Photo one was in a different camera. It shows the Lexan windshield immediately after trimming and fitting it to the cowl the first time. Photo 2: Bob, the body man, block sanding the top of the new windshield after final trimming. By his knees, you can see the curves we cut in the top corners to blend the windshield into the side windows. Photo 3: We put the driver seat back in the car so we could sit and check windshield height. Sitting in the car and opening and closing the driver door convinced us to change the location of the inside door pull more towards the front of the door. I also wondered if the door possibly needed an arm-rest. I hadn't sat in the car for quite a while but sitting in the seat, my arm can rest comfortably on the high sill panel. No need for an arm-rest then. We also came up with a different idea for an inside door panel which I'll show soon when it's in the making. Photo 4: Bob trying the car out for size. His only complaint was that the pedals were too far away for him. I designed the car for me and I think they're just right! At the moment, the seat is not adjustable. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thank you. Slow progress is being made (we're really busy) but it's mostly on mundane stuff like stiffening the bonnet hinge plates, making and installing little windshield pillars, making sure the seat belts fit, applying carbon-fiber sheet to the splitter up front, stuff like that. We've also been going through paint books trying to come up with a color. We chose 2 shades of medium blue this morning that we'll spray out to look at. Staring at little paint samples in a book makes you go crazy. We tried a sample of metallic candy-apple red last week. It's difficult. Hopefully I'll have more photos soon.
Wil- Thanks. Sounds like good progress because all that fiddly stuff has to be done, too. An alternative to candy apple red might be something like the new Ferrari paint, Rosso Fuoco. Blue would look good too, as would white with a blue stripe, like at least one Birdcage used.
Well, I really like red but since this car is not Ferrari powered I'm not sure I should use a Ferrari color (particularly Rossa Corsa). The candy-apple red I liked turned out to be a Lamborghini color, which is OK, but it was a tri-coat paint that is difficult to apply and also difficult to repair. I didn't want the headache. I'm too much of a masochist already. I'm not a big fan of white cars but I do like blue. The two blues are monochromatic, very pure medium blues (to me anyway - I'm kind of color blind) and I'm curious to see how they'll look on a large panel. The car has dark blue, cloth covered racing seats and sort of dark blue leather for the rest of the interior. I plan to paint the dash in body color (always liked that) so blue might be the best for the exterior.
Thank you I'll check it out! I just looked on google image and saw a whole bunch of Ice Blue Porsches in different shades of blue so that was no help.
Just an opinion: You went through much pain to hammer out all these beautiful curves. A mono-chromatic blue will take much away from that. A mid-blue would look great, but I think a metallic would emphasize the forms rather than hide them. Funny enough Candy Apple Red had also crossed my mind, and I am not a fan of it, but for this car it would be perfect I know it's a pain to repair....
On the other hand, these days a lot of cheap little cars have metallic paint. It's really not very special anymore. It's the reason for tri-coat paints on some of the the high-end cars, I think. Rossa Corsa is monochromatic and still looks really good to me. If we stick to vibrant colors to choose from it will look good but that can still change ;-)
I left out making mounting brackets for and fitting/trimming the headlight covers. That's something I'm in the middle of that will be a little more exiting to show when it's done.
Wil- Affirmative, those will really make her look more complete. There has to be a Maserati paint color you would like. Some of the new blues are very nice. Most of my color info is for Ferraris. Here is one source of color information. http://www.paintscratch.com/cgi-bin/search_paint_names.cgi
"Every day I look around, and if nobody is shooting at me, it is a pretty good day." Taz, I concur with your statement. Thank you for the paint site link. It's still little chips though. We have Sikkens paint books with thousands of color chips that are arranged by related colors. I looked at page after page of different blues the other night and finally narrowed it down to two to spray out. I need to see the color on a large surface to really judge it.
