Miscellaneous Race Cars

1969 McLaren Can-Am 429'er

Painted February, 2006. Am told it is a 17 year restoration, and it shows. Oddly, after a 17 year resto, the paint end of things was only allotted about 3 weeks to be completed. Myself and my co-painter Adam worked hard trying to make this car look as good as possible in the time given, and are pretty happy with the results. Better looking than it was new is my guess. The entire rear of the car is hand formed aluminum, as is half of the front clip, the engine cowl, and the doors. It was originally driven by Mario Andretti. I don't usually photo-document a car this much, but this car has a neat history, is one-of-a-kind, and required so much work that I thought it cool to share some of the process.  I've actually left out pictures of the body-work process, and I was covered head to toe in dust for about a week and didn't really want to stop and grab my camera! So these are just of the paint process. The nose and tail each took a full week by themselves, and then the remaining parts such as doors, engine cowl, and wings took the final week. but for the sake of continuity, All are shown together during the photo process.

First, Here are pictures of the car at the shop before it came to me.

After coming to me, it got body worked, primed, and blocked out for paint.

It then got a coat of DBC4185 Arctic White basecoat for the 'number dot'. Originally, this was hand painted area, but for this car, it was painted on by us and clear coated so the owner can easily change numbers with stickers he can place on the white painted dot. To make sure the dot was a perfect circle, Vinyl paint masks were made. Some were orange, some were gray. The color is irrelevant as it is removed before completion.  So here it is in white base, with the Vinyl Mask covering what will remain as the white dot.

It then got a 1/4 black outline around the dot.

It then got painted in DBC 12832 Guardsman Blue, which was the original color of the car. It was a color only used for one year by Ford in 1964, and the owner only had the color name to go by. But with a little research, we were able to locate the color code and have it made. These pics show the car with blue basecoat already applied, and the vinyl striping tape and dot removed to show the color scheme.

And now clear coated, wet sanded, and polished. One picture even shows Adam working the buffer. (lighting was poor for the tail section pictures, I hope to have better pics later)

And the nose section outside.

And now, The completed car as it sat in the shop before being taken out of town and ran in a vintage race. Even though the very short time frame left for some undesirable areas, Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the results, and proud to have it on my résumé. Especially since it is a car that does get driven on race tracks, not just sit in a museum. In my opinion, The way it should be done.

Midget

Here's a weird story....... I worked with Roger McClusky  jr, son of former Indy Car driver of the same name, for a little while. He worked on his midget in free time. So one day, he removes some decals, and the impression of them ha been blasted into the body from running on dirt all the time. So, we decide to paint it and added blue to it for the first time since he has had it. I took a few pics on the trailer "just in case".

Well, Good thing I did because he went out that night and did a triple flip during the second heat. The body was destroyed, and when the replacement came in, he surely didn't want ANY blue on it. So, my on-trailer pics were all I would have.

Well, unbelievably, over two years later, I found this picture in the trash...right on top! It is my paint job, and would have HAD to have been taken that one night during about a 15 minute time frame......the only time my paint ever ran on the car. It is almost unbelievable, but true.

Silver crown car

This is a Silver Crown Dirt Car driven by Bill Baue. I did this car a few times, but left the numbering to someone else. I don't have the time to do stuff like that in my current position. I just paint 'em and ship 'em!

Junior sprinter

I did this car just for kicks! When I saw the tiny fuel cell, I agreed to do it for free. It was a charity deal for a children's hospital or something. The frame was done by Indy Powder Coating, and I did all of the body and wings. I had to be in the picture to show how small it is.....I stand 6' tall, and it didn't reach my underarm.

Junior Sprinter

The small photo made for bad clarity when I enlarged it. This is one of two Junior Sprinters I did for the same person who built the above car. This one was a paid job though! He built them for Briggs & Stratton. The first was number 1, and had the number written as '1st'. The second was number 2.....and yes, it was listed as '2nd' on the wing.

Top-Fueler

This was the only top-fuel type car I have ever done, and would have no problems if it were the last! Myself and three other people did this one up, and the shop owner decided that no more of these would be done there. All-in-all, it is kind of cool to have in the portfolio though.

Here is a side view. All of the three colors are paint, as well as the "Car-Quest" letters on the top and sides. The white was done with a blue-pearl clear before the lettering and such was added and re-cleared. Almost gave it a "reflector" look behind the letters.

Resto-modified.

Ok.....lets see if I can remember this one. It is a restored version of a '64 modified, which when it was new in '64, was a modified version of a '32 Ford...Phew! Either way, it was beautiful. The owner, Chuck Faulkner, Runs it frequently in historic races. He was even kind enough to have a "paint by Justin " sticker ran across the back of the car under the window opening.