[Skidmark]

I have a 72 Lemans sport that I have had for 17 yrs. According to the PHS it was ordered with the endura frt. clip option. I dropped a YS 400 in it and packed away the original 350 a few years ago in case someone wants to restore it back to the way it came from the factory. That's the back story.

I contacted a restoration shop near me about painting my car. I let him know I was hoping for a paint job for around 10K which is a huge amount of money for me. I let him know that I was not expecting a #1 concours national show quailty paint job, as I just wanted to drive the car and attend local shows, cruise ins etc.. The guy advised that he was very short on help and that he had a 2 yr waiting list. I had told him the car was basically rust free except for one place around a vinyl top trim pin that was about the size of a quarter and that I thought the car had mostly original paint. (I will attach some pics). He said that based on my description, he might be able to fit me in for a quick repaint and to send him some pics and that he could see the car in a couple weeks.

After receiving my pics he emailed back and said that it was not an easy repaint and that his price would be in the high 20k range. So upper 20 something thousand. Man was I bummed, I have owned a few classic rust buckets in my time and kept this car because I can turn a wrench, but don't know much about paint and body, I do know rust repair is EXPENSIVE so I figured I was way ahead of the game with a mostly rust free car.

Having said that, I went out to the car and looked it completely over again. I'm 57 yrs old and the one constant in my life has been my love for cars. I go out of my way to read about peoples projects, watch restoration videos, talk to car guys, go to shows, watch auctions etc.. I can't get enough. After crawling all over my car again I still believe this is a rock solid car body wise.

I have decided that I will paint my car, I have about 40 hours of watching paint and body videos under my belt so far. I take notes as if I am back in school. Every morning before my wife gets up I watch at least 2-3 hours on you tube. I have plenty of time and nothing better to do so why not? Also I might add that I can, frame, drywall, trim, do electrical, plumbing, concrete work etc all self trained. I have flipped houses for 30 yrs handling most all of the work myself. My houses usually sell with in a few weeks of hitting the market. I am a perfectionist. I only mention this to give you guys an idea of what i am capable of as it relates to figuring stuff out.

Sorry for the long post, but I respect this communities opinion, having read your responses daily for years and want to paint( no pun intended) an accurate pic of me and my project so I can hopefully get some honest opinions.

Finally some of my questions:

1. Did Pontiac paint my 72 in lacquer. (I read GM used lacquer during those years). If so, will I need to strip the body down to bare metal even where the paint is good and the body is solid if I use single stage or base coat clear coat?

2. The car is a one owner female purchased when she was 41 yrs old and I always thought it had mostly original paint because I can see no over spray anywhere, but the nader pins are painted orange like the body. Did the factory paint nader pins? I'm thinking they didn't.

3. What are your opinions about replacing the vinyl top or changing to a hardtop on this model yr.?

4. I don't hate the sundance orange, but have always dreamed of changing it to lucerne blue and keeping the white interior. I realize that will require painting all the jams. What are your opinions on this?

Lastly, I will be painting this in my 24 x 24 detached garage using all the right equipment. The main weak link will be me and my ability.

Painting a car has been an item on my bucket list forever. The 20k plus estimate for a repaint has given me all the motivation needed to dive and being a member of this community has empowered me to just do it.

Thanks for reading my long ass post.


Thank you for your ideas, opinions, and comments about this endeavor.