Dick's 60 Desoto Adventurer

[Dick Koch]

Only dents were on both sides of rear, painted the underside with Eastwood silver encapsulator, the car and the Oster fan are the same age, the fan was my wife's and I very first appliance in 1960 when we were married, all three of us are still going pretty strong. I took off the front antenna and installed dual rears, I painted the car in the Costco Garage/Spray Booth with a couple of fans pulling out the overspray, had doors down to the top of fans. Placed 8 sheets of Bounce around the booth to ward of wasps and bug. Not one got on the paint. Had to paint the body twice because the yo yo's where I got the paint gave me cold wheather reducer (used PPG concept Single Stage) the paint was almost dry as it hit the car, I ended up with sand paper and orange peel so I sanded the whole body with 320 and painted it again still not nowing I had the wrong reducer, I thought it was me and the gun. Got the same results but now I had enough paint on the car to wet sand which was a nightmare. Started with 600 and went to 2500. Spray buffed it and it came out real nice. Went to get more paint and thats when I found out I had the wrong reducer, they would not do anything for me so they lost a Customer. With my new Concours gun from Eastwood and the correct reducer the doors, hood and deck were painted. The paint laid out beautifully with minor wet sanding. I had the interior garnish molding paint matched and painted them. The dash was OK so did not have to paint it. The silver and white on the door panels had started to yellow so I spray painted them with SEMS rattle can vinyl spray paint, came out very nice. Installed new moulded carpet, there was very little rust, in and out, what there was was was minor surface rust. Installed new reproduction tail light lenses from George Laurie in Sydney, Australia, they are exceptional quality. I guestimate the project took around 3 month. Now I can get back to finishing the Red and White 59 Sprort Fury.
Dick.

[Dick Koch]

5 More Pictures, can only send 20 at a time.
Dick.

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Dick, Well done! The pictures came out great showing your handywork with the paint gun. Too bad about the wrong reducer sold to you. Don't you just love a company who won't stand behind their work or the products they sell.

There lost of a good customer in you.

Keep up the good work!

John Q.

[Steve Storey]

Really nice Dick!! Are you sold on the single stage paint? I'm still clinging to acrylic enamel and thinking it might be time to move on.

[Dick Koch]

Thanks for the compliments Guys - Yes I'm pretty much sold on the Urethane Single Stage, Its not as forgiving as Base Coat/Clear Coat but if you are not a professional like me you probably will have to wet sand either one just as much. If you have a solid color (no metallics) a single stage paint is easily repairable and blends in beautifully, the second time I shot the body I had some serious runs in two locations. I had to sand down to primer to get rid of them. After touching up those areas (two coats) and wet sanding, the paint blended in perfectly and you can't even tell it was a repair. It's not that the company wouldn't stand behind thier product. They made me pay for the correct reducer. By the way, the paint cost total around $1,200.00. OUCH! I had to buy another 1/2 gallon ($360.00) because of the second coat. The main thing I really concentrated on was to keep the gun square to the surface and about 10 inches from the surface. I would recommend that you go to the junk yard and get an old hood to practice on with a cleap paint of your color. Years ago I was into VW Bugs and painted them with Dupont Imron 2 part Epoxy using a cheap DeVilbuss suction gun. It laid out beautifully with absolutly no orange peel. I understand they still make it, thinking maybe I should try it again. (NOT). When I was block sanding and sometimes got down to bare metal I spot primed with Rustoleum rattle can spray primer (Home Depot) and I got to tell you its as tough as the Eastwood Epoxy primer I used.
Dick.

[big m]

Beautiful DeSoto, Dick. I've always been a fan of the '60 models.

Last summer when I went to paint our '58 Dodge wagon, we had temps well over 100 degrees, and I could only paint before 12 noon, as the hot sun would shine in the doorway, drying the paint before it could hit the body panel I was spraying. I had to cut and buff the paint afterwards in order to remove the dry spots and orangepeel.

---John

[Dick Koch]

Thanks John. - Been there, done that. But the whole car body. Had to paint in early morning also, we were and are having 90-91degrees, 85 % humidity.
Dick.

