Stage 3

It was now time for body and paint work. I found a guy on the 2002 FAQ forum who was close to me and was in the market for a project. His name is Terry Thompson, working at M & J Restorations in Santee.

He began by detrimming the car. We decided to replace both the deck lid and the right door. The car was in fairly good shape as far as no rust goes, just a bit in the spare tire bucket.

Once the body was ready to paint it was time to pick a color. Given the tan interior, I decided to paint it PastelBlau. However, every sample pint we got from paint stores in town produced the wrong color, their formula was incorrect and the paint was way too gray. This went on for a bit and then I decided to paint the car my favorite 02 color, Golf Yellow. It was clear sailing after that. Terry suggested the design of the trunk, I ordered the rear strut brace/battery holder (along with a K&N air cleaner) and I think it came out very clean. All rubber was replaced, alone with the windshield, and all the external body moldings. (The waist molding was sent out for polishing.)

The downside to Golf Yellow was my tan interior. Carl Nelson traded me my brand new tan doorpanels for black, and I will get the seats done in black.

The Chromodoras were sent out for truing and powder coating and are now back on the car.

Stage 3 photos

Not shown are the last set of changes, the trunk lid badge, the new black doorpanels, etc.
Coming soon.....

At this point in time, I now have 10K on the new motor.

Terry turned out to be quite a talented body and paint guy who did a superb job with the car. I would recommend him to anyone.

That's me on the left and Terry on the right.

Also a big thank you goes out to Carl Nelson and his crew at La Jolla Independent. They really know these cars inside and out. Chris for his all around help, Gary for the great motor, and Robbie for his fantastic body work.