My 1978 Dodge Monaco 4 door sedan.

[Gary P]

Hi guys.

Today is 108F. It's ridiculous that it chose this very day to be 108F, knowing full well that I would be sanding the car outside. Thanks a lot weather.

To avoid sunstroke or whatever the millenials are calling it these days, I pulled my canopy half outside for shade and so my sanding dust doesn't ruin my shop.

It was a tiresome task. During this time, I went through about 20000 different emotions, ranging from anger and resentment of the coronavirus wrecking my business opportunity, to gratitude that I have my health and then my wifey came by to give me something to eat, and I remembered how fortunate I am.

As disheartened as I am today with my company's precarious situation, and the overwhelming hot and hard labor needed to finish my car, I just had to give myself a treat, so I threw some more paint on the body - it's for self gratification really, so that I can keep my motivation going.

I spent 4 hours sanding this side of the car. I now need to hit the whole area with 400 grit, as well as the already painted area (think of that as a base coat).

There's nothing more to do that keep my head up and keep plowing on. This is a tough part of a project, and the heat helped not one bit. Be safe you guys, and keep on truckin!

Gary

 

[HawkRod]

Gary,

First, I hope your business picks up - it's always important to keep paying the bills.

Second, I love your progress with the car. You keep moving forward and building your car your way and I think it's great. And don't worry about the naysayers, there will always be some but don't let them get you down.

Car looks great with some uniform color! Personally, I am not always a fan of what I call "battleship gray", but on this car it fits! Plus, the only opinions that matter anyway are yours (some) the the wife (a lot!).

Cheers and keep up the good work!

Hawk

 

[Gary P]

Gary,

First, I hope your business picks up - it's always important to keep paying the bills.

Second, I love your progress with the car. You keep moving forward and building your car your way and I think it's great. And don't worry about the naysayers, there will always be some but don't let them get you down.

Car looks great with some uniform color! Personally, I am not always a fan of what I call "battleship gray", but on this car it fits! Plus, the only opinions that matter anyway are yours (some) the the wife (a lot!).

Cheers and keep up the good work!

Hawk

Thanks Hawk. It seems to be a safe place to keep updating the progress on my car right here, with fine gents like yourself chiming in, and keeping the vibe positive. I really appreciate that, so thank you my friend. I know Im no Chip Foose but the encouragement on this site is fantastic, and you should all be commended for having the emotional intelligence to do just that - encourage each other to do better and chime in with good advice and tips. Thanks again!

The Internet Naysayers - that's a good way to describe them. The best one was "do the paint properly please" - what kind of insufferable narcissist says something like that to a person they don't know? While contributing zero to the build? And the "please" at the end, like they are some kind of authority in the area hahahahhahaha that made me laugh for a while as I deleted myself from the page. Jeez, some people!

Anyways, as for the Battleship Grey, I am in agreement, it's never really looked good on much, but for me and the Wifey, we think its menacing enough and in keeping with the vibe of the car too! We also have two Fezzari full suspension mountain bikes in almost the same color (coincidence) and we do really like the same kind of grey on the latest Toyota Tacoma's, so maybe it's becoming trendy with the hipsters and I should sand it off immediately hahahaha

Hey you guys rock, stay safe and mask-it-up at all times!

 

[Gary P]

I suppose I had better explain myself.

Within the next few weeks, I will either need the space in the shop, or my business is going to have to close. Without boo-hoo'ing about that, the point is that this car needs to have some paint on it, and be put back on the road, as soon as possible.

So, with my thoughts fighting against each other about what's right and what's wrong, embellished by the Internet Naysayers I've already bitched about, and constrained by time, and my wallet, here's the way this has to go now, regardless of my company surviving or not...

Get Rustoleum Smoke Grey on the car, with a foam roller, and/or a rattle can, including door jams as seen here.
Order and install carpet.
Replace all interior and seats.
Cover seats temporarily for a tidier appearance (you guys were right, I should try and do it myself)
Oil/fluid change and drive the car out of the shop, and use as required.
As and when I have time, work one panel at a time, cutting, fine filler, block sanding, buffing, blending.

Now - I understand I insinuated that this car will be painted with Rustoleum! With a roller!! And a rattle can!! I also understand I may lose some of you from taking part in this thread because of that, and I totally understand. I have been dealt some challenges and I have to run a business, renovate a car, have a relationship, have friends, ride mountain bikes, and anything else I've forgotten as best I can with the time allowed. But with these primitive methods, I promise it'll look good.

Hope y'all are doing good! Happy friday.

 

[HawkRod]

Gary,

First and most importantly - I hope business picks up. These are tough times.

You will get no flak from me on your methods. I totally get it and what you are proposing is a quick fix to deal with reality. Very few of us can go through and build absolutely perfect cars. You are in a situation now where you need to compromise, and I think your choices make sense.

I admire your perseverance and "can do" attitude to keep moving forward with the car all while dealing with the realities of life. Well done!

Hawk

 

[Gary P]

Hawk you're an awesome guy, thanks man! The constant tips, tricks, hints and encouragement from yourself and others here are such a help to me - I must admit I never really wanted to admit to doing it this way but hell, me and the wifey talked about it today too, and I'm going to throw some serious money at it later on down the road, but let's just think of this enamel paint job as "preserving" the car for the next who-knows-how-many-years. A temporary fix, so I can get the car into 2025 and have it done properly - who knows maybe I'll have learned the right ways by then. Thanks again man.

So heres some progress this weekend, in the 98F shop...

I threw the hub caps on so I can get an overall view. I like this for now.

