♻️ Grizz’s ~~ ASTRO Van 🚙 Renault SCENIC 1.5dci 🚙 1966 Chevy C10 🚘 1991 Oldsmobile 88 🚙 8/5/26 NEW INTERLOPER PURCHASED 💩

[grizz]

4 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

I mean, it's a bit much but I can't help but admire the sheer amount of effort going into this.

I get you. 

But  it is also relative. 
 

Relative to what I started with and my vision. 
 

I have a good friend who already stopped painting at silver. 
 

But starting with this………

 

It does seem overwhelming. 

[grizz]

10 hours ago, Christine said:

You're doing great

Thank you. 
 

Two step Tango. 
 

But still happy 

[grizz]

Time to cover some more silver. 

 

So I took a chance after masking the midsection. 

 

I created a mixed blue, lighter than the original blue, but not as light as I had wanted it to be. But I had used all the sparkling silver I had. 

 

Also needed to cover some scratches on the fender that were my fault. 

 

Outcome…….

 

AWESOME. 

 

 

 

.

[ruffgeezer]

@grizz sorry, I meant it's a bit much for my tastes - its awesome that you are creating your vision as you always have - been here ever since the teardrop trailer!

[grizz]

22 minutes ago, ruffgeezer said:

@grizz sorry, I meant it's a bit much for my tastes - its awesome that you are creating your vision as you always have - been here ever since the teardrop trailer!

100% get you. 
 

Teardrop trailer build was quite a build too. 
 

Another of those things I made up as  went along. 
 

Totally blew Nicolas mind that it was in my head while no plans existed. 

[grizz]

Once the midriff blue was dried and unmasked, the next job was another cautious one. 

 

Preparing the lower section for that beautiful dark blue. Hopefully it will pull the car towards the ground visually. 

 

So I used the 240 grit and went all the way around. 

 

Followed by a good blow off and wipe down. 

 

Then a load more masking, including the sills and inside the wheel arches. 

 

I also put the car on too of little piles of wood so that I could get the dark blue paint right under the bumpers and sills. 

 

Really made a big difference in being able to get the paint on all the surfaces. 

 

 

 

.

[grizz]

Lower part of the car painted late in the day.

 

Unfortunately as you can see, with the curvature of the body and multiple angles on the rubbing strips and angle at which the bumpers are folding under the car, they all conspire to make it hard to see how beautiful it is.

 

The idea with a dark colour low down is that it visually draws the car lower down towards the ground.

 

Next job was prayer for good weather once I had removed all of the final J-Tape, and pinstripes that were hiding various colours below them.

 

This was followed by some real hands on touch inspection and cleaning off any dust, paint flakes and denibbing edges.

 

Then I wiped/“washed” down all of the car surfaces with panel wipe. (This was going to bite me hard in the butt)

 

The job at hand was clear lacquer.

 

OBJECTIVE: 6 coats of clear over the whole car.

 

So I got mixing.

 

Two parts lacquer and one part hardener.

 

600ml mixes at a time.

 

First was a dust coat to create a a surface for the first wet coat to adhere to.

 

I probably gave it 10 minutes to flash off before starting at the start again with the first full coat.

 

Flash off and a bit of time.

 

Second coat, and then I saw the problem.

 

Dennis had warned me not to let it “sag” of course I had no idea what it meant.

So I asked him and he replied “don’t let it run”

 

Take a look at our conversation below in the next post.

 

Two steps forward and three steps backward.

 

It just takes time to get screw ups fixed.

 

But it is progress.

 

 

Bored yet??

 

 

.

[grizz]

So the shit did hit the proverbial fan. 

The clear reacted with a few of the wipe down areas on the car. 

Photos don’t really show it fully. 

Of course it took a significant amount of thought, effort and a bit of emotional fortitude to fix everything up after the reactions became fully apparent. 

Razor blade or Stanley knife blade to shave away runs. Followed by 600 grit sanding. 

Absolutely soul destroying work when you really just want perfection. 

No choice here except for getting it done. 


So I shut shop overnight to allow the clear lacquer to dry and harden fully before starting with recovery. 


.

[grizz]

I went for a drive yesterday and ended up In Maidstone having an amazing lunch with friends Kevin and Teresa.

 

Kevin is the cook, 98% of the time and he knows his way around the kitchen.

 

Toby the one brain celled cat was in attendance too.

 

4 hours flew by.

 

When I got there, the neighbor across the street had his Hillman California parked outside.

What a beautiful thing it is.

 

 

.

[grizz]

Managed to capture the two different blue tones on the car today. 
 

It makes me happy. 
 

Despite the work it has drawn out of me. 
 

 

.

[93fxdl]

21 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

@grizz sorry, I meant it's a bit much for my tastes - its awesome that you are creating your vision as you always have - been here ever since the teardrop trailer!

Similar for me , the paint style is totally not to my taste but that doesn't hinder my appreciation of the level of work and dedication going into this car.

