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Here’s my home-garage paint job, and picture-taking isn’t part of my skill-set. On a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 how the car looks in person, the car shows as a 3 in the pictures. I noticed that there is a short supply of left shots because I focused my shots on the Franken-hack left quarter, and most of the left photos are poor quality, bad enough so that they aren’t worth the clutter.


Sidebar: Note the paint-to-match hubcap taking its last dance with its topcoat. I was on a tight budget, and the paint-to-match was a freebee, and I had to work with what I had. Some things never change, and I still have to make do with what I have.

My goal was a basic paint job; certainly, this is as basic as it gets. I surpassed my goal because the car has gone viral, even in the non-car population. I knew it would get ‘looks great’ comments, but I’m dumbfounded that the car has such a huge impact on others, especially with the non-car population.

The impact is a two-way street: Many people despise the car enough that they refuse to look in its general direction. It must be a hobby-car thing because I have never ‘despised’ cars, just people. Although I owned the car long before it was a hobby-car, I’m newbie in the hobby car game, so I still have lots to learn.

The most FAQ is why does it shine/glisten/glow/have the wet look? The description I liked the most was that ‘it looks like chrome plate,’ an excellent comparison.

The ‘shine’ comes from light refraction. The light refraction comes from the body, something that’s under--not on top of--the paint. In other words, light refraction isn’t something you ‘wax-onto’ the car. Clear refracts light but it’s an insignificant level, if it contributes any refraction at all. My best guess is that the clear refraction is 100% outshined by body refraction, but there I go thinking again. To be sure, I would need to do an identical car in single stage, then compare them side by side.

I sorted thumbnails to keep some order to before-after/left-right shots. I moved one picture to the front because it’s a classic example why color has nothing to do with--as many people say--how straight a car looks.

In the first picture, the color washout is reflected light. The shine is refracted light. It has noting to do with color, or my opinion, and has everything to do with the physical laws of light. The light refraction, the straightness of the car, would be identical regardless to the color.

My opinion on its looks? My opinion is worthless! I thought she was the most gorgeous thing around when she wore her two-tone dress. All I did was make her a new dress, and it’s up to someone else to offer opinions on how her new dress looks.