project 1980 Austin Princess

[fiatdaft]

Please don't and now is the time to fix that quarter panel damage.

[Shep Shepherd]

In my opinion, I think that a bare-metal repaint in the original colour and the reinstatement of the C-pillar vinyl and the pinstripes would be the best long-term solution for this car.

[Spiny Norman]

It's okay, don't panic! ........

My plan B is rebeigination, so there is a contingency in place.

 

Tbh mate it wasn't just the finish I was on about, that colour just doesn't suit the car, IMHO of course...

A nice deep metallic purple maybe, like you get on some older Volvos.

Or rebeigeination sounds good.

[trigger]

I've been biting my tongue over this too, you been moaning all the way through about how poor the old respray was but that was 100000's times better then what your doing to it now, Personally you need to paint it properly with spray paint, not rollers, paint it beige like it should be and do away with that brown C post and paint that beige too.

 

Put this violet idea to bed and do it properly or this will end up the same way as Triumph1300's.. er Triumph..

[purplebargeken]

Ummm, beige it up again mate. I like what you are trying to do but the original colour is best but that is just my opinion.

 

Ken

[Mr Lobster]

Brushes and rollers are for painting buses and ships and the like. This is a Princess and needs a proper spray job.

 

I used to know a guy who painted his car with a (good quality) brush and proper enamel coach paint. He reckoned it was the bees whiskers but it still looked shit tbh.

 

Just my 2p.

[Guest]

Feck me, that purple makes my eyes explode with joy.

 

I brush painted a Land Rover once. It came out looking like shite, but that was pretty much my aim.

[triumph1300]

Each to their own and all that, but I'm not sure that purple looks any good. You can't get much more retro than the beige, its so much nicer, and I agree about the rollers, use a spray if you want it to look sweet with less flatting back.

[gtd2000]

Brushes and rollers are for painting buses and ships and the like. This is a Princess and needs a proper spray job.

 

I used to know a guy who painted his car with a (good quality) brush and proper enamel coach paint. He reckoned it was the bees whiskers but it still looked shit tbh.

 

Just my 2p.

 

Nah - what you need is a proper write up and... cue drum roll....

 

THE $50 PAINT JOB

 

http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

For Christs sake - get that wing beige again.

 

So it's not the best paint job in the world? Looks okay to me, and to everyone else that sees what is a virtually extinct car still on the road in very clean condition. You're teetering on the edge of ruining it. Please don't.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I’m afraid everybody is right, that looks absolutely dreadful both in colour and finish.

 

Rollers are for painting walls, they deliberately leave a speckly textured finish, which is supposed to soften the look of a big flat internal house wall. On the outside of a metal box car structure the speckly roller finish just looks like a very amateur paint job.

[trigger]

I'm not convinced that stripping the old paint of with nitromors is the way forwards either, it's alright on old school radiators but not idea for car bodywork.

 

I'd invest in a cheap electric DA sander from B&Q (one of those Powerpro ones) and a assortment of 80-320 grit sanding discs (screwfix are good for these) and DA that panel down properly, you can never rush bodywork or it end up looking a c*nt as your finding out.

[michael1703]

I think beige suits the shape better, purple would look better on a longer squarer car

[HillmanImp]

Irrespective of the colour, the finish is gash. I even had a dream about this car last night and that purple did not look any better in that.

 

Beige is a simple colour. If the finish is that bad, how hard will it be to either do yourself to a reasonable standard with a little practice or even get a professional blowover for a few hundred quid? Is the paintjob so bad it cant be polished out? Has got to be better then the job being done.

 

I also agree with Trigger re the chemicals but personally would use an angle grinder with a wire brush if you are wanting to get back to bare metal as a sander will take a million years to take off all the paint. If you are just stripping back the paint slightly to cover it then yes a sander but if you are bare metalling it then grinder.

[MikeKnight]

With all due respect, it's up to him what colour he wants it. Mind you I'm not a fan of purples of any shade, never have been. I just don't think purple suits any car ever.

 

He's quite good at flattening coach paint and making it look like a spray job, the Polo is testament to this. Though it is labour and time intensive.

[rml2345]

I like the beige.

I also like the purple.

The Polo looks a decent job but a proper respray would be tops.

Expensive though.

None of this is even remotely useful.

Sorry.

