What's your appearnace taste on Fbodys???

[badazzta00]

Thoughts on Fbodies: Are you more of a #1 or #2???

1) People that love the car stock look(even though it may be a beast, a sleeper, or completely stock including wheels, intake and exhaust. I know that Special Editions(CETA, NHRA, BlackBird, etc... are in a completely different catagory, but feel free to express your opinions) Anniversary Editions, Especially if it's clean,in original condition and has low miles.

2) Then you have the people who begin thinking of modding before they even get the car(not just a lid, headers, exhaust, etc..., but custom wheels, strokers, and most importantly paint). They can appeciate the stock cars or stock looking cars that have been well kept, but they've just want something a different. Maybe not a one of a kind, but something that you don't see every day.

As you can see in my sig, I am would consider myself in group 2. This is my 4th Fbody and this is the first car I've ever gotten painted. It wasn't by far the most expensive mod that I've ever done, but the most drastic. I was going to $5000-$8,000 for a paint job, I didn't have to pick the color, the color had to pick me!

I know that there's people out there that call my car a ricer because of the fuel door, splitter, or even possibly car color(not yet, though). Oh yeah, and a couple people mentioned not caring for my HRE 547's. IMO HRE's are far and above the quality of over 90% of the wheel companies out there. I am however open to other wheels companies. I don't mind constructive criticism, but if you don't like something like the wheels, I'd like to know what set of wheels you think would look better.

It took almost a month of labor working both me and him working throughout the night on at least 10 occasions. We scuffed, primered, copper basecoated, 8 coats of Kandy Copper, and 4 coats of clear. Thanks to all of you for your compliments. This is the most involved I've been with my car. Like a friend of mine said, my paint job doesn't just make the car stand out, it gives the car it's own personality. I remember seeing the car out in the sunlight the for the first time, I kept thinking that's not my car. I have no regrets and love looking at it and taking pics as much as possible. Not everyone has the same taste but that's why there's options out there. I don't dog someone just because of something they did to their own car. Here's a deal, Don't touch my car and I won't touch yours. Suggestions are however taken. Thanks everyone, except to the guy who said I should get a lift kit and put 30"s on it.

No, don't get me wrong, I still like complete bone stock cars with low mileage, but mostly now when I'm looking to buy one.

Here's a before pic:


Here an after pic:

[tigersport14]

Thoughts on Fbodies: Are you more of a #1 or #2???

1) People that love the car stock look(even though it may be a beast, a sleeper, or completely stock including wheels, intake and exhaust. I know that Special Editions(CETA, NHRA, BlackBird, etc... are in a completely different catagory, but feel free to express your opinions) Anniversary Editions, Especially if it's clean,in original condition and has low miles.

2) Then you have the people who begin thinking of modding before they even get the car(not just a lid, headers, exhaust, etc..., but custom wheels, strokers, and most importantly paint). They can appeciate the stock cars or stock looking cars that have been well kept, but they've just want something a different. Maybe not a one of a kind, but something that you don't see every day.

As you can see in my sig, I am would consider myself in group 2. This is my 4th Fbody and this is the first car I've ever gotten painted. It wasn't by far the most expensive mod that I've ever done, but the most drastic. I was going to $5000-$8,000 for a paint job, I didn't have to pick the color, the color had to pick me! I had a buddy named John who did body work and mostly painting bikes on the side. I remember when he started his first professional job at a business. He only did it professionally for about a year, but caught on really quick. He went back to his old job because they offered him quite a bit more salaried money. He carried his next passion home. Years ago, when he was at his other job, he and his buddy opened a performance shop. He sold his half to another friend and he did all of their labor, anything from intake header and exhaust installs to turbo or supercharger installs, engine builds, engine swaps. Once he started his previous job again did sidework at the house, but he mainly focused on painting. He painted a couple cars and they turned out pretty good. They were not professional quality, but he wasn't charging the professionaly rates. I talked to him a few times about doing some interior pieces and my nitrous bottle for my NBM 2000 WS6 and they came out smooth as glass. I saw him quite often and he got better and better on the repairs and did a few really nice paint jobs. He ended up meeting up with a guy that owns a local paint & body shop right near his home and work and the owner basically let him use it at any time of the day or night. Since business was done during the day he would go there every night and learn more and more. Since he basically had a whole paint shop to his disposal, he painted his own cars, friends cars, and even cars for people that were recommended to him by friends. Especially my buddy John who used to do paint and body full-time for about a yr and had a partial paint booth and shop on his property. Many times he'd get off of work at 10 or 11 pm and go by the paint and body shop and wouldn't leave until it was time to open the next morning. He kept getting better and his level developed into professional quality. We talked over the past 3 years about getting the car painted. I could never come up and stay with a color. My favorite color is blue, so my first choice was HOK Kandy Cobalt Blue. Even though it's still one of my favorite colors, I decided against it because I have seen so many to are either Kandy Cobalt Blue or really close. We then talked about doing ghost checkered flag in gray like the ones I had on my NBM 2000 WS6 as well as doing the ceta mod in gray or silver to match the stripes. Then, one day, I was tboned by an 82 ford pickup that ran a red light. I was pissed! I only had my nitrous kit on for two months which was really one month after about a month of troubleshooting. I didn't even get a chance to finish my second bottle. What really upset me about the whole situation was that bought it in 04 and it was a one owner bone stock NBM 2000 M6 with 17,xxx miles and when it was totaled 8/08 was cammed and had full-bolts, including my nitrous. The motor only had 48,000 miles on it and I had my textralia cluch 0z700 z-grip was only in for around 5,000 miles. It was paidoff and I tried to buy the car back. They asked me what I planned on doing with it and I told them I planned on buying another one and using it for parts. Only the drivers side including one of my HRE wheels was damaged. I'm sure there was some frame damage though.
Before:

