A couple photos of shiny new paint and molding stripe opinion question

firefyteremt

Member
Jun 3, 2019
16
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NE Conn
So I am new here, but been around cars my whole life. I work as a Vocational Teacher (I-CAR Platinium Tech and ASE Master Tech) and have been working on my latest toy, an '88 GT Convertible with 81k. The car had been hit at one time and poorly prepped for a full paint job, so I will be stripping it and refinishing it this winter. In addition, somebody put a gawd-awful fiberglass "JDM" rear bumper that looks like a Mustang mated with a Lambo and the bumper was born out of wedlock...and it was your cousin. I thought I would share a couple of shiny photos of the replacement bumper in the spray booth

I found a torn rear cover and repaired the tears with a plastic welder, and stripped the bumper and rear cladding. I bought a used door to replace my passenger side door (which had a door skin replacement which was worn through the edge where it hit the fender) The new door was stripped, primed, and had the inside refinished today. (I plan to pick up the left door which the guy has for sale and do the same thing. The door was only $40, and mine has been re-seam-sealed poorly. In the late fall, I will replace both doors and strip the car for a proper paint job.

Lastly, I have been toying with the idea of adding charcoal gray decals to the "Mustang GT" on the sides and rear bumper. Along with this, I was thinking about matching the gray and painting a stripe in the molding. I used the old molding that was on the new door as a guinea-pig, along with a random gray we had kicking around. I kinda like the way it looks, although a bit dark, but the painted stripe overall silver, seems to really work.

Thoughts? Comments?

PS, the blue is Ford K7 and the silver is a Toyota color 1D7 (The stock gray was wicked dark when I sprayed it, and had to chip match my car)
bumper.jpeg
bumper2.jpeg
RT-door.jpeg
molding.jpeg
 
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Interesting...maybe a shade lighter on the stripe and I like the color combo.
I'm going to be painting the lower portion of my 93 GT and will be using a similar color, Lexus atomic silver 1f7.
 
SO MUCH better now! Next on the chopping block is it hideous "JDM" headlamps!
 

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I've got those same headlights on my car. I dont like them either, but its what came on the car. Hopefully I can find a set of originals to rescue one day or get some new reproductions.

Paint looks great! Looks like this car was luck to be rescued by someone that wants to make it nice again!
 
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It needs a black stripe in the center of the trim JMO

I was thinking about charcoal gray, but maybe black would work. The big thing is that I don't want a "tape-line" from masking off the stripe. When painting on the stripe, it would be done first as it is far easier to mask off the stripe and paint the silver than mask off to paint a stripe on the molding. I am just not sure how a glossy black stripe would look over charcoal (albeit, lighter than what's in my photo currently) I do want to clearcoat both colors to eliminate the edge of the stripe edge.
 
I've got those same headlights on my car. I dont like them either, but its what came on the car. Hopefully I can find a set of originals to rescue one day or get some new reproductions.

Paint looks great! Looks like this car was luck to be rescued by someone that wants to make it nice again!

Thank you, and I agree.... I can't wait to replace the lamps, but I have to buy the mounting plates too, so it will be just under $200 for all new lamps. Next up is dropping the gas tank to fix the fuel sending unit.
 
I think a dark gray would work too, the idea is to break up the silver lower portion of the car. It will give the car a, how to explain it (?) It just needs something to break up the silver, the silver detracts from the blue. Break it up and the blue comes back into focus.
take some black electrical and put it in the indent on the trim and you will see what I mean.
 
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I think a dark gray would work too, the idea is to break up the silver lower portion of the car. It will give the car a, how to explain it (?) It just needs something to break up the silver, the silver detracts from the blue. Break it up and the blue comes back into focus.
take some black electrical and put it in the indent on the trim and you will see what I mean.

Good idea with the electrical tape.

I did the same on my body colored mirrors and door handles to see if I wanted them black.