I was willing to spend the time and effort and money, because I had always wanted to restore a car, and I knew that it was the only car I was ever going to restore. I took my time and treated it like an art project, and I had a lot of fun doing it. Now I am enjoying driving it and showing. No doubt that it is still at its heart a spitfire. For me mostly that means it leaks oil.

But my restoration was not without its problems. The attentive TTN reader knows that I had some issues with my motor rebuild, which took a year and ended with bad blood between me and the builder. But none of you but Jeff know that my paint job was a complete failure.

I am confessing here mostly just to let you guys know what is really going on. I don't want you guys to think my car is some kind of Spitfire perfection. Its not. At all. Its also not a total disaster. Things happen. I don't want you guys to think I'm looking for sympathy, because I'm not. I haven't been trying to hide it, I just haven't talked about it.

Its funny, when my paint started to go bad, I was concerned but never really distraught. Then when I knew there was no remedy I was more upset, and for a short while I was so bummed I didn't want to take my car out anymore. Then suddenly one day I woke up completely over it. I'm perfectly happy to take my car out and show it off, and people who look closely enough (car guys only) are curious and sympathetic, but no worse than that.

So here is the deal; When I got the car from the painter it looked fantastic. The whole car was beautiful. The paint looked great. The bonnet was a little orangepeeled, but that was the only issue. I got the car from the painter a couple of days before Christmas 2008. I started to assemble it, and the work went very slowly, even tho the whole chassis was ready to go.

I worked on the final assembly from December through about July of 2009. After about 5 months, I started to notice what looked like scratches in the paint. I first noticed it on the doors as I assembled them, and I thought that maybe I had scratched them myself. But then I noticed the scratches on the back deck and the trunk lid. After I got the car assembled enough that it started getting sunlight on it, I realized that I had swirls and scratches on every square inch of the car.

Once I could drive it I took it back to the painter. I had an 18 month guarantee, and I hoped maybe a color sand would work. Turns out that the shop had been sold about 2 weeks after my paint job was completed. Funny that the old owner had never mentioned that as he wrote me the guarantee. The new owner took a look and became very cautious. He assured me that a color sanding would not help, and that he had no intention of honoring the guarantee. He had purchased the assets, not the liabilities.

I finished assembling the car in August and won Best of Class at the two car shows I entered in September and October last year.

After that I consulted with some local paint shops, and with a little urging from Jeff I took my painter to small claims court and won. Its strictly a moral victory. He has since declared Chapter 7 and discharged my claim.

The most likely explanation is that the new paint had a chemical reaction to the old paint or to the primer. A lot of people speculate a problem with the finish sanding, but the scratches go in all directions, like ceramic crazing not like sanding marks.

My car still looks great, unless you get right up on it. I get a lot of compliments, and I have achieved peace with the situation. Truth is, its hard to see the problem unless you get about 2 feet away. In some lights you can't see it at all, and in some you can. You certainly cant see it if the car is moving faster than 2 mph. Here's some pictures. Some of them do look pretty scary. It was hard to get a good picture of the problem.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgkloehn/5059063302/>

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgkloehn/5058454391/>

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgkloehn/5058454881/>

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgkloehn/5058455513/>

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgkloehn/5058456159/>

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgkloehn/5059069462/>

Its a bummer, but what are you gonna do? I don't really have the stamina (or the money) to do the work to get it repainted. Maybe if I hit the lottery, but you gotta play to win.

Anyway, just wanted to let you guys in on the issue, because I wasn't really keeping it a secret. I thought it was nice of the San Diego Triumph owners (the voters in last Sundays show) to look past it, because I talked to most of them about the issue, but they were so impressed with the engine compartment they looked right past the paint

David
Corona, CA
Freshly Restored '68 Spitfire Mk3

Bummer, but you have the right attitude Thumbsup!

That is the only way to stop the interaction of the paints and it will continue to get worse over time. One would think that a reputable body shop would have known how to do the job right, but then nothing surprises me anymore.

Good Luck,
Joe

Joe, I can find nothing reputable in the shop that David used. They provided a meaningless warranty, refused to honor it and went bankrupt. Reputable shops tend to stick around for awhile.

I applaud Davids's terrific attitude. He hasn't had an easy time of it. It seems that Murphy's Law has followed him throughout his entire restoration, but I am thrilled that he's still being recognized for all the wonderful aspects of his car that WERE within his control.

Well done, David. This blows my plans for the "tell-all" book I was planning to publish about your restoration though, darn it.

Best wishes,

Jeff
Temecula, California

Joe

Happy Spitting... John Zissler
http://fire.prohosting.com/johnziss/mysite/index.htm

I had gotten several recommendations for the painter, had talked to him several times over the course of a year and a half, I liked the guy, and I had a satisfying experience getting the car painted.

I did allow him to talk me into saving a lot of money by forgoing having the entire car body soda blasted. He did suggest the 'It is a Spitfire after all' argument, and he had a good point. I will never be able to recover the money I have put into this car, and if I had dropped $5000 more, well, it would still be a Spitfire. I value the car but it is not a cherished type of vehicle here in the greater Los Angeles area. Still, that was my decision and it is ultimately the shortcut that led to the situation I am in.

Regardless, he did have an obligation to tell me he was selling the business, and he did not do that. That would have certainly affected my decision to have him paint the vehicle. The bad paint would reduce the sale value if I had any intention of selling it.

On the other hand, late in 2008 was a particularly tough economic time on all small businesses in this area, even businesses that had been in place for 30 years (like this one) were going down fast. In Corona we had a purging of small businesses in 2008, and 2009 was the purging of mid-size businesses. We have a ton of empty storefronts around here still, and we had 7 empty (foreclosed) houses on my street of about 50 houses, and I live in a nice neighborhood.

