I'm certianly not against garage painters. My point earlier was that it
is sometimes difficult to find one who won't do you wrong.
I once had a BMW 2002 that I took to a local garage painter. The guy had
a list of custom street rods to his credit and seemed to be a nice guy.
The car had a damaged rear quarter, so I purchased a new one for it. The
painter told me that installing it would be no problem. Well, to make a
long story short, the car sat in his garage for over a year without
being worked on. He always had other stuff coming in and out. So, after
a routine visit I told him that I was going to come and get the car to
take it somewhere else. Well, the very next day he called me and said "
You can come get your car, it's all finished."
He had completed the entire job in one day(and was probably up all
night).
The car looked like it too. The rear quarter had been installed but not
welded on. Instead, sheetmetal screws held it in place. The silver paint
looked like a spotty mess and wasn't painted evenly throughout. To top
it off, he asked me for twice the amount of money that we had originally
agreed on. (all in a day's work , right?) Needless to say, we argued and
I only paid for the cost of materials. It cost me more in the long run
to undo what he had done. Not to mention the time lost.
My point here is to simply be careful on who you trust you car with.
It's probably best to find someone who has a special interest in
Sunbeams OR at least British cars, since they will care more about the
car they are working on and do a better job. Having been burned on more
than one occasion, I've learned that it's best to bite the bullet and
pay to have paint and bodywork done by someone who knows what they are
doing and specializes in the marquee. This dosent mean that garage
painters don't know what they are doing, but some definately won't have
your best interest in mind.
-- Ian Spencer <www.sunbeamalpine.org> '61 Series II Alpine B9104704 LRX '61 Harrington Alpine B9104782 OD HRO '62 Harrington Le Mans BH9115930 OD LRX
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