Thread: Happy Birthday Don Shilady

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Chevy37 and others, Thanks for well wishes but it is a bit embarassing to me since I am trying to ignore birthdays! Chevy37, the color came from one of about 200 paint chips at "Haskins Auto Body" up the road in Ashland Va. I could get you the exact formula if you really want it but they just called it "Haskins Merlot"; actually it is just a formula that they put into the paint machine and out it comes. It does have a fine metallic content and has several coats of clear over the color. The paint job was probably pretty much of a bargain these days at about $1800 but I had to get a written promise to bring it back to the shop to paint the wheels which are still in epoxy primer AND to clean up a few gas-out holes. I had the body outside for at least six months before paint but it was still outgassing and had a slight "fiberglass smell". Anyway the pro who did the paint job did move on and there is another pro there now but I brought up the written guarentee for a touchup when the wheels are painted and he said he can do it and boasted he is better than the previous guy, but you know how these things drag out so I need to keep in touch with the shop. On the one hand it is sort of a lucky pick on the formula but maybe I had a good eye when I looked through all those color chips? I look forward to seeing the wheels in that color with my baby moon caps! If you REALLY need the paint formula, bug me again and I can get it, but actually any modern paint shop should be able to come up with a similar color since they have to be able to match almost anything the wrecker brings in. Today I finished the simple insertion of the Bratton LED tail lights which replace the stock Model bulbs and I installed stainless conduit on the wires to the headlights. I was able to easily get all six wires (three for LED and three for H4 bulb) through the conduits. Interestingly the Its-A-Snap folks replaced both H4 bulb free since whoever but the H4 bulbs in the housings I bought were broken off their alignment welds. If you replace H4 bulbs you cannot get any finger prints on the glass AND when you insert the bulb only twist the base and push the three blades with a flat blade screw driver. If you try to insert the H4 bulb by twisting the three prong connector on the base it easily rips the small welds around the base of the bulb. I think I could maybe epoxy the damaged bulbs for spares if need be but the bulbs are about $17 each and Its-A-Snap replaced them free!


Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder