Earlier this year we pondered the idea of if we could get the #WannaBeRacer XF to this years Meguiars MotorEx show at the Melbourne show grounds, it would not be easy but we thought hey lets give it a shot. The car its self if it does make it wont be fully complete but will look pretty complete, in a way it would be our way of introducing Let Loose Racing to the automotive world and letting everyone see what we are about. So who knows you might see us there (fingers crossed)!!!
We finally had the body work on the car all done and in primer ready to go, the car was pretty straight when I got it but it did have a few issues we had to deal with that slowed the whole process way down, the drivers side quarter had some rust in some awkward spots that we have fully repaired now and the drivers side sill had a nice dent that we also repaired other then the typical door dents around the car that was about it.
To say seeing the XF all loaded up on the tow truck knowing we were taking it away to painted was a tad bit exciting, I hardly slept the night we loaded it all up, I couldn't wait to see colour on it again it had been such a long time coming and I was just buzzing with excitement.
Pretty much as soon as we had it off the tow truck we attacked it with sand paper, its a long tedious process getting a car ready for paint and its not to fun either, but the more effort you put in here the better the end result will be!
The big square shaped Falcon is quite a nice car to do body work on as the practicality of the body lines make it very easy to sand and get nice and flat, in saying that though it still takes a bloody long time to get it to the point we were happy with.
After sanding for hours with my Dad I once again realised how much work he and other panel shops work to get car repaired and painted, it is far from an easy job and they truly earn every dollar they make.
Gotta say a massive thanks to these two, my dad and Trent I couldnt have done it without there help!
This was the moment it all started to feel real, 12 years together I was finally gonna have paint on the car.
Hiding in the back corner of my dads shop is his XT GT, this is a car that you will all become familiar with when we do a blog series on getting this done and back on the road I cant wait to cruise it, but for now lets get back to the XF.
As soon as the car rolled out of the booth I was quite concerned at the fact that the car wasn't quite the colour I had ordered.
I ordered Heron white, a colour that has Holden uses on Commodores, I chose it mainly because its easy to get as its so common and its a really nice and clean white.
Clearly this white is quite cream and not so heron white looking, i'm not to sure what happened at the the paint shop but they didn't make me the paint I ordered, the tin even had the correct colour code on it so someone has stuffed up some where.
After I got over the fact the colour wasn't right I finally stood back and had a decent look at the XF, I must say I actually quite like it the colour isn't to bad at all, inside the booth the colour looks quite cream but when its outside even without direct sunlight the colour looks amazing, the black wheels contrast it so nicely.
Seeing nice new fresh paint on the car is such a relief, its been alot of hard work to get to this stage but its all been so worth it im so motivated to see it all complete now.
With the body all painted the idea of getting the car done and ready for MotorEx is starting to look a little bit more realistic, hopefully over the next week or so we should have all the hanging panels done and back on the car.
Ive also gotta say thanks to Chelsea Smash Repairs for letting us use the shop and paint booth for a couple days, if anyone is ever in need of accident damage repairs hit them up.
So if you are down at Motor Ex on the 26th and 27th of May you might just see us down there.