Okay, so maybe this is the completely wrong place to post this, but I am super psyched, so had to share somewhere. After what felt like an entire summer of sanding and bodywork, the day has finally come: I am dropping my Supra off to get painted tomorrow. I wasn't sure if I was actually going to be able to make it happen, but at the last moment, I had a few amazing friends step in and give me a hand during the final push. As of tonight, the Supra is officially ready.
Here's a quick summary in pictures. June 20th, a brand new Ford Explorer and my Supra's rear bumper have an unfortunate encounter. Insurance company quotes over $7k in damages!! "Totals" my car, of course, since all they see is "old Toyota" with fading paint, half missing interior, and almost 200k on the clock.
The sheet metal is badly crumpled, but miraculously, the frame is perfectly straight!! I decide that I can't desert my Supra (after all, it had just sacrificed itself to keep me safe from harm, so now it was up to me to save it from being junked), and so I "buy it back" less my deductible, from the insurance company. Now, I have a budget to get this car back on the road asap so that I can at least take one cruise around the Gorge with the targa off.
Enter Parts Supra:
Moldy, mossy, smelly, missing diff and trans, and... not pretty, but the rear end was straight. (If my mother were to see these pictures and knew that I paid $400 for this car, I bet she would be really disappointed that none of her lessons on financial responsibility got through to me, BUT actually can assure you that was the best way that money could have been spent, that parts car was invaluable to this project!! Not only did I need many different misc. parts off of it and wiring harness segments, but I also used it for practice taking things apart so I wouldn't do any damage to my Supra. I removed the door handles, interior trim and gauge panel, window trim, side moulding, rear window trim, door cards.... you get the point
My Supra has no disassembly damage!)
(omg they are so cute)
Measure a million times and cut once, and my two Supra puzzle pieces lines up pretty good. I had it towed down to my friend's shop where I cut out the damaged section, and fit everything from parts Supra into place. Then, my friend welded it on, and I rust sealed, seam sealed, primered, [fixed its code 34 problem, thank god] and drove it back up to the mountain where parts Supra lives.
Then I figured, well shit, if I am getting the whole car painted (and I really don't want to do this again anytime soon, really) I may as well take the time to fix everything wrong with the body, at least, as best as I can...
And a month later and here I am.
Alright, I haven't uploaded the rest of the pictures of the last 2 weeks, but thanks for letting me share a little of what I've done so far. I hope to see you all at the September 1st cruise to the Red Door meet.
Faye
Here's a quick summary in pictures. June 20th, a brand new Ford Explorer and my Supra's rear bumper have an unfortunate encounter. Insurance company quotes over $7k in damages!! "Totals" my car, of course, since all they see is "old Toyota" with fading paint, half missing interior, and almost 200k on the clock.
The sheet metal is badly crumpled, but miraculously, the frame is perfectly straight!! I decide that I can't desert my Supra (after all, it had just sacrificed itself to keep me safe from harm, so now it was up to me to save it from being junked), and so I "buy it back" less my deductible, from the insurance company. Now, I have a budget to get this car back on the road asap so that I can at least take one cruise around the Gorge with the targa off.
Enter Parts Supra:
Moldy, mossy, smelly, missing diff and trans, and... not pretty, but the rear end was straight. (If my mother were to see these pictures and knew that I paid $400 for this car, I bet she would be really disappointed that none of her lessons on financial responsibility got through to me, BUT actually can assure you that was the best way that money could have been spent, that parts car was invaluable to this project!! Not only did I need many different misc. parts off of it and wiring harness segments, but I also used it for practice taking things apart so I wouldn't do any damage to my Supra. I removed the door handles, interior trim and gauge panel, window trim, side moulding, rear window trim, door cards.... you get the point
My Supra has no disassembly damage!)(omg they are so cute)
Measure a million times and cut once, and my two Supra puzzle pieces lines up pretty good. I had it towed down to my friend's shop where I cut out the damaged section, and fit everything from parts Supra into place. Then, my friend welded it on, and I rust sealed, seam sealed, primered, [fixed its code 34 problem, thank god] and drove it back up to the mountain where parts Supra lives.
Then I figured, well shit, if I am getting the whole car painted (and I really don't want to do this again anytime soon, really) I may as well take the time to fix everything wrong with the body, at least, as best as I can...
And a month later and here I am.
Alright, I haven't uploaded the rest of the pictures of the last 2 weeks, but thanks for letting me share a little of what I've done so far. I hope to see you all at the September 1st cruise to the Red Door meet.
Faye
