1968 Pontiac GTO - Paint and body
 

So I've owned my 68 GTO for over 7 years now. According to the PHS, it was originally Solar Red. Whoever painted the car 20 years ago didn't get the color right and it was a little too orange. So I decided to finally do paint and body now that I had the engine and trans built. The car has a 462 cubic inch (built by Paul Carter(, carburetor built by Jeff Korner, Torker 2 intake, 4L80E transmission (stage 2), 12 bolt rear with 3.55 gears, SPC front upper control arms, Hotchkis shocks, Dakota Digital gauges. So there isn't much left that is stock so I'm doing changing the color. I'm going with Pontiac Blue Charcoal Poly. I figured I would add a post to show progress in the work in the event that anyone is interested.

Paint thickness prior to bodywork
 

Prior to starting paint and body, I went around the car with a paint thickness gauge. I was expecting the worse because when I checked the quarter panels, the gauge read 55 mils, the doors read 50 mils and the fenders read around 40 mils. I know the car had lower quarter panels replaced because you were able to see the seam from inside the trunk. I hid the seams with a skim of bondo when we replaced the trunk pans a few years ago.

Metal work
 

Surprising enough, there wasn't a lot of problems under the vinyl top. The area between the rear window and trunk lid had a little surface rust that was starting to pop the vinyl. There was some rust that was cut out on the drivers quarter and trunk lid. This car was brought down to bare metal and there was absolutely no reason to have all that bondo on the car. My painter just couldn't believe the amount of bondo that was used to hide a few dents. He ended up pulling the dents and doing a skim coat of bondo. I had him fill in the hole for the rear antenna because I wont be using the rear antenna. As you can see, my painter isn't a master welder but he did a good job to ensure that everything was welded up solid.

Progress
 

At the time these pictures were taken, the guy had my car for only 2 weeks. As I'm typing this today (February 19th), he's had my car for about 30 days. I'll post more recent pictures. The guy said he should be ready to paint in less than 2 weeks.

Progress
 

This guy works fast and seems to be doing a great job. Best thing about this whole project is that his shop is about 2 miles from my house and he doesn't mind me stopping by at any time. I stay out of his hair for the most part he does a great job of sending me pictures.

Progress - rear window and windshield
 

We pulled the rear window and found some rot. He replaced some metal and sealed it. I was hesitant to pull the windshield but he recommended that we pull it because of what we found on the rear window. We pulled the windshield (and cracked it of course) and found that the windshield had 2 big holes and had an excessive amount of sealant and silicone. He filled some holes and sealed it with rust encapsulator. I ordered a new windshield and rear window from Ames. They say 2-3 weeks delivery time and (I was surprised about this), they do not give tracking numbers or even let you know when its getting delivered. I had to send the glass to a business as they would not deliver to a residential address.

Progress
 

This is where the car is at this point. 3 coats of high build primer and he will be starting block sanding this coming week. I have to say, at this point, I'm pretty happy with the job he's done. I have a few friends and family that know a lot more than I do about doing paint and body and they say he's doing things the right way. Considering he's had the car for about a month, I'm pretty impressed with what he's done. He uses PPG paint and this coming week he's going to do a test spray. One with grey sealant and one with black sealant so I can pick which one he wants me to use. I'm not too sure how much difference there will be but I'll find out this week. He will be installing all new weather stripping!

Great thread, Joe and DJ is very fast! Looking forward to more pics of the progress.

As you know, I've been looking for someone to do the work for a while and I'm pretty happy so far. Great price and seems to be doing great work. I'm looking forward to the finished product and If he does as well as I expect, I'll be sure to share his information for those that are interested.

looks like the project is moving along nicely.

Thanks for sharing, and keep the pics coming

Looks like you found the world's fastest body shop

that's impressive progress...hopefully no snags

Hahaha. Not really a shop. A guy near me owns a few acres and has a few buildings on the property and my paint guy rents an area in one of the buildings. He's an old school guy and pretty much works by himself. I think I caught him at a good time because he owns a concrete company but does this on the side during the winter. He use to work at a paint and body shop for years and eventually started his concrete company. Really good guy...hard worker.

Oh..I'm expecting a snag somewhere but so far so good. I've been impressed with him and how hard he's working on my car.

If painting it red it will be a brighter red if the ground coat is gray rather than black. White sealer would be brighter still.
Just my 2 cents.

I agree this not a paint jail guy. Yur lucky!

I know it's not a popular choice but I'm actually getting away from the factory color which was solar red. I'm going with Blue Charcoal Poly. Pretty sure I'm going with a black sealant to make it just a tad darker. I think that color will look awesome with the black vinyl top and black interior. I'll definitely share my guys name and number if anyone one is interested. He's in Prince William County, Virginia which is about 30 miles south of Washington D.C. He says he can finish most cars within 3 months depending on the level that of work the car needs. Since mine only needed a little metal replaced, he should have mine done in a total time of 2 months (maybe a little longer). I'll be taking my car to Norwalk this year!

Great choice. Blue Charcoal is a beautiful color. Can’t wait to see it!

Any chance you can give a ball park of what that work and paint is going to cost you? I am taking my '64 in soon for similar work and have received a wide range of estimates. Just curious. Thanks.

He's charging me $12,000. That includes cutting out and replacing metal thats rusted out and all the materials. 4 coats PPG paint and 4 coats of premium clear and wet sanding. The only thing he's not doing is the installing the vinyl top. I have another guy to do that. I got an estimate from a local hotrod shop and they told me basically a scuff and shoot would be $25,000 and depending if they found any additional metal that needs to be replaced, it could go up to $35,000 to $40,000. He's also installing all new seals, window felt etc. Not bad considering it basically looks like it's going to be a 2 month job.

Deal of the century right there!!!!!