When a car is worth NZ$3,000 (US$2,000), spending $2,500 ($1,600) on a new paint job makes not sense, so most of us just drive around with a bad looking car. However, daughter borrowed the car (permanently it seems) and gave her boss a ride in it. Inside it looks great, but outside it looks diseased as the sun has destroyed the clearcoat. She did get a raise, and we think the car helped, but it was time to repaint the car.

Instead of taking out dents, I went to Pick-A-Part and got door & tailgate for NZ$89 each (US$60) and a fender for $40. I also got a tow bar for $45 for the bike rack so I stop denting the tailgate with the strap-on bike rack.

Then I stopped into auto paint stores and asked what paint they had that they could not sell. Found a gallon of Kelly Green (British Racing Green) industrial (not metallic) 2 pot paint for $50. Normally it would be five times that. The hardener was $50 additional. That's the big secret. Last time I did it with a 1972 Bristol 411 needing a protective coat when I shipped it overseas, the paint store sold me maroon brown metallic made for a 1974 Ford Econoline van $5 per can and the rust on the outside was free. Very good paint, utterly unsellable color. My other choice this time was mustard yellow, but it looked like something you step in with your shoe in the dog-walk park.

The 2-pack is great paint though. Tough as nails and needs very little upkeep.

Then I drove around and found a paint shop that agreed to tape and spray for NZ$400 (US$260). I did the sanding that took a weekend. I lack the skills of applying bondo, so after the paint job, the little ding in the bumper was covered with a round bicycle reflector and the one on the front fender was covered with the Accord badge that used to be on the tailgate. Imagination to hide a multitude of sins.

All up it cost about NZ$800 (US$530) which gave me an excellent paint job that will last and look good (albeit a bit odd on a Honda). As it turned out, the shop painted the car Kelly Green on St. Patrick's Day, so we've now named the car the Paddy Wagon.



Apologies for the bad quality of the "after" photo. Quick snapshot on the street. But it does show the color.





CE1 Before After paint

 

Great idea finding clearance / unsellable paint. Finish looks fantastic.