Little Red Corvette Restoration & Paint Job

This cool classic car just makes you want to sing Prince’s song, “Little red Corvette” – especially after seeing the After photo. This 1980 Chevy Corvette came in needing some body work and a fresh paint job.

Before

We did away with the bottom side skirts you see in these Before pictures. Instead, we fitted the car with an earlier C3 Corvette rocker panel in a satin black finish. We also replaced the fiberglass front and back bumpers.

Another before

The first order of business was to start working on the areas that needed body work. This includes any waves, dents or imperfections in the body of the car. As you can see in these pictures, Erick is block sanding the body. The tan color is the bondo we apply over any dents. It acts like a clay that molds to the body for us to sand down and make perfectly straight and smooth to the rest of the car.

Lots of sanding

Depending on the condition of the body, the sanding process can take days or even weeks. This stage is the most laborsome, but also the most important. If the body work isn’t done perfect, you’ll definitely be able to tell after it’s painted. The goal is to be able to run your hand down the side of the car and have it feel completely straight.

Once it’s sanded, we spray it with primer. This creates a clean slate and another chance to look the body lines over for any imperfections. If we find any, we sand some more. If not, it will be time to sand with water and get it all smoothed and prepped for paint.

In primer

The best part of the process happens in the paint booth. It’s when the transformation comes to life! The Corvette went back to the same original red paint color from the factory in 1980.

Booth pic after paint job

This little red ’80 Corvette came out great! The color is very eye-catching, and sparkles in the sun. The body lines are all smooth, showing off all its curvatures and rounded fenders.

1980 Corvette – After #TDCustoms

The owner bought the car 15 years ago, and asked that we have it ready for pickup on the exact anniversary. Last week, we did just that. The owner said that pulling up to the shop and seeing it out front gave her the same feeling it did when she bought it.

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