It must suck to have worked all your adult life building a business (with your son) and having it crater in one year. Instead of feeling mad about my little bit of money, I feel sorry for the guy that he ends up having to file for bankruptcy when he should be retiring and enjoying some surf time.

I blame our do-nothing-helpful congress and Nancy Pelosi, but that's a different gripe.

Anyway, Triumphfest is this week in Del Mar, but I can't take the time off from work, and tomorrow is my daughters volleyball tournament. I will not be missing that, so no Triumphfest for me this year. Maybe next year in Big Bear.

Cheers -

David
Corona, CA
Freshly Restored '68 Spitfire Mk3

If it wasn't for the Democraticly controlled congress (despite the blockage by the just say no GOP in the Senate) we would be in much worse shape today instead of being on a track toward righting the financial ship.

I am sure Jeff will chime in for my blatently political rhetoric since he is obviously on your side of the issue.

Joe

As I said, I know VERY little about automotive paint, but perhaps the body shop's options were very limited.
NOT that that is an excuse! If the body 'needs' a bare metal strip in order to get a 'proper' lasting Finnish, That's what the customer should be strongly advised to do.

My car, when i bought it had been re-painted at some time, and the 'new' paint had reacted in much the same way as David's.
I had no option other than a bare metal strip, and being a little paranoid, insisted that all the new body products (metal wash, seam sealer, primer, top coat) came from the same manufacturer, and were deemed compatible.
Perhaps this was overkill, but as I did not use a professional Body Shop (just a Guy that belongs to the local Hot Rod club, that seemed to do good work, even though he insisted in working while impaired!!) my thoughts were, if I have a problem, I might have a better chance getting some comeback from Sikkens Paint than some small (possibly fly by night business.
But Hindsight is always 20/20 isn't it.

I'll do all my political talking where it's going to make a difference. In the ballot box on November 2nd.

I respectfully request that you do the same and that's where we leave it.

Yay Spitfires!!

Best wishes,

Jeff
Temecula, California

Quote

---

Jeff,
My comment was not bait rather it was an expectation since I know your political leanings. It is not surprising that you did not admonish Dave for his political statement since it agrees with your own feelings.

---

Joe, I didn't even see David's comment until after I saw yours. I was out of the house. Your message was forwarded to my cell phone, since it was the latest posted after I had left to run an errand.

Upon my return, I read the previous posts and felt no need to admonish David, since you already took him to task on his comment and chose to escalate the matter by throwing more political commentary into it. By adding my name into your post, you were clearly hoping to draw me in for some kind of political response, I guess - at least, it sure appears that way.

Would I have preferred that David left his jab at Pelosi out of his post? Sure. Would I have preferred that you left my name out of your response? Sure. Now can we kindly put this matter to rest?

Best wishes,

Jeff
Temecula, California

One thing that most shops do to prevent such reactions is to cover the old paint with a thick layer of epoxy based primer which effectively puts a barrier between the two layers. But it is rather expensive even though it would have been a good measure to circumvent the expense to strip and repaint the entire car.

Joe

BTW,
Nitrocelulose laquer is no longer used in CA due to environmental concerns.

Old Jaguars, especially blue ones, get this in their paint. I've always associated that sort of paint cracking with fine old british cars. Silly, I know, but the two run together in my mind.

So having an old Spitfire with that sort of paint effect would be downright cool to me. It wouldn't look as right on the later square tail models, but on the round tails, yea!

"As you all know I spent a long time, and quite a bit of money restoring my (Toyota FJ40). I rebuilt absolutely everything, and the effort paid off."

Not trying to hijack your thread, I merely want to help emphasize your point. I know my bodywork skills are amateur high school shop level at best, so when I got the Cruiser as good as it would get in my hands I told the painter to finish it out for me before painting. They didn't, they just painted it. When they called to tell me it was ready I went to get it and saw enormous globs of clear coat all over the hood and fenders. That was the start of my nightmare. They had it four months...at least I know it got more than one coat of paint.

Bottom line is, I still have, in spite of the flaws I see, three first place and two second place trophys. I got over the initial heartbreak, anger and frustration, and I enjoy driving the truck. And I never get tired of the "thumbs up", horn beeps, waves and "what year is that? It's beautiful!" that I get almost every time I drive it.

"It's not about having what you want, it's about wanting what you have..."

Enjoy the moment, Dave, and Good Luck in the future!

I said it before and I'll say it again: Great looking Spitfire. Well done.

I too have seen original paint on old English cars do this. Seems most common to early Jaguars but old MG's as well. As far as why yours did this, I have no idea at all.

What I do recognize is the hard work, enjoyment and pride you have in your Spitfire. Enjoy it, show it off, and best of all - drive it!

Well done.

All I can offer is my personal perspective and that is, my own car is far, far from perfect, but I've come to accept its chips, bumps, and flaws as they are. I just enjoy the car now. And somehow I recently took another 1st place at a participant-judged show with about a dozen Spitfires and Gt6's in the class! Go figure.

Dave Denison
Westminster, Maryland USA
1970 Spitfire Mk3 FDU78359L
34/11: Jasmine yellow/Black interior

Best wishes,

Jeff
Temecula, California

"My painter was able to achieve that highly sought after Vintage British Car 'Patina', especially valued among Jag-You-Are owners. Quite an achievement I must say."

I crack myself up

David
Corona, CA
Freshly Restored '68 Spitfire Mk3