Paint Blog Finale: Hardtop

One more time inside the paint shop.

One more time inside the paint shop.

I’m not gonna lie – I missed the paint shop. Not stopping by Carmers a bunch of times this week seemed… wrong. When it was time to go pick up the hardtop, I was extra excited.

Sharka was undoubtedly excited too, but my excitement was so great, I couldn’t even be bothered to project feelings onto the car.

A whole car again.

A whole car again.

When Sharka drove away last week, he was missing the hardtop. It needed a bit of work after all the tape and ropes came off. There were some bad spots around the window that required sanding, a bit more clear, and buffing.

Since a bit of work needed to be done to the top, I went ahead and ordered that plastic edge piece that goes between the body and hardtop. You know, the one that always cracks and gets old and crusty? I had them break off the old one and get paint in that area too.

I also sprung for OEM hardtop rubber feet. I’ve never had them. I’ve always used some foam cut to fit and stuck over the Frankenstein bolts. After this caliber of respray, I just had to spring for the factory rubber.

Stripes. Paint. Done!

Stripes. Paint. Done!

Color matching.

Color matching.

Needless to say, the HT is now perfect. No bad spots. Just beauty everywhere.

The thing that struck me when the hardtop touched down was how everything matched. I’d seen the whole car assembled before, but that was before polishing. The glass-smooth paint really underlines the matching paint and stripes.

I’ve never had a matching hardtop. When I got it, it was painted Emerald Green. I had it resprayed Montego when the 97 got a rear quarter panel crunched in a parking lot. It matched the 97 a whole lot better than the 95. It was always much too green for the 95.

I sprayed the mirrors myself with a paintscratch.com rattle can. They were a pretty good match, but not perfect. Nothing like this.

The mud guards were never painted.

The headlight lids didn’t match. Neither did the driver’s front fender.

The list could go on. Point is that now everything matches. It’s been a dream of mine for a really long time. REALLY long.

Showing those tail lights.

Showing those tail lights.

And that’s it, I guess. The paint blog is done. Onto the next thing.

I… I don’t want it to be done.

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  • Ying says:

    Fitting paint for a forever car. 😉

  • Micah says:

    Beautiful job ! I’ve been following this blog most every day. You do a great job of sharing your hobby with us!

  • Brad says:

    Adam, our cars are only ever done when we run out of imagination.

    However, if you’re satisfied with your Miatas, might I recommend moving onto another *type* of car? I figure between road racing, rally, classic American style, and perhaps an autocross car in the mix, maybe a VIP car… I don’t think I’ll ever be bored with the ideas in my head. I’ll likely have more ideas than ever enough time or money to see them through, so I gotta stick to one or two at a time.

    Car is beautiful by the way. I’m sure it’s even beyond that in person.

    • revlimiter says:

      I guess I worded that poorly, as I’ve had the same comment on a couple forums. I didn’t want the PAINT part of the project to be done. It was so much fun and I learned so much. I want to paint more cars now.

      Sharka will be done when I am. I don’t plan to ever get rid of the car. Heck… my daughter might keep the project going after I’m gone…

  • Leave a Reply to Brad