[Nighthawk]

Great job, looks terrific!

[savvy59]

Hey Dick,

I really love your car and the paint job! I had no idea that the paint was so expensive
My Savoy was painted in Imron 15+ years ago and still cleans up nicely.
Unfortunately my painter died a few years after my car was painted - I am not so sure that painting with Imron shortened his life!

I am jealous of those that can spend their retirement lives doing exactly what they want to do - play with cars!

Very nice work - you should be proud!

Curt

[Dick Koch]

Thanks Curt - I surprised myself on that paint job. www.eastwood.com is having a sale on acrylic urethane single stage paint, 1 gal plus activator for $99.99 per gallon. I'm seriously considering using it on my 59 SF. I'll just try to get the red as close as I can. Haven't made up my mind. I don't thing they mix to spec. for that price but I'm going to ask. I think I will price the Imron and maybe use that if it's not to expensive. I certainly don't want to spend that kind of money again on paint. Maybe rustoleum rattle can!!!! I just hope I can finish the SF and my bucket list.
Dick.

[Faulkner]

Awesome pix, Dick!

5 More Pictures, can only send 20 at a time.

Now it's 50! Also, the former size was 2560x2048; now, it's 5120x4096. Be kind to your fellow members with slow computers, though -- big pix make for long downloads. If you can, scale your pix to something reasonable for typical monitor sizes.

Thanks
Dan

[Dick Koch]

Curt - I priced the Imron paint and it's as expensive as the PPG concept single stage.
Dick.

[savvy59]

Hey Dick,

I guess you will be going to Eastwood for the SF paint!
I had no idea that Imron had become so expensive.
I don't think I paid much more than $1,400 to paint my entire car inside and out in 1994!

I am sure no matter what you use the outcome will be great. I know that because you were so persistant with the Desoto's paint.

When do you get started on the SF paint?

What kind of shape is the paint on Greenie? Any plans on a redo - I think that is the most outstanding color on 59's - I wished my car had turned out closer to that color.

My steering shaft was painted in two stage trying to match the Imron and the color is much nicer on the steering shaft in my opinion.

Thanks for the update.

Curt

[Dick Koch]

Hi Curt - I won't be using the Eastwood Paint because the reds they have are not even close to Flame Red. I will use Restoration Shop Acrylic Urethane paint from www.tcpglobal.com phone 858-909-2110. It's a mid level paint like PPG Omni or Sherwin Williams Dimension. They can give an exact color match that the others can't do. Paint is $175.95/gal., $57.95/qt. Reducer is $32.95/gal., 13.95/qt., Hardner is $37.45/gal., $19.95/qt.
I started on Reddie yesterday, after 3 years it started on the second try, it's on the lift and the gas tank is out. I'm going to start posting progress as I go along.
Greenies paint is very thin, faint traces of primer are starting to show. I will probably try to paint greenie after I do some work on my 63 Galaxie Convertible. I figure these cars will keep me busy along with my bucket list.
Wife says no more cars.
Dick.
Dan - I started a post and had to save it. How do I retrieve it to post some pictures. By the way I like the new Topics.
Dick.

[Faulkner]

Dan - I started a post and had to save it. How do I retrieve it to post some pictures.

Dick, if you save a draft, one way to get to it is through your user profile. Click the "User Control Panel" link under the changing car pic in the upper left corner. A page should present with the "Overview" tab selected. Click on "Manage Drafts" on the left side. You'll see two links to the right -- "Load draft" and "View/Edit". If you intend to edit some more and come back to it, choose "View/Edit". If you're going to wrap it up, choose "Load draft".

Incidentally, when you save a draft, you get the warning

"Please note that saved drafts only include the subject and the message, any other element will be removed. Do you want to save your draft now?"

I don't know if that means it doesn't save images you may have attached -- I've never tried it. Let me know if you saved images, and lost them...

By the way I like the new Topics.

Those were Matthew's idea! I'm just waiting for him to post to them now

Dan