Anybody know a good painter who is accepting work?

GLAmes

Senior Member
I have been waiting for the guy who did all the cutting & welding on my restoration to finish up the job. Unfortunately he has been swamped in his boat repair business and keeps putting me off and has been for over a year. I'm in central TX but I am willing to travel. The body work is pretty much finished and the car has a coat of primer on it. I'm not looking for a show car finish but I'm not going to settle for a Maaco quality job either. Hood, doors and trunk lid are installed but need some tweaking. Basecoat/clearcoat, I already have the basecoat paint. This car was supposed to be a 50th anniversary present to my wife (she had a Skyliner when I met her). Going on 54 years now and she isn't convinced it will ever get finished. Here is it's current progress.
 

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Looks like a very clean job so far! Nice.



Sorry, don't live in TX, so I don't know of painters in your area, but do they have car shows during the winter down there? If so, ask owners of cars you admire who did their paint. If they say they did it themselves or a friend did it, I wouldn't pursue it any further. They may not be willing to do someone else's car, and if they are willing to do that, they may not put forth a good effort on a car that isn't their own.



If they refer you to a full time prof. shop, though, you will more likely get results consistent with the example you see, should you decide to go that route. I personally don't think it's inappropriate to ask a stranger - in a very diplomatic way - what a person could expect to pay for a paint job like the one their car has. Depends on the person.
 
Try to stay away from a regular body shop. The insurance jobs always come first and your kind of job last. Seen many guys that had to wait years to get their car painted when at a regular shop.
 
Possibly -

If you SEARCH CUSTOM BODY AND PAINT - Killeen TX you should find something.

It looks nice ... ;)
 
Possibly -

If you SEARCH CUSTOM BODY AND PAINT - Killeen TX you should find something.

It looks nice ... ;)

My friend, who did all the cutting a welding, is also one of the best body/paint guys in the county. He got into repairing boats which pays about twice what auto body does and he has customers coming from all over the state. It wasn't like that when I first started this project, he was still doing cars. He knows every painter in town and has tried his best to get me hooked up. Doing a search is what I'm doing now. I've exhausted local searches.
 
I talked to the guy that 40cpe PM'd to me but he declined. I was willing to make the 500 mile trip if he was interested. Still looking.
 
If anyone is interested here is my build thread. http://1954ford.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3457

Be aware, the '54 Club of America' website will cease to exist in one week! They're shutting it down! Info is in the 'general and tech' section. That's a pretty great build thread you've got there. It'd be a shame to lose it. Consider moving it to another website. Here's a good one......
https://www.hotrodders.com/forums/projects-builds-my-ride.62/

Also, the HAMB social forums have the '52-'59 Ford group which is a great site.
 
I'm not computer literate enough to move a thread from one website to another. I know the '54 Club is shutting down and I'm a member of H.A.M.B.
 
Be aware, the '54 Club of America' website will cease to exist in one week! They're shutting it down! Info is in the 'general and tech' section. That's a pretty great build thread you've got there. It'd be a shame to lose it. Consider moving it to another website. Here's a good one......
https://www.hotrodders.com/forums/projects-builds-my-ride.62/

Also, the HAMB social forums have the '52-'59 Ford group which is a great site.

Why do you think it is being shut-down, lack of interest? A lot of info is going to be lost.

There is a 54 BUILD THREAD there I see - https://www.hotrodders.com/threads/1954-ford-customline-build-thread.545181/
 
Why do you think it is being shut-down, lack of interest? A lot of info is going to be lost.

There is a 54 BUILD THREAD there I see - https://www.hotrodders.com/threads/1954-ford-customline-build-thread.545181/


From a posting on the HAMB:
Howdy from Houston, where all good things must come to an end.
It’s my sad duty to inform yall that the ’54 Ford Club of America will be closing its doors, effective at the end of this year 12/31/21.
The reasons for this are as follows (in no particular order):
- Membership is steadily declining as members are passing away. I receive at least two, and sometimes more, notifications per month of a member passing.
- The website and forum require a non-optional, massive overhaul that will cost thousands of dollars before the end of the year. The club dues barely cover the costs associated with the website as it is.
- My business and personal life are hectic. I’ve just come through a divorce and my lab business is extremely demanding. Time to properly manage the car club just doesn’t exist.
- I think Tom Hoskins, John Strobeck and I have collectively written just about everything that can be written about a ’54 Ford over the last 35 years.
So…I’m going to close the doors and turn out the lights while the club still has some dignity. This is exactly what Tom Hoskins instructed me to do, almost exactly in those words. He took me to a bar-b-que place in Arlington and, after the good-natured banter for which he was known, he got serious, looked me in the eye and made me promise to not let the club become a burden. He wanted me to close it down if it ever got that way.
And please…those of you inclined to negativity, please refrain. I shut down the club’s Facebook presence a few months ago and you’d think I clubbed a puppy to death on national television. I was insulted, accused of terrible things and even physically threatened by one person. It pains me that I even have to say this.
I also ask that you please refrain from calling my phone number. It’s the cell phone that I use for work.
I’ll be happy to refund any dues that anyone feels like they’re owed. It may take a few months for me to get it all back to everyone if I’m deluged with requests. Please email me or write me with this request.
The website and forum will operate until at 12/31/21. After that, I’m told by the tech wizards that the antiquated software that they’re written in will not be supported and will no longer work. They can’t tell me if that means everything will crash and burn at midnight, or if it’ll continue limping along indefinitely. Time will tell I guess.
It’s been my honor and privilege to steward the club for the last 7 years and I sincerely wish all of you the very best.
Regards,
Don
 
The website and forum will operate until at 12/31/21.

After that, I’m told by the tech wizards that the antiquated software that they’re written in will not be supported and will no longer work. They can’t tell me if that means everything will crash and burn at midnight, or if it’ll continue limping along indefinitely. Time will tell I guess.

It is a shame that somehow all of that info cannot be saved. Many that close go into read only mode. Too bad this can't be done.
 
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