Amazingly of all the custom painting styles I can think of this is about the only one I don't like, but not my ride, so your ride your way.

If I saw it, would I stop and look at it, Hell yes

Keep on keeping on Grizz, the entertainment and education level is fantastic 

Ttfn Glenn 

[grizz]

22 minutes ago, 93fxdl said:

Similar for me , the paint style is totally not to my taste but that doesn't hinder my appreciation of the level of work and dedication going into this car.

Amazingly of all the custom painting styles I can think of this is about the only one I don't like, but not my ride, so your ride your way.

If I saw it, would I stop and look at it, Hell yes

Keep on keeping on Grizz, the entertainment and education level is fantastic 

Ttfn Glenn 

Thanks Glenn. No ♥️ reaction button. 
 

I totally get you guys. 
 

I often see things that I absolutely love and admire but would not be seen dead engaging in. 
 

I have wanted to do a lace roof for 10-20 years. And some of the chaotic schemes that go with them appealed to me. 
 

This car has allowed me to execute this dream. 
 

Three liters of Silver, Gold and Blue base coat paint and about 25  rattle cans of which 20 were different colours allowed me to be somewhat creative and satisfying my own needs for expression. 
 

The amount of learning it has afforded me is well worth it and within the budget of the spend so far. 

Oh, and 7.5 liters of two pack clear lacquer  of which 3.6 liters has made it onto the car  

 

[Essex V6]

On 11/04/2026 at 08:14, grizz said:

 

 

Spiders webs, Spider, Sperm, Scallops…… Some Feathers. 

 

So much stuff. 

 

Want to see the combination together? 

 

Here they 

Spiders webs, Spider, Sperm, Scallops…… Some Feathers. 

 

So much stuff. 

 

Want to see the combination together? 

 

Here they are. 

 

 

 

 

That looks absolutely fantastic 👍👍

[grizz]

Just now, Essex V6 said:

That looks absolutely fantastic 👍👍

Thank you very much. 
 

I went out shopping and visiting friends yesterday. 
 

Every time I parked up, I kept looking back and took photos. 
 

Happy for sure. 

[Christine]

Pre Superfast  Matchbox  toy car  wheels!  

 

[93fxdl]

Since you have clear to apply, have you tried mixing some of your aerosol paint into some clear,? give yourself DIY candy.  

Ttfn Glenn 

 

[grizz]

9 hours ago, grizz said:

So the shit did hit the proverbial fan. 

The clear reacted with a few of the wipe down areas on the car. 

Photos don’t really show it fully. 

Of course it took a significant amount of thought, effort and a bit of emotional fortitude to fix everything up after the reactions became fully apparent. 

Razor blade or Stanley knife blade to shave away runs. Followed by 600 grit sanding. 

Absolutely soul destroying work when you really just want perfection. 

No choice here except for getting it done. 


So I shut shop overnight to allow the clear lacquer to dry and harden fully before starting with recovery. 


.

 

9 minutes ago, 93fxdl said:

Since you have clear to apply, have you tried mixing some of your aerosol paint into some clear,? give yourself DIY candy.  

Ttfn Glenn 

 

 

I didn’t want to make it more complicated for myself. 

[grizz]

Waking up on Thursday morning didn’t make me feel any better about the chemical reactions that had taken place on coats 1, 2, 3 the day before, leaving me with a mess to try correct. 

So I headed down to the garage, opened up shop and started to block sand all of the damaged surfaces with 600 grit 
Eventually I washed/wiped it all down with soapy water and an added prayer before muxing another 600ml of clear. 

Sprayed a mist coat and then followed with another two coats. 

Next crisis…….

RUNS !! 

More about them later. 

.

[MrBig]

3 hours ago, grizz said:

I didn’t want to make it more complicated for myself. 

Come on... really?!? 😁😁

[grizz]

9 hours ago, MrBig said:

Come on... really?!? 😁😁

 

Errrmmmmmmm

 

Caught me out there. 
 

 

.

[grizz]

I think you’re all bored of the current build. 

 

Time for a new build or project?? 

 

The Oldsmobile is nearing completion. 

 

Or is it?? 

 

 

So 4 hours of solid preparation and careful sanding saw me ready to mix coat number four of the two pack clear. 

 

Tack coating all the repair sections, waiting impatiently until I could coat the whole car in the number four coat and then number 5 was completed by 3.30pm 

 

This was 6.5 hours after I had started sanding back the reactions. 

 

Guess what?? 

 

Repairs came out beautifully. 

 

BUT…….

 

Of course it managed to create runs in different places. 

 

More repairs to report on and explain the repair process I followed. 

 

I am starting to think that my original idea to call the car Grizz’s Folly was great, but it seems the car objects to the name. 

 

Maybe it would like to be called “Two Step” 

 

 

Mixed clear applied twice mostly came out really well.  Except the runs. 

