mark 8 so I know how my work turns out. She had actualyl taken her car to a local Maaco shop .. she paid them for the Base coat clear coat and when I go to sand off some of the original paint for a re-coat, the color came off immediately - so there is no base coat clear coat - its all in one coat ... no thanks maaco.

I wouldnt do it all at once .. probably a panel at a time ( lots of prep work needed here ) but basically EVERYTHING on the car needs paint, including the door jambs ( I had to re-weld in a section for the door striker latch, previous owner really did a number on it ) so .. door jamb is all in primer all ready for paint. Weird thing is where the clear coat is flaking off ( or paint ) .. the color underneath looks slightly lighter - same with the engine compartment, it doesnt match the outside of the car exactly .. but that cuold be becasue they dont shoot clear in the engine bay also.
Thanks for the help so far guys.

- Dan
 
If the paint code on the door jamb tag is WJ then it's Opal Frost. If not what is the code for exterior paint?
 
Yup, paint code is WJ - Opal Frost. Interesting color. Maybe its just the peeling clearcoat that is turning me off. Im not sure the car is going to lose any value if I change the color - it has a salvage title.

- Dan
 
I would stick w/ the Opal. A change of color has never worked for me. What I had pictured in my mind and how the paint came out where two different stories.

If I was going to do it I would do it right the next time and pay for a proper job.$$$$$$

Maybe my 95 w/ no engine will be brought back to life one day w/ the 60 seconds Eleanor paint scheme. My wife said today it would be fun to turn it into a road race car!:D That means it is easy for me to put money toward it.

Stephen
 
Stick with the factory paint color, it's nice and would be much easier to paint the car the factory color.

I've seen even pricey color changes done that you can still tell in places that it used to be a different color. The car looked really good on the outside but when you started poking around it was kinda disapointing.

Just my .02 cents :D
 
I would keep it the same color its easier i'm getting ready to do my jams after a color change and its a pain
but if you want it to look good your going to have to spray it all at the same time because of the peral in the paint things like temp and air pressure changes can make it react different and one panel will look different then the next in the sun. you might be able to get away with doing one side at a time then the roof but if you do a fender then door then quarter you might not like the results.
 
black cars are like convertibles, you either love'em or hate'em. i love my black 95 S/C. but other colors look good on the birds also
 
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LOL okay .... heres another one ... this car was under the car cover in the background of my SC picture.

Engine bay is wide open. This is my 1991 Tbird. Every single part ( with the exception of the LH fender ) is from a different car.

Free for ideas on any color paint.

( dont have the hood anymore ) but everything else is WT - Performance White C/C

Body is MD - Clear Crystal Blue Frost C/C

I would be happy with either one .. but im open to suggestions.

- Dan
 
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...if you want it to look good your going to have to spray it all at the same time...

+1

Painting a car all at once is the only way to go for a professional result. Do the jambs / under trunk / under hood in one step then the whole body at a later date. The same type and color primer on everything helps because most paint is not opaque and the overall color will change depending on the primer below.

Doing a proper color change is not that difficult but it is very time consuming. To be done properly means a LOT of time spent taking things apart and prepping hard to reach and spray areas. I rarely like the color of the cars I buy so this is a default for me. Depending on your time, experience and space that may not be an option. Remember a color change may involve changing the interior to look complete because a formerly green car with a green interior won't look good if the car is suddenly black.

I would buy more paint than you need (i.e. 1 gallon for a whole car) so you will have some for jambs and touch up. If you are buying multiple containers mix the containers together before you spray so any excess will match the original job.

I know it sounds silly but buy all the same brand then read and follow the instructions. Count your coats of paint and clear then make notes on what you used in case the unfortunate happens and you need to fix something.

My final bit is make sure your body / prep work is the best it can be. You will see more dings and dents in fresh paint than you will in dull old paint. Think of a paint job as very expensive body work with a free spray - painting is easy (in comparison) but prep is a LOT of time and work.

Sorry if this is obvious to some or you already knew it, but I hate learning the hard way so I like to share when I can. :D
 
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I will probably start repairing each section of the car as time allows - shoot it all in the same color prime.

Then when it's all ready, paint it in one session so it looks even.

It's just all of the body work fixing dings and dents that makes me want to rush to the paint - I really dislike body work.

- Dan
 
i will be painting 3 of my supercoupes all hi gloss black with metallic flakes and pearl with 2 solid white stripes down the center.

as of right now they are blue, red, and black.


I'm going to be yanking the engines out of all 3 as well as the full interior and undercarriage.
 
You will kill the value of the car. I opal frost is a super cool color. Dont change it

its a car that was already wrecked up a bit thus the new pannels and such. Im sure hes not going to paint it so he can sell it some day...And nobody is going to say ITS NOT ORIGIONAL COLOR IM NOT GIVING YOU $3500 FOR YOUR MINT LOOKING SC... I say paint it whatevvvvvvvvvver color you want to...mine may getting a flat black b4 it comes back out to play...
 
I used to work in a body shop. When I did my 94 LX I stripped the car of all removable parts, then I did underhood, trunk, jams, roof and quarters all at once. Then I loaded all the parts into the booth sprayed one side of the parts, flipped em them sprayed the other side. I spent 7 days doing after work about 5 hours a day. It was a lot of work but doing it properly and spending the time and effort I was very happy with the work. 7 years later it still looks good. Our shop would have charged about 3500 for the work, I had about 500 in materials. This is a big undertaking if you are not familiar with doing paint work. Also like was stated before tempurature and humidity will change a pearl color drasticaly, so will air pressure and spray gun settings. If you don't have access to a spray booth(a spray booth can regulate tempurature and to an extent humidity) I would spray the jams and all underhood and trunk areas, then assemble and paint all body parts at once to help with color match. If you already have to repair some jams and are not happy with the color go ahead. Just remember pick your new color carefully as you will be stuck with it. Don't take other peaoples oppinioins on color choice as you will more than likely regret your choice if you do. I painted mine blue and kicked myself everyday after ward for not painting it the yellow that I wanted to. I listened to my wife and went blue and hated the choice. I wanted yellow with a cowl hood and chrome cobra r wheels. The biggest thing is to think it through very good before you go through with it. After it is done you will more than likely never want to do it again. Sorry so long. Just my 2 cents.
 
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