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New clothes for Ma Deuce

Dave Barbieri

Dave Barbieri

Member
Messages
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Location
Overton, TX
Last August I turned my truck over to the high school auto body program. Since it's running great, I thought it'd be kinda nice if it looked great, too. The bed was falling apart, the driver's fender had a kink in it due to some door misalignment, there was a serious dent in the passenger door and the usual primer/color coat separation issues on the hood and fenders. Before taking it in, I installed a replacement bed I got off a guy that had installed a service body on his dually. Wrong color (green) but in wonderful shape!

Part I The Bed:
The guys pulled off the bed and set it up on saw horses. Then they pulled off the fenders and tail gate. Painted surfaces were sanded, repaired, primed and then coated with three coats of polyurethane primer. That was sanded a final time and the color and clear coats shot. The inside of the bed was sanded to bare metal, primed and shot with black Rhino Liner. Here's the pics of the progress.



Part II The Cab
A lot of work on the cab. It's taken literally months of sanding finishing, repairing, etc. The left front fender was pulled off the truck to repair the kinked in area. All the stainless steel sheeting was removed from the lower body panels. This meant grinding/sanding off the adhesive and making sure the areas were ready for paint. After the painting is completed, all lower body panels will be coated with Rhino Liner. This will add an extra degree of protection to the metal surfaces. It'll also look seriously cool! :D



With any luck, this'll be completed in about three more weeks. Just in time for my birthday!! ):h
 
Looks good. I like the color. I am going to try a paint mine soon Black and red.
 
Very cool, Dave! Looks like the kids are taking it seriously! (must have a good teacher)
 
JiFaire said:
Very cool, Dave! Looks like the kids are taking it seriously! (must have a good teacher)
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The teacher, Randy King, is actually employed by the community college that I used to work for. I've known him from years ago when he taught Auto Body Collision Repair (ABCR) at on of the Tyler high schools and then we worked together for the past seven years, til I left to work for a school district nearby. He's serious about details. It was amazing to walk into the shop and see spots of filler/surfacer/whatever all over the door, fender and hood. These guys were fixing dings and bad spots that I didn't even know existed!! :eek: Pretty amazing. When they finally shot the last coat of primer, it took one entire week to sand the surface to Randy's liking. Needless to say, the color coats are like dark red glass. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: The pictures don't really give you an accurate idea - there's water drops and dust from the wet sanding and compounding. There were a couple of areas that had been completed and buffed out. Man, I just stood there and stared - absolutely incredible!

Burning oil said:
Looks good. I like the color. I am going to try a paint mine soon Black and red.
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I went back with the stock color; I figured it'd be easier to prep. And it keeps everything accurate. I was never crazy about Texas A&M maroon, but actually, it's pretty cool. Especially when it's new and not faded! :D

Sounds like mine will be a reverse image of yours - red & black! I would never have thought about shooting Rhino Liner on the lower panels. Randy suggested it and the more I thought about, the cooler it seemed. So after thinking about it over the weekend, I gave him the go ahead. They're shooting the color on the cab this week. Next week, they'll shoot the lower panels, remount the (new) cab lights and bolt the bed back in place. I've been going up each Friday to take pictures, so this Friday oughtta be a hoot!

btfarm said:
Looks like you made the right 'body shop' choice Dave.:thumbsup:
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Gotta agree! The kids working on the truck have been great. They get a kick out of me showing up to document their progress. When it's thru, I'm going to take a pic of the team in front of the truck. I'll put the photos together in a binder and deliver it to the class.

When you think about it, I'm going to have a truck that looks like new and runs even better than new (thanks to Mr. Heath and all the folks on this list!) and I'll have invested a fraction of the cost of a new one ton dually! Man, I'm getting warm and fuzzy all over!
 
If it wouldn't get anybody in trouble it would be nice if you could provide your documentation and comments to the local papers to show what a good group of kids look like and let people know that there's still hope for the next generation.
 
You may want to consider a pizza party or taking the kids to a ball game or something as a way to say thanks. How about Ma Deuce Pit Crew t shirts? Show them that good work has benefits.
 
btfarm said:
If it wouldn't get anybody in trouble it would be nice if you could provide your documentation and comments to the local papers to show what a good group of kids look like and let people know that there's still hope for the next generation.
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Actually, that was the idea behind providing the notebook and commentary. If the school district chooses to use my stuff as the basis for a news article, I'm perfectly OK with that. I'll be keeping a copy of the notebook for the vehicle history and also to 'talk up' the high school program whenever the opportunity comes up. Nuthin like pictures! :D
 
Wrecker said:
You may want to consider a pizza party or taking the kids to a ball game or something as a way to say thanks. How about Ma Deuce Pit Crew t shirts? Show them that good work has benefits.
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Ya know, Wrecker, that's a great idea! :D And i wouldn't hafta rely on a district decision - I could just show up with the T-shirts (and my world famous chocolate chip cookies!) Here at the high school, we have a GREAT graphix department. It'd be no problem for them to design and print up some seriously cool shirts. What a HOOT!
 
I work at a vocational high school(career development center) as well, and I tell you what I am always amazed at what some of these kids are capable of. They are constantly looking through eastwoods catalogs, a hot rod mags just trying to ideas of what they want to dream up next.... It's neat seeing young minds work towards things that you have an interest in as well.

And I just usually leave a cold 12 pack of mountain dew in the passenger side foot well. It's amazing how eager they are to have you pull back in.
 
db9938 said:
I work at a vocational high school(career development center) as well, and I tell you what I am always amazed at what some of these kids are capable of.
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I worked at a technical college and then a community college for the past 14 years, and in both places we've had dual credit programs that allowed high school students to attend college classes for both college and high school credit. Very cool program, plus it really accelerates the ability to get out in the work place, be productive, and stand on your own hind legs. The young man shooting my truck is seriously good - no runs, no issues with shading. Keep in mind that the maroon color that GM used actually has a small amount of metallic material in it. This stuff is notoriously difficult to shoot evenly. In looking at his work on the bed, I'm impressed! :thumbsup: I can hardly wait to see the cab! An additional benefit - Randy wanted to demonstrate door hinge pin/bushing replacement, so guess which vehicle was the 'training aid'?? Sweet!! :D
 
btfarm said:
You must be livin' right Dave!:thumbsup:
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Don't know 'bout that, but I've sure got some GREAT friends!! :wink5:

Seriously, everything about this truck has been great. From finding it, to buying it, to getting it running, to using it and enjoying it. Every step of the way, I've had help from folks on this list and "oil burners" who were willing to share short cuts and parts sources and troubleshooting tips. Gotta tell ya, BT, I have absolutely NO incentive to buy a new(er) truck. Keeping Ma Deuce running is a hoot and a bargain! ):h
 
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