What could be going on here?
I love my Blackbird Fabworx rollbar. Don’t get me wrong. It’s strong, light, and beautiful.
But it could be MORE beautiful.
Out came the wrenches. Off came the hardtop.
30 minutes later.
Time for mods.
The silver powdercoat was an experiment. When I ordered the bar from Moti, I was pretty sure I wanted to try a color other than satin black. Moti offers all the colors of the rainbow for powdercoat and silver sounded like a fun experiment.
And it was, you know? Silver was fun. Gloss white would have been better. It would have matched the stripe. I would have still done what I’m gonna do in this post… but silver just wasn’t right.
The bar is (was) the only silver thing in Sharka’s interior. There’s polished highlights, but everything is pretty much black inside the office. The rollbar just didn’t match.
Back at the paint shop!
8 minutes later.
I’ve had thoughts of having it painted for a while. I’ve asked various folks over the years what color they thought I should paint. Most of them had the same answer.
……. ….!!!!
It took a while for that answer to finally seep into my brain. I didn’t even hear it at first.
I considered gloss white. I thought about gloss black. I considered stripes carefully painted around the various tubes. I pondered all manner of color. Finally, a poster on ClubRoadster mentioned the answer again.
Montego blue.
I’d read it in various emails. People had told me over the phone. My wife suggested it over and over.
Montego blue.
Perfect.
Painted!
I brought the rollbar back to Carmer’s Auto Body shop here in Albuquerque. They painted Sharka last year, and I had no doubt they would make the rollbar beautiful. I dropped the rollbar off…
The next day they called and said the rollbar was done. It took me another week to pick it up.
One day to prep, prime, and paint the bar.
The bar has 3 coats of montego and 5 coats of clear. That… should be enough. I hope. Rollbars get scratched up all the time. A million coats of clear might help.
Carmer’s also didn’t mind me coming by to re-install the rollbar in their shop. I love that shop. It feels like home to me. Getting to play there for a morning and put Sharka back together was wonderful.
Many Montegos.
Such matching.
Wow.
Nom nom nom.
THAT. That is what it should have been the whole time. Very OEM+. Perfect matching. Not too bright or at all out of place.
A million thanks to everyone who suggested this over the years. Geoff, Steve, Sarah, and all the names I’m forgetting.
And now for more pix of the same thing from slightly different angles. Sorry if it gets monotonous.
With an interior buttoned up!
Slightly different angle is slightly different.
I love the light in that shop.
Perfect.
And with the top in place?
Top on.
From the inside.
In the sun.
From the inside, it’s just what I wanted – dark. The montego paint does its trick and looks black when in the shadows. It looks REALLY glossy and deep, but… black.
From the outside? Dark. It doesn’t look like a very showy bar screaming “LOOK AT MEEE!!!!!!!!” in silver powdercoat. I mean, the whole car screams that constantly with the stripe and wheels. It didn’t need the rollbar to do it too.
And when the sunlight hits it? Angels sing. It’s immediately transformed into something very special.
Perfect. Just what I wanted. Thank you for the great paint job Ken!
But I’m not done. That bar needs padding. It also needs to look NICE. No more electrical tape rollbar covers. I need to make something pretty.
I have two thoughts.
Glad I’m not catholic and gave up cussing for Lent because that looks goddamn perfect!
Second thought is this. Sharka is perfect. Sharka was perfect. Picking perfect isn’t a daunting task when you just keep upping the definition.
Amen Brother.
I’m not blushing at all. Thank you. 🙂
Geoff said it best.
Montego is perfect for this car. However, I wouldn’t see myself colormatching a rollbar to my classic red 😛
As for padding, I smell leather covers around…
Leather is the only thing I can think of that would look as classy as the rest of the interior, good call Alex.
As for the bars themselves, they look quite nice.
Definitely leather.
The smell of leather IS quite nice. And Sharka’s full of it. It’s a shame I don’t have any of the original hide left that I did the dash and doors with.
That roll bar is gorgeous.
And I’ll freely admit, I read the title a little too quickly and thought it said something else.
HAHAHA! I was so proud of that title. Still am. 🙂
Convinced me. When and if I have a rollbar, it will be BRG.
Yes!! That will look perfect.
Porsche-esque.
Especially love how nice it looks in the sun under the Hardtop. Classy
Thanks Erick!!! Much appreciated.
“It doesn’t look like a very showy bar screaming “LOOK AT MEEE!!!!!!!!” in silver powdercoat.”
I may have second guessed my choice with my red bar. Great choice to match your exterior.
HA! Nothing wrong with a red bar, as long as you like it. 🙂