I love both of my maxes, but seriously, $2100 for paint on a car that might be worth twice that? how long do you plan on keeping the 93 Max? Is it really justified, or do you just have a crapload of extra money and don't know what to do with it? Hope I'm not offending diehard max lovers, but how much money can we actually put into cars that are 13-15 years old?

 

blah... for cars that can live to like... over 300K miles thats nuts i would deff spend a good amount of money to keep it tip top shape

 

You're not offending my at all. "Is it really justified" that's a subjective question. Yes I have a crap load of money, that's why I live in a semi-big house with a stay at home wife and we're raising two kids. How long do I plan on keeping the car, let me answer this way, I have no reason to get rid of it. The car have always started every morning and it has never left me stranded on the side of the road. I'm not a diehard Max owner, back in 96 when I bought this car the only criteria I needed was 4dr, automatic, 6 cylinder and no older than 3 yrs old. The Max and Mazda 929 were the two to choose from. If it went the other way I would probably be on a Mazda board today.

Let me ask you this, are you mechanically incline, do you do your own car repairs, can you rebuild a engine? I'm not asking these questions to pick on you, I'm asking to understand your ability. I think most car enthusiates who work on their own cars, rebuild their own engine would understand why another person would spend 2150 on a car that's 13-14 yrs old.

On the flip side, would I spend 2150 on a car that's always giving me problem, no I wouldn't.

 

i spent well over 20k on mine and i'll be cutting it up next week with my new plasma cutter. can't justify dumping another 5-10 to get it back to the way i want it, so keep whats good and chuck the rest. it's sad, but life goes on.

 

I hope your not talking about Goldmember

 

 

2150 for a maaco paint job? I thought those things go for around $300?

 

yeah if you want them to paint it with a roller. if you want a decent paint job from them you have to actually pay for it.

 

There used to be a guy around here with a brush painted car. I thought it was Maaco at first but nah... Just an average guy with a bucket of paint and a brush.

 

I've seen a redneck paint this Chevy Corsica silver with spray cans. It looked absolutely horrible.

 

Update

I finally got the car together and took it back to the shop to correct a few minor details and for the final buffing



If there's one advice I can give anyone who's wanting to paint their car, take the time and mask off the rear glass yourself. It doens't matter if you're doing a one-of custom paint job or a quicky $300 paint job. Our rear glass molding is kinda tricky to mask off, but if you use the tape under the molding and tape it back on the rear glass it will give you a better look. I should have taken Mike's suggestion when he told me this but I didn't, my mistake. My rear glass pretty much looked like this all the way around the glass



Before bringing the car in today I did mask off the rear glass as Mike suggested hoping they'll be able to correct the transition between paint and molding a lot better.

 

i would have just masked off the body now and painted the gasket with trim black. i actually did that with my front molding. i took out the back glass to paint it but didnt want to take out the windshield,so i painted over the molding(completely) and ten maked off where it ended and sprayed it with the trim black, as well as repainting all the black trim(off the car though) it held up good and it's not noticeable.

 

How much are door hinges?

 

I thought about that, but I wanted to see what they can do. Eve nafter they do whatever their going to do I'll still have to paint the moldings, they are faded. The question is, am I'm going to replace or re-condition my belt moldings.

They go for about $20-$25 a pair

 

looks good!

 

Mike, I gotta tell ya... it's really coming along. I've always admired your car (even "borrowed" some styling cues when I had my other Max) for how clean it looked. Now that I've got another Max, I'll probably be looking to cars like yours, Jay's, Michael's, and Chris' to try and "kick it up a notch" with my new build.

As for that whole "is it worth it" thing - I say ABSOLUTELY!! But, like you said, it really IS subjective. Everyone has their own set of priorities. I know that I invest quite a bit on my car stereo stuff (much to my wife's regret).

Thanks for the progress reports and let us know how it all turns out.

 

very nice


why the choice of white?

 

Very good question. It comes down to how much time and effort would I be willing to put into changing the color and which color would be easier. Considering I did so much to remove items like, moldings, trims and panels I easily could have changed the color. Changing the color would have included painting the engine bay and trunk, again more time and effort. Through out this process I needed the car to be driveable at all stages and at anytime. In order to paint the engine bay you would have to remove items from the firewall and inner fenders in order to get a better look and I wasn't too sure would that render the car not driveable. I also used the trunk to store a lot of items (lights, trims, screws, panels, etc) which saved me from putting those items somewhere else.

So to answer your question why white, it was less effort, less time and easier. Besides I like my white Max

 

The chronicle continues. The cars back at the body shop for final buffing and to correct a few minor issues.

 

Car looks great man, i remember the last time I saw it.. looked good then also

 

Thanks, how are things in S. Florida? This time of the year I definately miss that S. Florida weather and the ruby red grapefruit tree I had in my backyard.

 

Its actually really nice weather down here right now, nice and breezy, temps staying in the 80's (not cold, but cool!).. I see you stepped up the game, looks like a really nice neighborhood congrats..

 

it was actually COLD as like... 40's up here in palm bay tues - thurs and friday i wore shirt and shorts... (i work outside)


the car looks sweet with a new paint job

i have plans for my new paint job

 

The people at the bodyshop are wondering how much crack you smoked to put all that work/$ into a 14 yr old car.

Oh well, only 3rd gen owners will truly understand.

 

What's your suggestion?

 

Keep it on the road as long as you can. Thats my plan.

Even if it means new engine/trans swap.

 

Glad I'm not the only one that crazy.

 

Even if it means having your car look like crap? Hhmm, don't know about that one.

 

Thats really the best anti-theft security out there.

 

Thats the second time I heard that today

 

missing a rear end is a better security feature

 

I like to live dangerously, I'll leave mine in. For now....