It's time to paint the Puma -- and I want your help

My vote would be for the metallic Cobra blue.

Appleseed wrote: <img src="" /> Get me a better 3/4 view, and I can do more. <img src="" /> <img src="" /> <img src="" /> <img src="" />

Those are great. Is that Photoshop? or ?

I have got to get some good software to do that.

I use GIMP. It is an open source program that can do everything I need. Not as high tech as photochop, but did I mention its free?

I use the lasso tool to map out what area I what to work with. Then I go into "color" and desaturate the area to get rid of all color. Then, still in "color" I colorize the area.

It pisses me off that I can't get the bright orange creamsicle color I wanted, but oh well.

I personally thing the Le Mans blue or the deep Navy blue with big fat white roundels would look tits.

As soon as I saw the picture I knew what color I would do. Ill give you a hint, it looks nearly black, and was offered an a rare ferrari...F40 to be exact. One of the most intriguing colors ever:

Super dark Navy blue?

I'm partial to Corvette Bronze, or if you have to have orange, Hugger Orange. The fact that these two pictures are of Camaros is purely coincidental...Well, except for the fact that the first is identical to my first car. I also like the blue on the Rebel. My Dad had one just like this, and man did it get the comments! This was before the wave of bright colored muscle cars. See, AMC ahead of its time again! Too bad the body returned to the earth in a matter of 2 or 3 years.

I thought you meant one of these pumas:

^^^ it's a shame we never got that Puma

mad_machine wrote: ^^^ it's a shame we never got that Puma

3 more years to import it into Canada

Boy......I have to be away from the computer for a week and I'm greeted with all of this!

Thanks guys!!!

@ Appleseed -- many thanks for the color selection above -- I was really trying to stay away from the blues and go red on this car, blue on the TVR.....but those last 2 have me rethinking that decision!

@ Javelin -- thanks for the idea to paint the window frames and "B" pillar black -- I can see that working out really well.

So -- here is my progress to date. I got the car completely stripped down and media blasted (soda). They start in on the car Monday and at around noon I get the call: "Uhhhh, can you come down here and see this?" Since the place is only 20 mins or less away from the house I get in the car. They show me a portion of the front of the car that they have been working on all morning. I see the original green, some white, some gray, some gray that looks like cement in texture, some dark green.....wth? I have them blast a new section for me near the back of the car -- first color they get to is white. I tell them to try to just get that white finish for the rest of the car. I expected that there might be some bondo on parts of the car....and I'd rather get through some stuff by hand rather than they blow through all the stuff and damage the 'glass (I know, low possibility of that, but still.........easier to go to little than too hard and mess something up).

I come by late Tuesday when they say the car is done. The car is largely white, but there are some areas where they blew through that and got to the gray layers underneath. Oh yeah -- and there is soda everywhere. I load up the car and doors and head home. I made a small snowstorm for the entire drive back -- and most of it was gone by the time I hit the driveway. I make room and put the car in the shop...

Come the weekend I go out to assess things. I notice that in the areas where this white stuff was blasted off, the edges of the white paint are peeling up, almost like old house paint. I grab a single edge razor blade and zzzzziiip! Off comes a big old strip of this white stuff! About 6 hours and a half dozen razor blades later and I have most of this white stuff peeled off of the body. What I did notice is that this stuff smelled like latex house paint as I peeled it off. Underneath that was a very smooth gray primer or gelcoat. In some areas, below the gray is some bondo type substance. Very thin in some areas, over 1/16 to 1/8 inch in others.

So now I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I have a friend who does great paint work coming over this weekend, but admittedly he doesn't like to work on fiberglass much. I might be doing some of the heavy lifting, so to speak. Need to close in the hole where the aftermarket sunroof was, put a hole in the hood up front for the Aston gas filler to poke through, and replace the mounts for that hood up front (car was in a frontal accident at some point, which accounts for most of the bondo up front I presume).

@Appleseed -- can you whip up for me a red like the one shown on Page 2, midway down, the backside shot of the Alfa?

Thanks for all the help and comments. I'll get some pics up this weekend showing what the car looks like as of now -- have to get it outside for pictures......

KPM61 wrote: What size Fuch's did you get ? And do you have any pictures of them on your car ? I'll second the flat black B pillar thought. I have a Puma GTI with that treatment. The doors window frame are powder coated semi-gloss black and the B pillar is blacked out too.

Pics of your GTI?

I have 16 x 6.5 Fuchs, full polished. They won't clear the 944 brakes without a small spacer -- looks like 1/4" or so should do it. No pics of them on the car -- just with the Puma wheels so far.

@ Appleseed --

I don't have many pics of the car in it's green -- look at it in the Reader's Rides section -- let me know if you think any of the ones in there would work. I will see if there are any others I might have in my picture directories.

Thanks muchly for all the help!!

How do 16" Fuchs not clear 944 brakes? Or is it a back-spacing issue with 87+ brakes and 86- wheels?

I would lean towards the oranges rather than the reds. The previously posted Corvette Bronze is good, but I'd be partial to AMC Bitterweet Orange Metallic:

Javelin wrote: How do 16" Fuchs not clear 944 brakes? Or is it a back-spacing issue with 87+ brakes and 86- wheels?

You are correct -- it is a backspacing issue. No problems with clearance diameterially (I just made that word up....yay!!), but the Turbo brakes want to make a little contact with the inside face of the wheel. If I recall......when looking at an online suspension diagram for the 944 rear suspension, I see, to remember Hanz and Franz having a spacer listed there for some factory wheel fitments....

........and ya bunch of enablers and free thinkers have me thinking orange might not be a bad idea on this car. But you all are right -- gotta be a "vintage" type of orange and not one of the shades that are showing up on late model cars. Needs to be more muted tones for a small car.

If you can post a side view of the Puma and the Fuchs wheels, I can put them together. I did the same for Curtis and his Pontiac. 3/4 views won't work unless the angles are exactly the same. I'm not that good yet.

I'll whip up some reds later tonight.

Javelin wrote: How do 16" Fuchs not clear 944 brakes? Or is it a back-spacing issue with 87+ brakes and 86- wheels? I would lean towards the oranges rather than the reds. The previously posted Corvette Bronze is good, but I'd be partial to AMC Bitterweet Orange Metallic:

You are incorrect. Corvette Bronze is the better choice.

@ appleseed...

Thanks for the help -- verrrry much appreciated.

Take a peek at these and let me know if these are better to work with.

Sorry for the wait. Yes those will work great. It might be a few days until I can get a round to rendering it, so be patent, I won't forget.

The wheels are a little wonky, but here you go. I even lowered it.

<img src="" />

Opel GTs and Saab Sonnets were popular in orange.
Similar shapes, similar era.

Woody wrote: Don't know what color this one is, but it's a cool photo.

I like the black-ed rear as shown on this Opel and the Saab above.
If your rear is the same as the picture above similar should be possible.

I have figured out why some people black out the rear end of Opels. My Opel GT is white including the back and everytime I wash and wax the car I spend a lot of time cleaning that area. Seems road grime, exhaust soot, whatever accumulates there and is difficult to keep clean. Cleaner wax or mild polishing compound is the only thing that cleans it. Worse on the white car. I went with white when I repainted the car because that is what it was originally.

Matte black would work great on the rear. And that orange color on Opel GT is called Fireglow if interested.