 |
| Tim Marinos, Proprietor of Vintage Autocraft, putting the finishing touches on 2,000+ hours of blood, sweat and tears spent restoring The Alfatross. |
Twenty-two months after delivering The Alfatross' body and chassis to Tennessee Tim at Vintage Autocraft, I get a call. Tim says simply, "It's time." So I pack a bag, book a room, rent a car, purchase an overpriced ticket on American Airlines, and take off for "Music City", Nashville, Tennessee.
 |
| Two years ago . . . . |
The next morning I walk through the overhead door into Vintage Autocraft and see The Alfatross and Tim for the first time in almost two years. Tim is beaming and The Alfatross is gleaming. The paint job is truly stunning and Tim is obviously proud of his work, but I sensed that after spending more than 2,000 hours on it he would be as glad to see The Alfatross' tail lights as I was when I left it at his shop all those months ago.
 |
| All the movable panels were pre-fitted prior to painting. They will be re-attached before I come to pick The Alfatross up in two weeks. |
The purpose of the trip was to look the car over, compare notes, and decide how much more he had left to do before I can collect the car and take it back to Santa Fe. The trim, doors, windows, windshield, trunk lid and hood were all fitted and removed months ago, so they need to go back on. But there is a problem. The windshield still has a wiper scratch on the passenger's side that has to be polished out before it can be installed. And there are some small parts that need refinishing.
 |
| The engine bay, interior, trunk and underbody are also painted. All colors and finishes were determined by photos taken before restoration started and from Tim's own research. |
These are important considerations because we have applied to enter The Alfatross in the Arizona Concours d'Elegance at the end of January, 2016--less than 100 days away. Between now and then I will have to drive back to Tennessee to load the car up and trailer it back to Santa Fe to attach the suspension, axles, steering, brakes, wiring harness, and transmission so it can be turned over to a dedicated classic car transport company for the long haul to Essex, Massachusetts, where the interior will be installed. Then it has to come back to Santa Fe the same way so we can dot all the 'i's, cross all the 't's and finish the restoration. Is that even a realistic possibility?
 |
| The trunk is painted in the body color, as per original |
You will note that The Alfatross looks like it's a different color in almost every image. Part of that is the different lighting conditions under which the photos were taken, part is due to some monkeying around I did with post processing. Then there's the way my monitor is set up to show colors, and how much your monitor differs from mine. But a lot of it is probably due to the way I see colors, which is notoriously different from most people. All I can say is that Tim, who has normal--if not exceptional--color vision, says that this is the color it was painted originally.
