Having so much fun with the...
Having so much fun with the car, it took quite a bit to persuade Art to reduce the GT55 back to its basic parts once again.
Nothing can make or break a project like the paint and bodywork. A great paint and body job will let your car stand out above the rest, but it can blow your budget out of the water if you aren't prepared. While it would be impossible to show you how to do a complete paint and body job in a few pages, there are things you can do yourself, have a great finish and not break the bank. To get an idea of what it takes to do custom paint and bodywork, I followed the GT55 as it received a makeover by the experts at Byers Custom & Restoration.
First and foremost, you need to plan a few things out. How much do you want to spend? What do you want the finish to look like? When do you want to have your car done? Do you want to do any of it yourself? Will local laws allow you to do paint and body work at home? And the most important question: do you have the patience of a saint? Despite all the current TV shows that do paint and body work in less than a day, you can spend hundreds and hundreds of hours in the paint and bodywork process. The more time you spend on the attention to detail, the better the overall job will look and the finish will last for years to come.
If you decide to do only part of the overall job, talk to local shops to see if they will paint over your bodywork. Find out what materials they use (so you won't mix brands) and see if they won't mind answering a few questions from time to time. If you are going to do this yourself it wouldn't hurt to have an extra fender to test out your paint and body work techniques on before you dive into the whole car. Just remember, take your time and have fun!
 When disassembling a car,...  When disassembling a car, place all fasteners in Ziploc bags, label them and keep in a safe spot for when you go to reassemble the project. |  Before taking the car to the...  Before taking the car to the sandblaster, all the paint was removed from the car with these tools to prevent excessive blasting media being used and risking damage to the car's body. Body filler was also sanded out as well as any factory seam sealer. |  After removing the layers...  After removing the layers of paint, a straight and rust-free body was revealed. |
 We did find some rust, but...  We did find some rust, but the problem will easily be solved with one of Danchuck's replacement panels. |  Using a rotisserie, the body...  Using a rotisserie, the body was then taken to a local sandblasting outfit where all the remaining paint, undercoating, and surface rust will be removed. |  After the sandblasting process...  After the sandblasting process was complete, the body was delivered to Byers Custom & Restoration for the real work to begin. If you are going to have a shop do part, some or all of the work it is a good idea to see previous cars and current projects just to see what their work is like. In this case, a few vintage Ferrari racecars were just being completed for a local collector. |
 A small sanding disc was used...  A small sanding disc was used to remove any missed pits of rust and greasy fingerprints. It is a good idea to always wear gloves when working with a bare steel body. When this is completed, the body is cleaned out with compressed air to eliminate the chance of sandblasting media finding its way into the paint. Cleaning every last bit of sand out of the body can take an hour or more, but it is worth every minute of it. |  Melting the lead out of the...  Melting the lead out of the factory body seams revealed rust from the excess flux used at the joint between the top of the A-pillar and the roof. A spot blaster was used to remove the rust. All seams were then welded together. |  Before the body is mounted...  Before the body is mounted to the chassis again, a skim coat of body filler was applied to the firewall to smooth it out. |