Mazda B2600 paint -Turning a 'sow's ear into a silk purse' the Earl Scheib way!

[goodfellow]

Finally finished this damn truck. It was a nice adventure, and a lesson in backyard mechanics; that being it takes twice as long as you originally planned. It was worth it though --

I had to clean the inside panels. Best way to clean molding and kick panels is to use carb cleaner to get the oxidized film and then use tire cleaner to make it shine -- works very well. All these panels were totally crudded up and oxidized -- they look almost new after the carb cleaner and tire shine.









After everything was done -- here's the finished product. A good driveway refurbish --

The hardest part was getting the bed aligned on the new fabricated mounts, but after that it was gravy!!!







All Done!!!!



Repainted the grill and added some silver touches to the buckets cutouts











Time to clean up the garage and have a cigar and an adult beverage.

[goodfellow]

Got home a day early from a trip and was able to spend some time in the garage to finish this thing up. The molding and pinstripes showed up a few days ago and i was eager to get them on the truck.

I decided (with the wife's help) that the dark silver gray pinstripe was best for the top parting line.





Then I cut and fit the body side molding and decided to install it up-side down (chrome showing on top) versus the traditional C-10 look of having the chrome run on the bottom edge of the molding. I think it looks better that way on a small truck.





All-in-all the truck looks clean and straight, and the pinstripe and molding accents add to that "straight" illusion. --- Because underneath all that fresh paint and bling is still a marginal rust prone 30 year old truck; but at least it looks good in the driveway again.

[goodfellow]

She' s cleaned up inside and out and the wife and I attended a neighbor's B-day party last night. So we decided to take the truck. The results were surprising, and it goes to show you how differently women and men think. 

All the women at the party (including my wife) didn't like the paint job on the truck. They didn't hate it, but they all said it wasn't a favorite color combo. Conversely all the men liked the paint job very much, and some of the older guys even understood the significance of the GM style paint scheme -- it boggles the mind.  lolx lolx lolx

On the way home we got rained out and the new paint was given it's first bath -- it faired well. Took it to the car wash this morning and it's shiny again.

[WoodenNickle]

I'm gonna send some of your pictures to Earl.  His reaction?  That looks like a $89.95 job to me.  You got his phone number?  I want to hire him!

[Lookin4_67GalaxieConv]

Very nice job, Ray, and thanks for documenting so extensively.  Lots of good info here.