After:



I've heard of people buying their cars for like pennies on the dollar directly from their insurance(even mine which is Allstate). I live in Florida and I was told I would have to buy it back from a dealer's auction. Does anyone know how I would have been able to get the car back at the time?
Well anyways, back on subject, if it weren't for that accident, I wouldn't have ended up with my Black 2002 WS6 with 48,000 for a really good price. After the regulars bolt-ons, lowering springs, and cam, I thought it was time for another major mod. I was thinking about procharging it like my BSM 99 WS6, but thought I'd rather go turbo(eventually anyways). I thought about starting to build a ls2 402 or lq4/lq9 408. Well, after seeing so many Black WS6's, I decided it was time for a change. I don't make a lot of money so I wish I could get the paint job and have the engine build happening at the same time. While I was at the paint shop with my buddy to get supplies for a job he had coming, we were talking about different things we could do with the car beside the ceta mod: racing stripes, firebird on hood, two-tone, Kandies and pearls, I looked through their chip book for what seemed like the millionth time. Then the lady that worked there showed us a new line of kandies that they had just gotten the chip book of. I kind of flipped through it and the Kandy Copper jumped out at me. I took the book out in the sunlight, which is the way I should have looked at them in the first place, and it really popped. When I brought it back inside to showed my buddy the lady also showed us a new maple pearl that had just came out and she had just opened the bottle for display and samples. I barely dipped my finger into the pearl and rubbed it over my palm. My buddy and I went out in the sun and he was surprised at how well it complimented the Kandy Copper. The lady that worked there even mentioned it. Because the bottle was a tester and she had opened it I thought I'd get it pretty cheap, I was wrong: $80.00 for 4 or 6 oz. After buying a small amount of the Kandy Copper, John sprayed a test panel with metallic silver on one side and metallic gold on the other. They both looked good, but the gold gave it more depth and was darker. Well, by now the body shop he painted at closed down and he bought almost all of the equipment and lighting. He finished of building his paint booth because he told me we're too good of friends to do a whole car paintjob including door and trunck jams and underneath the hood. We're doing the engine bay when I pull my motor and finish my LS2 402(which I've just started). We got the exact paint code on the chip and it turned out even better than the test panels.

I know that there's people out there that call my car a ricer because of the fuel door, splitter, or even possibly car color(not yet, though). Oh yeah, and a couple people mentioned not caring for my HRE 547's. IMO HRE's are far and above the quality of over 90% of the wheel companies out there. I am however open to other wheels companies. I don't mind constructive criticism, but if you don't like something like the wheels, I'd like to know what set of wheels you think would look better.

It took almost a month of labor working both me and him working throughout the night on at least 10 occasions. We scuffed, primered, copper basecoated, 8 coats of Kandy Copper, and 4 coats of clear. Thanks to all of you for your compliments. This is the most involved I've been with my car. Like a friend of mine said, my paint job doesn't just make the car stand out, it gives the car it's own personality. I remember seeing the car out in the sunlight the for the first time, I kept thinking that's not my car. I have no regrets and love looking at it and taking pics as much as possible. Not everyone has the same taste but that's why there's options out there. I don't dog someone just because of something they did to their own car. Here's a deal, Don't touch my car and I won't touch yours. Suggestions are however taken. Thanks everyone, except to the guy who said I should get a lift kit and put 30"s on it.

No, don't get me wrong, I still like complete bone stock cars with low mileage, but mostly now when I'm looking to buy one.

Here's a before pic:


Here an after pic:

sorry man... just too much to read! haha, nice pics though.