[outlaw118]

I have no problem with the purple-ness of it, admittedly it doesn't look GR9 at the mo, but give it time - look at the work he's put in so far, i'm sure it'll look ok.

Like V-A has said, re-beiging is still an option, and I'm sure it'll come out better. I reckon his one mistake is putting up too many "work in progress" pictures, if this stage had been skipped, ie no photos, we'd be none the wiser.

[messerschmitt owner]

yep - I'm on a wait and see - I remember one of my teachers had a marina in this shade, with the sun strip along the top of the screen with 'Mike' and 'Charmaine' on it.

 

It is a pukka 70s colour, like Bug and Z orange and beige!

[Talbotman]

Oh dear....................If you want to repaint it purple - it needs doing properly you cant roll or brush any type of metallic finish properly without it looking awful no matter how much flatting polishing and mopping you do to it - yep you can get away with it on a solid finish but not metallic. Its your car of course and you can do whatever you want with it - but put it this way - when the time comes to sell - the market will value your car far higher as an original coloured 70's "blown over in the 80s" motor rather than a rollered 70s purple 2012 gothmobile.

[RedSparrow]

What the others said really.

I really admire all the great work you've done on this motor, but in the nicest possible way I don't think this is the way forward.

Roller or brushing gives a rubbish finish 99% of the time I recon and to get a decent metallic finish with it is bloody near impossible. If you really want it that colour save up and pay someone to do it properly.

I don't wish to sound too negative as I say, I think we are all just offering some friendly advice.

[barefoot]

It looks shit.

[Guest]

Maybe the OP wants the car to look like a bag o' shite. Hey, it's a Princess, after all. There's a certain cachet to a hand painted jalopy, especially if it has bits falling off it.

[Rocket88]

FFS! It was explained that this was an experiment "to see what it looked like", a bit like painting the contents of a few sample pots on your living room wall, and then various bods start going off on how shit it looks.

I don't believe for one moment that this was going to be [as was explained] the finished article, why the big clamour........for what it's worth, I think it'll look great in that colour, although, like all new paint jobs, it'll make the brightwork / chrome look bad!

[Louise2cv]

I'm sure my uncle had a purple Princess... anybody know if it was an option?

[RedSparrow]

I think it was on early Princesses and Marinas.

[HillmanImp]

With all due respect, it's up to him what colour he wants it. Mind you I'm not a fan of purples of any shade, never have been. I just don't think purple suits any car ever.

 

He's quite good at flattening coach paint and making it look like a spray job, the Polo is testament to this. Though it is labour and time intensive.

 

I am not saying owt about the colour choice. Beige is easier to paint as its more forgiving on any imperfections in the bodywork and as its not metallic or owt its cheaper too.

[Shep Shepherd]

^

Yes. It was called "Cosmic Metallic" and was available on the early cars:

 

http://www.leylandprincess.co.uk/18-22Intro.htm

 

I imagine that it looks like Ford "Purple Velvet" in real life, and as such I reckon it would look GR11 on any Wedge, provided that the prep work of the body and the application of the paint was done really well

[gricer]

Honestly, if you're gong to paint it purple, you'd need to strip the whole car down and get it done properly. It's going to have a beige engine bay, and there will be visible beige bits inside the boot. That would just annoy the hell out of me.

 

If you're restoring on a budget it's always best to stick to the original colour.

 

And always spray - even rattle-can bodgery looks better than brush/roller.

 

My 2p worth

[cort16]

There are examples of good finishes with rustoleum and rollers out there but it looks way to much like hard work as you have to paint it, let it cure, flat it back then repeat 237 times.

I agree with the colour change thing too inside the door shuts and the boot lid. If the car was dark and you painted it purple you'd probably get away with it but given it's such a light colour it might look odd.

 

It's your car so you can do what you want but you might regret it later.

[Guest]

FFS! It was explained that this was an experiment "to see what it looked like", a bit like painting the contents of a few sample pots on your living room wall, and then various bods going off on how shit it looks.

I don't believe for one moment that this was going to be [as was explained] the finished article, why the big clamour........for what it's worth, I think it'll look great in that colour, although, like all new paint jobs, it'll make the brightwork / chrome look bad!

 

Hear, hear, dude.

 

People, this is .... Autoshite! [/Gerard Butler]

 

We are not in Detailing Tosspot Corner.