Spent a little time in the garage today cleaning up the old 710 grill. Gave it a power wash, rubbed it down with a little fine sandpaper, then some acetone. Spray painted it with Krylon Fuzion plastic-adhering satin black, hand painted the perimeter with some metallic silver, cut and formed some 3/16″ stainless steel wire mesh for the headlight grills, and couldn’t resist installing a spare Datsun grill badge from the Wagon. Now it’s the best looking part of the car ;-)
Ah yes, paint, what an issue these days. 90% of the shops out there only do insurance work, and the other 10% do custom resto work for big $$$. The days of finding a small shop to do a decent job without breaking the bank are over. Especially in California where the EPA has made anything but water-based paints illegal. My paint job with a little bit of bodywork cost me $2K. I did much of the pre- and post- paint work, and its a nice “5-foot” paint job, race car quality, not show car. I got lucky and slid it into a custom shop over a wknd to give the boys some extra cash. Those deals are out there but rare, you gotta talk to the locals and find them…
Very nice car, nice work on that grill.
I have a Datsun 710 myself, 2 door hardtop, 1974. A Datsun 610 1974 as well. I am going to get quality paint jobs for both. I have seen your paint job and it is superb. I am looking for quality, and I know quality is not cheap, but it is better investment. Cheap becomes expensive, because it will be terrible work, and there goes more money to redo, and if the redo is another terrible job, the count goes on.
Please let me know of a good shop. I am in So CAl, but if shop is away in No Cal, I will take car there.
Thanks, and congratulations.
Jaime A.