77 Bonanza to Paint Shop

[LBJ]

Took the truck to the painter's on Monday. Went by and got some before shots today. Hope he gets busy, but he may take his time on it. Said he needed 10 days, but I imagine it will be there at least a month or two. It's got a new door, hood, tailgate (factory GM), front bed panel, left vent window (87 Chevy GM), and dash pad. Going with the original basic Russet Metallic and changing the accent color to Light Saddle Metallic. Base coat/clear coat. He's going to fill the trim holes and paint the ochre trim color at about the same place it was on the aluminium trim pieces (on body lines). Factory 73-80 tailgates are still available thru VintageParts.org. They may have lots of other parts available too. You have to know the factory part number to look up, however. I looked at the remaining number of tailgates and it was 54. The front bed panel was tough to reinstall but went on by taking time to get all the holes lined up before tightening the screws. I had him paint it before installing since the front of the panel would be impossible to paint after installed. Looks great so far and feels solid even thought the panel was not as heavy as the original part.

[streetstar]

Hope it works out for ya ---- my 75 needs the same treatment. It looks good until you get close, then you realize it needs new fenders and a left bedside (rust never sleeps)

I want to keep the metal trim myself, so i am not looking forward to doing that on virgin sheetmetal (shudder)