Priya's SX/4 project

[TLC87Eagle]

Looking really good there Priya. All that time spent with the body work and surfacing will pay off after a nice shinny finish is on it. I might have missed it in earlier posts, but what are your plans for the paint scheme of it? I can't wait to see the finished product. 

[priya]

Thanks TlC87Eagle.  I'm having a lot of trouble deciding what colours to paint it.  I was initially thinking electric blue lower body and hot pink upper, or matte black lower body and purple upper body, or maybe matte black lower body and a light purple upper body.  Or some combination of blue and light or dark purple or hot pink and light or dark purple.  I've had six test panels sprayed but haven't been able to get the shade of pink and light purple I wanted and am not any closer to deciding what looks the best together.

[priya]

I'm also thinking of a dark purple lower body, light purple or silver upper body.  And two racing stripes down the hood, over the roof and down the hatch.  Arrrggh!  I can't decide!

[TLC87Eagle]

Ah, very cool. Yeah it's hard coming up with color schemes especially since the possibilities are endless. It seems easier to pick if you have a limited selection instead of any color you could think of.   From the schemes you mentioned, I think the matte black or dark purple lower with light purple would look awesome. Especially if it was a metallic or pearlescent type paint, and you could even have light purple SX/4 logos. That's just my humble opinion though.  

[IowaEagle]

Or a 50's retro look with the pinks and browns or the pinks and grays Rambler used back then?

[priya]

Sure Doug, that's what I need, more possibilites to consider.

[Teamamc]

Wow!!!!   This is the first time I read the post.  WOW!!
You are doing an incredible Job.  I have some cars with less rust than you started with and I am felt intimadated by them.
I believe I will give it a shot now.
Thanks for the pictures.
Bryan

[priya]

Thanks Teamamc.  I initially thought i had very little rust to repair on this car but when I got the plastic cladding off and got into it discovered it needed much more than I was prepared to do. My husband works as a mechanic in a body shop and has seen a lot of different types of repairs done so, between his advice and a lot of careful planning I was able to do much more involved repairs than I initially wanted to.

[milliard431]

Hey Priya, This is the first time I've looked at your entire project. Talk about bringing one back from the dead. Oh my god that's just cool. As soon as my wife gets home I'm going to show her this link so that she can see just what you can do if you want to.

Secondly I'm  hoping after seeing this she will want to try and restore a car with me. She was a total girly girl when we met but after 15 years of marriage she still can't believe all the stuff that I have taught

her to do. Until now she has drawn a line at cars except for pumping the brakes when I bleed the system but who knows!!!!

[priya]

Thanks Milliard.  I hope you and your wife have good luck with restoration if you give it a try.

[rollguy]

After following this thread from the beginning, I am very impressed with the quality of your work.  It is hard to believe that anyone would take on a large project such as this, and I thought I had seen in yours the most extensive rust repair project ever, but then I saw this:  http://www.radikal.ru/USERS/otis124/116?pg=1
I am a Mercedes Benz enthusiast and saw this on an MB forum.  It is hard to imagine this to even be possible to do.  Before seeing this,  I thought your SX4 was a complicated job!!!!

[Ökensörn]

After all that work, they couldn't put better tiers on it??   

[priya]

After following this thread from the beginning, I am very impressed with the quality of your work. 

Thanks Rollguy.

It is hard to believe that anyone would take on a large project such as this, and I thought I had seen in yours the most extensive rust repair project ever, but then I saw this:  http://www.radikal.ru/USERS/otis124/116?pg=1

Yes, that's really something all right, I'd have said that one was beyond repair, but there's always someone out there willing to attempt the seemingly impossible.  I actually didn't think the rust on my car was that severe  I've seen a number of people take on substantially worse.  I was at a car show this summer and my husband was talking to a friend of his who had a 70 Barracuda that looked showroom fresh.  He had some pictures of what he started with and I couldn't believe what a piece of crap it was - rust holes you could climb through, major dents, I'd have never dreamed someone would attempt a restoration on something like that, but there it was.

[El Matador]

Here's another resurrection of monumental proportions. 

http://57rustbucket.com/

[Whuntmore]

My first time reading this.  Wow, wicked work there.  That was some resto.  I took welding in school (stick and gas) and I've done some minor body work, but that is quite extensive.
 
VERY NICE WORK!!

As for the colors, I don't want to add to your choices, but I remember my dad saying Pink and charcoal grey was quite the color combo in the '50-'60's.  The purple idea would look pretty cool.  I also like a true copper (and not that burnt orange everyone is going for these days) but a true copper.  I've seen a 'Cuda with a dark copper color, and wow!  Looks like it had some brown in it, to darken it up. 

The color was stunning. 

I can't wait when you decide to paint it up, and post the pics!!!