[badazzta00]

Sorry, I wasn't planning on writing a book. lol

[fastfirebird2002]

I would have to say i am a #2 and can relate to most of what you say , I have been modding and customizing my car for years and will continue to do so I recently had it custom painted to the color it is now (used to be pewter metallic) and like you said the color had to pick me I didnt repaint it just because and I had to think about it and make sure it was the color I wanted since money doesnt grow on trees around here, as far as the ricer comments I have recieved a few either for my ground effects or the fact I call my car a transformula and even have it on the door like that. I chose to do that because I added the trans am hatch to my stock formula and since it has the ls1 like the trans am and the wing I figured I could just combine the two and make one. Now I am not the first nor last to do the trans am wing to the firebird/formula body and I probably am not the first to come up with the transformula concept. I can honestly say I havent seen anyone go as far as to call it or even have it on the door like I do. I could probably ramble on but will leave it there with my 2 cents and to the original poster I think your car looks awesome

[Mr. Luos]

Make fast kinda guy here.

[ArcticZ06]

I like that splitter

[badazzta00]

I like that splitter

Thanks, why is it that the only people that have replied are type 2's? Where are all the type 1's?

[Transamws6]

That after pic is absolutley insane wow.

I don't own an f-body so i can't say anything.....

[third_shift|studios]

very tastefully done car-the splitter is in shadow and I didn't notice it at all till I read the story. I'd like to see it in full view, but I think it looks pretty fierce, especially with that black B-pillar! I love that. Well done. I agree that the fuel door is lame-it's just a bright silver circle amidst a beautiful color so it sticks out too much. I would have gone with stock or clear marker lights too, but hey man-like you said, it's your car, and you're building its personality. What have you done under the hood? Check out our products if you need some ideas for there

[third_shift|studios]

Thanks, why is it that the only people that have replied are type 2's? Where are all the type 1's?

B/c you're on a site that only appeals to type 2's. It's few and far between to find a genuine stock-to-the-paper-filter f-body some 8 years after they've been discontinued, bud. Everyone wants their car to be a little different than the next guys.

[tep98ws6]

that color

[Mr. Luos]

Thanks, why is it that the only people that have replied are type 2's? Where are all the type 1's?

Originally wanted to keep my stock wheels and have the rears widened.
After pricing it out, I just bought a set of TTII's and sold the stockers.

Otherwise, I basicly fall into 'type 1.'
My car is pretty simple when it comes to appearance. Drop, wheels, clean paint. Most of my mods are under the hood and under the car.

[SandmanWs7]

Originally wanted to keep my stock wheels and have the rears widened.
After pricing it out, I just bought a set of TTII's and sold the stockers.

Otherwise, I basicly fall into 'type 1.'
My car is pretty simple when it comes to appearance. Drop, wheels, clean paint. Most of my mods are under the hood and under the car.

your side panel says stock.

[devildogws6]

make it fast and a dif look but i love the orange color man

[blkSS98]

I'm w/ Lous in his second reply. Rims, Lowering, Tint, and Speed. Not in that order, but... I will/would might eventually paint a car be it wouldn't be outrageous.

Your car is sick though! I'm sure the pictures don't do it justice. Unfortunately, its hard to do something really different these days. I've seen 2 orange t/a's on this site not including yours, and 1 more w/ 800hp in gmhtp.

By the way I'm not saying your car is "orange"!

[cheeseLS2]

i like to keep it factory look.

just small details like the the grand sport stripes and wider zr1's and a berger panel

[patriot1136]

badass, would like to see more pics of that splitter

[BIG GUNS]

Hard to believe it is the same car. What a difference and very nice. The paint job must have cost a bunch.

[badazzta00]

Hard to believe it is the same car. What a difference and very nice. The paint job must have cost a bunch.

Thanks. Yeah, it is pretty drastic. It probably would have been a bigger if I had just dropped it off and picked it up about 2 months later. I wouldn't have thought it was the same car(except wheels and interior, lol). But being there throughout the process, helping out with my limited skills and from the tips John gave me, gave me a new respect for quality paint jobs. I had no idea how many hours and hours of work it takes just to prep the car. I see now why some paint jobs are so expensive. BTW, I went to a couple local reputable body shops that do higher quality custom paintjobs and let me just say that I could have gotten a maggie or an APS twin turbo kit. But, I'm sticking to by 402 build.

[01SOMSS!]

love the color. i fall in group 2. i like a fast car,but it has to have looks rims,tint,clean paint,lowered,grill and so on...our fbodies are fast stock compared to alot other cars out there. that's why i did appearance mods first then a lil bit of motor. the thing that sucks is that i hang out with guys who have 500hp+ cars so the always make me look like the slow one