I have not checked here for a while....what an incredible project. It looks amazing. I am currently prepping my 59 3500 GT for paint. Here are a couple different shades of blue for you to consider. The first is the original color my Maserati was painted back in 59....I can get the name, if you like. The second is Iris Blue Metallic. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Fletch, Thank you for the compliments and also for the photos. I'm leaning towards a medium blue but it needs to be vibrant. The blue on the 3500 is a little too soft for my purposes I think but it could be the photo. The Iris blue metallic is kind of nice though. I'll have to see if I can look at that color "in the flesh" on a car somewhere. Thanks again
The color I was thinking of is like this one: http://www.pcnsw.com.au/PorscheClubs/pc_nsw/pc_main.nsf/web/B6AB5258D13D790DC1257921001EA677 Shiny Side Up! Bill
Thank you for sending that. I'll have to check Ice Blue out in person but looking at the photo it seems too pretty.
Wil, The project car looks great. I will be very happy to see you on the roads around the Delaware Valley, hopefully right after the weather breaks this Spring. I think that you are on the right track about the blue paint. Since your car is a modern interpretation of a classic Maserati roadster, the color might best be an update on the classic Maserati blue. I expect you'll find it soon. You may already know of this, but in case not: http://www.thecarnut.com/Manuals/Paint/Paint-chips.pdf Best regards, Carmine
Hi Carmine, why wait until Spring? We're hosting a winter barbecue lunch this coming Saturday (Feb. 11th). Hope you can stop by! Details here: http://exoticars-usa.com/events/ All F-chatters welcome. Spring is just around the corner but it looks like the roads will be clear next weekend. And we don't expect people to stand outside around the grill! Best, Sandy Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Sandy, Thanks for the invitation. I will try to make it to beautiful Frenchtown USA this Saturday. I suppose that Travis will have to man the barbeque outside regardless of the weather. If it's nice I might keep him company (and stand by with the fire extinguisher). Best regards, Carmine
Thank you Carmine. How is your project car coming? Yeah I think it is going to be blue. I saw a beautiful blue on a Murcielago and this morning there was a fairly new VW parked downtown with a nice metallic blue on it that I want to check into. I finished trimming and fitting the Lexan headlight covers this weekend. Big job, lot of hours to get them to fit decently. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. Regards. Wil
*** rescheduled for Sunday due to an unforeseeable event *** Hope you can still drive out this coming Sunday (Feb. 12th). Sandy and Wil
Photo descriptions. 1 - 3) These photos show the inside surfaces of rear deck lid, right door and head-fairing assembly in black primer. The outsides got primed too but I thought the insides looked sort of interesting. 4) Outsides of doors in black primer. The polysurfacer on a number of body panels was block-sanded down after being allowed to sit for many months and shrink. The black primer on the outsides of the panels will be wet sanded and sprayed blue very soon. I think I have the shade I want. 5) Tail section off the car again. It too will be block sanded, primed and painted but first the vulnerable aluminum skin above the rear tires has to be protected with a layer of fiberglass and resin to help prevent "outie dents" caused by rocks thrown up by the rear tires. 6) Freshly laid fiberglass rock shielding inside one of the rear quarters (fenders). 7) Back of left headlight nacelle (previously protected against rocks thrown up by the FRONT tires) While test fitting the headlights. 8, 9) New Lexan headlight covers trimmed and fitted to nacelles. They still have the scratch protecting coating on them which is why they look cloudy. The headlights just fit under the Lexan covers! 10, 11) Center part of splitter fitted in bottom of radiator air intake. 12, 13) The Lexan windshield isn't very stiff by itself so I decided it needed a center brace like some sports racers had in the fifties. E-Type Jaguar roadsters had a rod behind the center of the windshield too but I think it was mostly to hold the front of the convertible top down. It was also a handy place for a rear-view mirror on the E-Type roadsters so why not on this car too? I ordered a reproduction E-Type roadster mirror and made a stainless steel rod that would support the center of the windshield and hold the mirror. Pretty cool I think. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
