Picking the new #6

#1

Lots of choices out there for rollers. Let me throw out some thoughts for discussion.

As many of you are probably vaguely aware my car has a military theme mostly created by the stencil font of the decals. I’ll keep that theme for next car.

It seems to me like the whole Army Ranger shtick kinda needs a dark color paint to work. I you can’t just slap a Ranger decal on a white car, or even red or bronzit. It just wouldn’t “work”.

Or maybe bronzit could work, the Ranger beret’s are now tan. But my yellow decals wouldn’t fly. I’d have to do black decals maybe. Hmm, that could be ok.

What do you think of just rattle-canning a car a flat black or flat olive green? Like maybe if I ended up with a white car I could just rattle-can it. Would that look ok a couple yrs later or look like shit?

Remember our 2door vs. 4door debates? How much smaller is the driver’s door on a 2door. Is the difference enough to care about ease if ingress/egress in a 2door?

#2

There are a number of ways to pain a car, but the best will be with a spray gun. A quality spray gun isn’t that expensive (look in the Eastwood catalog) nor is it that hard to do. I wouldn’t see the color of the car as being much of a factor in choosing a replacement. And if you do the sunroof right, you are going to want to repaint anyhow.

There is a certain attraction to a sedan over a coupe (access to the rear of the car). I don’t see the size of the door as being much of a consideration. The seat and door bars have more to do with ingress/egress.

#3

Who likes the idea of flat black or flat olive green?

#4

[quote=“jlevie” post=61618]There is a certain attraction to a sedan over a coupe (access to the rear of the car). I don’t see the size of the door as being much of a consideration. The seat and door bars have more to do with ingress/egress.[/quote]I’ve always preferred the coupe for egress purposes and since it allows the bend in the NASCAR bars to be further back.

There is a better solution that gives coupe-like door bars AND rear seat access. My aging, feeble mind is failing me now. I can’t remember who built a 4 door car recently but they cut holes in the B pillar for the straight section of the door bar to pass through so that the bend and main hoop intersection happened in the rear seat area. Sorry if that’s a confusing explanation.

My 318 tub is a matte delphin grey at this point. Since it’s you, I’ll tow to Macon and meet you in the middle. Just sayin’. :wink:

#5

[quote=“Steve D” post=61620]I’ve always preferred the coupe for egress purposes and since it allows the bend in the NASCAR bars to be further back.

There is a better solution that gives coupe-like door bars AND rear seat access. My aging, feeble mind is failing me now. I can’t remember who built a 4 door car recently but they cut holes in the B pillar for the straight section of the door bar to pass through so that the bend and main hoop intersection happened in the rear seat area. Sorry if that’s a confusing explanation.[/quote]
I don’t remember whose car that was either, but I thought it was an elegant solution.

#6

Flat black is over done. I like the idea of flat olive green. With proper prep and maybe some color sanding afterwards you could make a rattle can job look decent. Or you could try the paint roller technique.

#7

don’t discount a roller and brushes, we did our lump car that way and while it isn’t very pretty up close it looks great from 10 meters. we did the entire job in a little over an hour and made zero attempt to improve things with sanding, buffing, etc.

[attachment=1698]205832_207101326005489_207097366005885_534678_4985452_n.jpg[/attachment]

#8

Ranger,

Olive Green with your military theme would be really cool…

I recently built a 4 dr and am quite happy with it. The access to the back for storage and or work is very nice. Now, I’m 6’ & 195lbs and am very wide in the shoulders - yea shoulders is right for you smart asses - and have no trouble getting in or out. In fact, I was able to exit out the drivers side window while inverted at Summit Point this past year!

While I do appreciate the looks of a coupe - the 4 door has been more accomodating.

Another thought, when I was involved in Grand Am, racing an E46, I often wondered why Turner ran a 4 door E46 opposed to the coupe. After inquiring ,Will said that the 4 door had advantages over the coupe in terms of stiffness and ease of build/mantainence…

#9

I agree the flat black thing is getting over played. Flat green can look pretty good IMO. Check out the Luftwaffe themed E30 in this thread.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/BOARD/showthread.php?t=182661&page=2

White US star on the sides instead of an iron cross and you’d be well on your way to having a very distinctive (and a bit more patriotic :wink: ) looking car.

#10

I recall that back in their E36 M3 days, PTG also preferred the 4 door over the 2 for those same reasons. That being said I can’t see the stiffness making an appreciable difference on a SpecE30. Ease of build/maintenance is always a good thing though.

#11

You realize your in the South East right? I thought about covering the entire car in aluminum foil tape.

#12

You realize your in the South East right? I thought about covering the entire car in aluminum foil tape.[/quote]
Or I could do single-wide theme by painting corrugations.

Re. Steve’s reference to a really nice cage design for a 4dr. It’s Travis Wilson’s car-in-progress. He sent me a pic that shows how the driver’s NASCAR bars pierce the lower B pillar. Awesome.

#13

What about a rear window banner? For most of the car’s life I had this big O FOLLOW ME O decal on the rear window that was supposed to resemble the “follow me” truck at military airports. But no one seemed to think the joke was as funny as I did. I get that a lot. I even had blinking yellow lights there for a while. Anyone have a better idea?

#14

How about “Don’t follow me – I’m lost too”

#15

How about backwards letters on the front windshield: “Check your hoses?”

Too soon? :unsure:

#16

Flat black - yellow decals. Maybe even roll some digital camo vinyl on there.

#17

For the military theme, flat dark olive.
But if you are starting from a blank slate, and u want a beautiful black race car, Go with glossy black with all gold highlights like the John player specials.

#18

The thing about flat olive drab is that it’s been done a number of times. Heck there’s a Volvo that does DE or TT in our regin that is flat olive drab. Secondly, I think that a desert tan color better represents today’s military. Almost all the military vehicles these days are tan.

I’m also thinking a semi-gloss instead of flat. It’s less “in your face”.

#19

Matte paint jobs nearly always look weird… Unless done professionally they show lines and marks easily, they are also hard to maintain… Semi-gloss Tan would make it look very 70’s - maybe you could go Disco.

#20

Cover the whole car in brown burlap and make a guile suit theme.