The rustoleum goes on pretty thick, which is good. But when it's dried it orange peels like a...umm..orange. So with some red scotchbrite (my latest favorite thing) I flatted the paint down and it flats nicely - you can see the difference from the other side of the trunk. No texture now. Because the thicknes of the paint layer is large, I can be pretty aggressive and get that orange peel out.
Now, "orange peel is the least of your worries mate" is what I hear some of you saying, and you would be absolutely correct. But I will say, the test panel I did with rolled-on Rustoleum flatted down very well, and when I hit it with a rattle can twice, I could cut and buff that rattle can without going through the grey, and you wouldn't believe what a nice finish it gave. So that's good.

I have myself a paint gun. A DeVillbiss entry level HVLP gun. You know what's coming next....yeah I think it's going to be easier to spray this with the proper gun. Relief? Yeah, a little bit. If I can get this base layer/filler/primer thing on the car, and work out the dents and stuff it makes sense to just use my gun.

Can you tell I'm out of my mind?

 

[Stephen Hotz]

Go for it!

 

[Greg Ducato]

I have painted two vehicles with the Rustoleum method, both sprayed, one from cans, the other from a gun and then knocked down with Scotchbrite. These were both off -road type vehicles that would require touch up and repair from time to time and this was an easy and economical way to keep them decent looking. I actually received more than a few compliments on the look, it was more satin or semi gloss than flat. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[Gary P]

I have painted two vehicles with the Rustoleum method, both sprayed, one from cans, the other from a gun and then knocked down with Scotchbrite. These were both off -road type vehicles that would require touch up and repair from time to time and this was an easy and economical way to keep them decent looking. I actually received more than a few compliments on the look, it was more satin or semi gloss than flat. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Excellent Greg! I fully intend to use my car a lot, and because of Utah drivers, I'm in the same dynamic as you describe, needing touch-up occasionally etc - this is good information, thank you!! Would sure like to see a pic of your Rustoleum beasts!

 

[Greg Ducato]

Excellent Greg! I fully intend to use my car a lot, and because of Utah drivers, I'm in the same dynamic as you describe, needing touch-up occasionally etc - this is good information, thank you!! Would sure like to see a pic of your Rustoleum beasts!

 

[Greg Ducato]

The previous pic was my 89 Blazer, shot with a rattle can, this one is the 53 Willys painted with Rustoleum but mostly with a spray gun.

 

[Greg Ducato]

The pictures kind of suck, sorry

 

[Gary P]

Fantastic vehicles Greg - thanks for sharing those pics! I extra-love the Willys, I bet that did really well on the rough stuff!

 

[Greg Ducato]

Thanks, I haven't finished that one yet, the picture is of it loading in a trailer to go to a friends shop for glass, upholstery and some finishing last week. That thing has been in my shop for 5 years and I had to get some help if I ever hoped to drive it, should be fun when done.

 

[Gary P]

Thanks, I haven't finished that one yet, the picture is of it loading in a trailer to go to a friends shop for glass, upholstery and some finishing last week. That thing has been in my shop for 5 years and I had to get some help if I ever hoped to drive it, should be fun when done.

It's magic Greg and I can't wait to see some pictures of it smashing rocks and generally being a menace!
What kind of motor are you going to give it?

It's a spectacular shape. I've always been a fan of the rare Willys stuff. When I pulled my VW Type 3 out of a guys field, he had a 1950 Willys that he said was special and wouldn't sell....but it had a freaking TREE growing up through the floor and out the windshield! Special?? With a tree growing through it??? Crazy hoarder types! It makes me very happy you are bringing it back to life. Bravo sir!

 

[Gary P]

Today, I ordered my carpet kit from OCAutocarpets.

https://www.ocautocarpets.com/

I have to say they have been so helpful during the buying process. The color I wanted was on back order so they called and talked me through alternative options, sending me something similar. I highly recommend them so far - but I don't have the carpet yet, let's see. I'll let you guys know what it's like.

It's been a frustrating time here in Utah. The general public seem to be a little more imbecilic than anywhere else in the world, and the social-media spin is devoured almost in an enjoyable way by people around here, so businesses are closing and ours has tanked. It's a hard time for everyone so my thoughts are with you all too. However, bad battery life and terrible speaker quality finally got the better of my patience today, so we said goodbye to our terrible Sony bluetooth speaker via the medium of Tarantino-style violence and a mallet....

Aaaaaaaaaand relax! :-D

Since I ordered the carpet kit, I pulled out the factory/dealer floor mat and gave it a good degreasing and a clean...

It cleaned up well, and with a heat gun and some well-placed clamps I managed to get it back into "kind-of-as-new" shape

That's all for now, while this is going on, the Monaco sits patiently...

 

[Greg Ducato]

What kind of motor are you going to give it?

It has a TBI injected V8 of the, uh, Chevy persuasion.

 

[Charger72]

Mat looks great.

 

[Gary P]

Hi guys - today I put all the door cards and interior nick-nacks back in. I spent 6hrs listening to music and working steadily, cleaning things as I went and switching off for the most part. It was ace.

I also took some time to polish the glass as it was rife with overspray etc. This product and it's little wire/sponge pad is excellent, highly recommended...

The end of the day is nigh. That's all folks...hopefully the temp will drop and I can go mountain biking with wifey and her number one Son!

 

[Gary P]

Sun 26th July - the steering wheel is grim! So I cleaned it up

The horn doesn't work from the center of the steering wheel so that'll be a nice little project later.

I wiped everything down inside, tried to get it as nice as possible. UPS Tracking says my carpet kit is due for delivery on Friday, and I am looking forward to seeing that, and installing it.