Stuart, no better person than Conrad to look after an Alfa - if my cars were so lucky.
To continue on my restoration saga, the car's been blasted, and has made its way to the painter's. The entire car was blasted (except the weaker panels on the car, such as parts of the hood and doors), with sand (I know, what was I thinking?!), which pitted the metal quite a bit. My painter complained a bit, but he'll be able to make that right, at higher cost, of course! When I first saw the blasted car, my heart sank... but the project must go on, despite mistakes. Attaching a few pictures below.
The blasting revealed a very different car, one that requires a great deal more metal work than was originally planned. One of the rockers is rotted out, and most of the wheel wells toward center of the car need repairs (which happen to be the culprits for the rotted rockers - what else is new?). The car was apparently hit on the driver's side in its past life, just aft of the door; the nose was also damaged and repaired haphazardly - I'm blaming this all on the P.O., who was apparently more interested in sailing than properly caring for the car
Rather than rate the car a "good body condition", I'd have to downgrade the car to an "average", thankfully nowhere near "junk" status. Wisely, the painter said, if you can't take surprises (costly one at that) too well, DON'T STRIP YOUR CAR! He further proceeded to call me a "madman". Madman or not, I could (and can) not sleep well knowing that there're more rust bubbles waiting to pop up on me at any time.
By the way, the painter suggested that he returns the car to me with the exterior panels in primered state only (the interior areas will be painted) for fear of my scratching the paint/denting the bodywork while assemblying the car. He suggested that I install everything that resides inside/underneath the car, have him apply the final paint to the exterior, then proceed to finish the car by installing the windshield, trim, lights, etc., while masking off the interior, engine compartment, etc. Any comments? Has anybody done this before with good results? Thanks.
Last thing, I'm planning to powder-coat the wheels, despite the fact that no one has identified a decent powder to mimic BMW Polaris Silver. It's cheaper and more durable, most importantly.