Heres how the Duster looked a few short weeks ago. Had it painted back in 02 with a single stage job that turned into a chalk board after a couple years. Not to mention tons of chips from parking lots on the door. The picture in my sig is after I buffed it a year or so ago. It looked semi nice for about 3 days and then went back to the dull look again.
Rear of the car really shows how stripped the paint was of any kind of clear.
Interior shot. SOB broke the column trying to steal it a few years ago. Smart guy since theres hardly any Dusters on the road around here. Pay attention to the metal on the doors around the door panel, because that'll come into play later.
Rear of the car after a few days of prep work. Can't tell but there was a medium sized ding on the left side of the trunk the shape of a U in the before picture. Had to use a stud welder to pull it out and then body filled it smooth.
Passenger side. I tried sanding every little chip I could find because I knew they'd all show up after the paint work. B pillars (think thats what it is?) were both kinda warped. Looks like it's probably been in an accident before but very minor damage now.
Front end without the grille.
I just thought this one looked cool. Thank god for family members with expensive cameras
Look at that, back to her original color albeit a different shade. 2 stage job this time, ran me around $1600 but it was worth it. Now if I could only find the damn Plymouth emblem I had on the hood. I have no idea where it went and it's been bothering me because I never lose anything. Also used a buffer on the bumpers and they came out great.
Now no one can make fun of me for having an old beater. Most people never believed me when I told them all it needed was some paint. Now all I hear is "All thats left is dropping a big block in there and getting some fat tires". How original.
Theres a little story behind this. I go to the shop to pick it up and it looks pretty good aside from the fact that I had all the bumpers and everything off. Went to open the door and the metal on the doors is all white! The guy was like "Well you wanted the color change didn't you?" I told him yeah but not the interior. I shut the door and had him look inside to see all blue except for the doors and he apologized a bunch and promised me they'd paint it and have it ready the next day. He said they couldn't get the exact color but they'd get it really close. I was worried all day at work the next day I was going to show up and it'd look bad and I'd have to tell them to do it again. Now I hate sounding whiny and picky but I'm a stickler when it comes to interiors, much more so than exteriors. Anyway I show up and it looked pretty darn close. Other than the fact that it kind of gives off a purpleish tint when the sun hits it right, it looks pretty good. You can compare it to the original picture of the door panel and say that the blue looks too dark. But that picture just makes it look lighter than it really was. It's always been darker than the actual door panel.