My Gransport, 9 months in.

Chimaera500

Chimaera500

Member
Messages
189
Spartacus said:
Did you have the whole front end done ? bumper off ? I need to get mine done soon , the stone chips are getting quite bad.
Click to expand...
Spartacus said:
Did you have the whole front end done ? bumper off ? I need to get mine done soon , the stone chips are getting quite bad.
Click to expand...

Yep, everything apart (bumper off, lights out, wing mirrors off etc) whole front end and blended into the doors.

The paintwork on my car was actually in good condition, but unfortunately it was not a very good match at all and a good half a shade darker. Front end had obviously been re painted at some point in the past, but they had not blended into the doors so at certain angles you could see a distinct difference between the front wings and leading edge of the doors. Bugged the **** out of me!!!

Argento Luna isn't the easiest colour to match it seems, so the body shop spent quite a while experimenting to get the match spot on. Happy now, but not the cheapest job to get done properly.

Here is a great pic of my car taken by the previous owner. You can see the colour difference between the front wing and door.........maybe I'm being too fussy but I had to get it put right!83638
 
safrane

safrane

Member
Messages
16,854
had a car in a similar colour that also had a front end respray... looked fine in certain conditions, but in others the front door blending was shocking.
 
Chimaera500

Chimaera500

Member
Messages
189
safrane said:
had a car in a similar colour that also had a front end respray... looked fine in certain conditions, but in others the front door blending was shocking.
Click to expand...

I'm always in a panic when I need to get any paintwork done. Have had a few bad experiences over the years myself and its a lot of money to pay out only to end up feeling not happy with your car.
I think prep and painting a car well requires lots of skill and experience. Its easy to get amazing results for those that have this.

Find the oldest painter that you can. Check if he can still see properly and you are off to a good start :)
 
Zep

Zep

Moderator
Messages
9,270
Chimaera500 said:
I'm always in a panic when I need to get any paintwork done. Have had a few bad experiences over the years myself and its a lot of money to pay out only to end up feeling not happy with your car.
I think prep and painting a car well requires lots of skill and experience. Its easy to get amazing results for those that have this.

Find the oldest painter that you can. Check if he can still see properly and you are off to a good start :)
Click to expand...

That sounds like a fun conversation. How old are you? Can you read that number plate? Do you paint cars? :D
 
Vampyrebat

Vampyrebat

Member
Messages
3,129
This was mine when I first bought it. The front wing was quite a lighter shade and they tried to mask this with a darker band running through to door and wing. The first job was to get it straight to the paint shop for a full frontal and blend into the doors at mates rates!!............Luckily haven't had any stone chips either since it was done about 6 years ago!!
83655

83656
 
Chimaera500

Chimaera500

Member
Messages
189
Vampyrebat said:
This was mine when I first bought it. The front wing was quite a lighter shade and they tried to mask this with a darker band running through to door and wing. The first job was to get it straight to the paint shop for a full frontal and blend into the doors at mates rates!!............Luckily haven't had any stone chips either since it was done about 6 years ago!!
View attachment 83655

View attachment 83656
Click to expand...
Looking much better now! Amazing how many cars get in a mess with bad paint.

Nice Vantage too, Tungsten Silver. How do you find it compared with the 4200?
 
Vampyrebat

Vampyrebat

Member
Messages
3,129
Chimaera500 said:
Looking much better now! Amazing how many cars get in a mess with bad paint.

Nice Vantage too, Tungsten Silver. How do you find it compared with the 4200?
Click to expand...
Cheers mate!........Yours looks superb BTW. The Vantage was my big bro's at the time, and all though they were pretty evenly matched, we both agreed that the 42 had the edge!! Not bad for a car that cost 30k less than his!
 
Chimaera500

Chimaera500

Member
Messages
189
Vampyrebat said:
Cheers mate!........Yours looks superb BTW. The Vantage was my big bro's at the time, and all though they were pretty evenly matched, we both agreed that the 42 had the edge!! Not bad for a car that cost 30k less than his!
Click to expand...

I had 2 V8 Vantages, one coupe manual and one roadster sportshift (both Tungsten silver). Cant take anything away from them, great cars but agree that the Maserati feels much more "sports car", has just as much sense of occasion and tens of thousands less to buy!! oh and 4 seats :) Bargains I tell you!
 
safrane

safrane

Member
Messages
16,854
Vampyrebat said:
Cheers mate!........Yours looks superb BTW. The Vantage was my big bro's at the time, and all though they were pretty evenly matched, we both agreed that the 42 had the edge!! Not bad for a car that cost 30k less than his!
Click to expand...
Found the same back in 2009 when we did a trip to Le Touquet with friends who just sank £70k on one... where as my first 4200 was £22k, certainly did not feel 3 x the car.
 
Malcolm Pearce

Malcolm Pearce

Member
Messages
169
Chimaera500 said:
I had 2 V8 Vantages, one coupe manual and one roadster sportshift (both Tungsten silver). Cant take anything away from them, great cars but agree that the Maserati feels much more "sports car", has just as much sense of occasion and tens of thousands less to buy!! oh and 4 seats :) Bargains I tell you!
Click to expand...
Not sure about the price ...DBS and especially Vantage and DB9s are absolutely rock bottom. Went to look at a nice Arbath recently and it was a lot more than many well presented Astons.
 
Vampyrebat

Vampyrebat

Member
Messages
3,129
Chimaera500 said:
I had 2 V8 Vantages, one coupe manual and one roadster sportshift (both Tungsten silver). Cant take anything away from them, great cars but agree that the Maserati feels much more "sports car", has just as much sense of occasion and tens of thousands less to buy!! oh and 4 seats :) Bargains I tell you!
Click to expand...
My brother's was a manual also, he's like me when it comes to manual a gearbox (or I'm like him)!.....We would quite often swap cars for up to a week at times but usually 3 days. I must admit when I would start using the Vantage I felt more special in it! But after a few days I was looking forward to getting the 42 back!!
 
Chimaera500

Chimaera500

Member
Messages
189
Vampyrebat said:
My brother's was a manual also, he's like me when it comes to manual a gearbox (or I'm like him)!.....We would quite often swap cars for up to a week at times but usually 3 days. I must admit when I would start using the Vantage I felt more special in it! But after a few days I was looking forward to getting the 42 back!!
Click to expand...
I much preferred the manual box in the AM. My roadster was an auto and despite being of similar era and concept (robotized manual) to the Gransport, the sportshift auto in the vantage was nowhere near as good. lots of juddering when you pull away unless you had done a clutch learn on every start.

Still, such a pretty car IMHO!! here is my old one.....

83729
 
Vampyrebat

Vampyrebat

Member
Messages
3,129
Chimaera500 said:
I much preferred the manual box in the AM. My roadster was an auto and despite being of similar era and concept (robotized manual) to the Gransport, the sportshift auto in the vantage was nowhere near as good. lots of juddering when you pull away unless you had done a clutch learn on every start.

Still, such a pretty car IMHO!! here is my old one.....

View attachment 83729
Click to expand...
Yes stunning as FHC or cab!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.