 

 

Dennis sent a picture of the fender of the 1934 Ford he is building. 

 

Note the reflection in the paint. I think he knows what he is doing. 

 

Also a Facebook memory from three years ago when I still had the 4.3 V6 ZQ8 Chevy S10 and of course the 360ccc Honda powered Canta LX. 

 

Opposite ends of the spectrum for sure. 

 

 

. 

[grizz]

One more of the little Canta. 

It now lives in a Polish micro car museum, thanks to @glenanderson and son Fin getting it fully running and MOT’d and back on the road. 

40 second short video on YouTube. 
 

[grizz]

I am not certain what to say about all this! You are kind of like the guy with $5,000 of wheels and tires on a old used up $1,000 Chevy!

 

Quite a paint job! Not really my style, but I can appreciate the effort.

 

I have a buddy that liked to paint. His kids when they hit driving age had some of the most whacked out paint jobs one their beater cars. He had a Harley and just about every spring it would come out of the garage with a different crazy paint job. The guy was good too. The quality of his work was crazy considering it was a home shop paint job, but he said he would have a ridiculous amount of time into it. Other guys I knew asked him to do paint jobs for them and he refused saying that if he charged them $10 an hour, it would be less money to pay some guy that specializes in custom paint.

 

Question was asked above. 

 

Click to open and see what he was asking. 

 

Further comparative proof of prices, is up to you and Google or your favourite search engine. 

 

 

 

 

I think totals will scare me if I kept a record.

 

If I had a football (soccer) season ticket for a club I supported……

 

Even the cheapest tickets are a lot of money and you don’t have a useful tool and car, plus mental health to show for it.

 

You also couldn’t sell the used season ticket for the money you spent at the end of the season.

 

I also only have to walk to my work shop to get my fix.

 

So it is probably all relative.

 

Football is probably a bad example as I dislike it intensely

[grizz]

So…….

Clear lacquer runs. 

100% my fault for being in a hurry, but also, painting outside in a mix of sunshine and shadows. 

So you can’t always judge how wet the panels are. 

Honestly, I think I have done pretty well with the limited amount of screw ups I had throughout this process, considering how little I had known and how much I tried and pushed my luck. 


So the next step once I had the runs in the clear lacquer, was to “razor blade it off” using a variety of blades, in my case a used Stanley knife blade, remember that mostly we use the front 5% of the blade for cutting. So you have 80-90 percent of the straight edge still super sharp and unused. 

Once the lacquer dries, an hour or so later, you cautiously slice off to droplets in a few passes so that there will be a bit of material left over to block sand with 600 grit or finer. 

Followed by thorough cleaning and then a tack coat and another wet coat. 

I did all of this with excellent results. 

Final step would be to wait a few weeks and to then wash the car thoroughly and put a polisher and some rubbing compound over it repeatedly to smooth it out more, followed by various polish options. 

I am hoping the buffing takes out more of the irregularities and the remaining undulations in coat number 6. 

Overall, the whole car has a minimum of 6 coats and the roof, hood, trunk and bumper horizontal surfaces all have at least 7 good coats to work with. 

Once I had allowed coat no 6 to dry it was time to unmask lights, sills, side repeaters, reflectors, mirrors (which are still in original paint) and of course the glass all the way around and all the doors, shut lines and more. 

A job that took me about two hours. 

Parts of that job again done with a heat gun to soften glue so as not to damage any paint. 

Some of the bought masking film and masking tape, also left loads of glue and residue on glass, rubbers etc. 
This necessitated the use of Turpentine or white spirit to shift. 
After this, more soapy water to wipe that residue again. 


Spider does show depth of 7 coats of glossy lacquer. 


And still we are not done. 


Razorblading lacquer runs. 



.

[grizz]

Todays £12.00 investment. 
 

Aluminium 9x5 front license plate 

 

Old one was not neat enough for the new look. 
 

.

[grizz]

The Oldsmobile is not yet done. 

 

But it is unmasked and I have driven it. 

 

There are a few more jobs to do. 

 

Saturday morning I got the B-Pillars that are aluminium, cleaned up and got some etch primer on there. 

 

Followed by three or four coats of gloss black. 

 

Of course rain and wind, once again screwed up my day. 

 

But it looks great. 

 

Those little jobs. 

 

 

.

[grizz]

And finally 

 

I am happy the glass, rubber and frame looks good enough. 

[eddyramrod]

Well that's at least a 1000% improvement over what you started with!  Yes it's been hard work, but you've made the car look so much more cared-for than it was.  I can only admire and applaud.

[Westbay]

Good job - well done !

[grizz]

51 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Well that's at least a 1000% improvement over what you started with!  Yes it's been hard work, but you've made the car look so much more cared-for than it was.  I can only admire and applaud.

 

Thank you very much. 
 

It is good looking now. 
 

In a slightly frenetic, psychotic way. 
 

Certainly better than “as bought”