755 Steel Gray, coming soon to a boombox near you

Status
Not open for further replies.
jaetee

jaetee

Member (SA)
So, I have an old 1985 Mercedes 190e project car that I got from my cousin... it is getting painted...

In the process, I'm uipdating the color to a newer one with more metallic flake, but which has pretty much the same background shade as the old one... (so I can get away without painting the door jams).

Anyway, the newer color I picked is called Mercedes Benz #755 Metallic Steel Gray. To reduce the cost of the paint job, I'm cleaning and painting the black trim pieces to flat black while they are off of the car. I started that project out in the garage at around 9pm, listening Prince on the JVC PC-3.

Then it struck me... It just so happens that I've long had this idea to paint a boombox with automotive grade metallic paint & clearcoat. And I have a beat up looking GE parts box that I got from S2G member Driptip as part of a multi-box exchange a while back....

Well, I immediately stopped cleaning the car's trim work and spent 2 hours disecting and prepping the GE to have the front cover painted alongside the car. It sits here now taped-off and ready to go to the paint shop! This is gonna be cool! I'll have a matching 1985 car & 80's boombox! :w00t:

The GE has a fundamental tuner problem that I don't think can be repaired, Its a digital tuner and does work sometimes, so I guess that'll do. The good parts are the speaker grills are nice and straight. When they are painted satin black, they'll look sweet.

The way the center panel and the buttons are laid out on this GE, I don't think there is a better boombox made for this doing this kind of paint job. I dont need to worry about covering any lettering at all. When I post the pics tomorrow or Friday, you'll see what I mean....

off to bed!
 
Superduper

Superduper

Moderator
Staff member
That's the best way to paint a boombox. I did my Sanyo M9994 that way but with spray can, not professionally. It wasn't perfect like you would expect on a car but it did wonders to restore the box.
 
jaetee

jaetee

Member (SA)
Here are the pics that I was too tired to bust out of the camera last night...:

The car project: http://www.pbase.com/jaetee/the_benz_project&page=2

The boombox project:

2ylmw4l.jpg


nyh5yr.jpg


15we790.jpg


As you can see, this was a super easy and logical box to mask and prep for painting... I've had this vision for a while now and was originally going to do it in a dark blue metallic. As mentioned before, the tuner has an issue and only works in a predictable fashion sometimes. Adding to that, the tape deck plays off-speed, but sounds worse than it should. It may need a new head. Well, at least it has a nicely working Aux-In.

If anything, at least the box will look good when it's done... We'll see....
 
Fatdog

Fatdog

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Oh, man! I can't wait to see the pictures!!! :w00t: :cool: ...of both the car AND the GE.
 
jaetee

jaetee

Member (SA)
I'm having a bit of a dilema....

I'm cleaning up and prepping the trim with a primary combination of 00 steel wool and rubbing compound. Then I do a final wipe down with mineral spirits to get all the residue off....

I am finding that the trim looks almost new again and I'm actually debating whether or not I should even bother with the satin black spray paint???

The steel wool does put microscopic scratches into the finish and dulls it up a tad, so I'm about 80% thinking to go ahead with the satin paint.

I guess if the car is painted fresh, the trim should be, too.... But, the difference in the look of the trim after cleaning it up is downright staggering.
 
jaetee

jaetee

Member (SA)
Fatdog said:
Oh, man! I can't wait to see the pictures!!! :w00t: :cool: ...of both the car AND the GE.
Click to expand...

I have the smooth european headlights coming from my brother in Germany.... and will put the clear glass blinkers on as well. Maybe the smoky looking taillights as well...

When its finished, it's going to look A LOT better than it probably has since the late 80's.

Before he put primer on the car, the body guy called me to give me a progress update... I asked him how many dings he had to fill.... he counted them off to me on the phone.... there were 36 door dings, pock marks, dents and blemishes needed attention to straighten out the body. OUCH!!!!!

As for the boombox, I'm just glad I rememberd about this GE last night, then actually had the motivation and opportunity to follow through on this. I've been talking noise about doing this kind of paint mod on the GE for over a year now and actually was hoping to have it done before the last meet. Frankly, its the only reason I really kept the box around.
 
jaetee

jaetee

Member (SA)
My wife works close to the paint shop, so I got her to drop off the GE case today. She had to leave it with a note as he wasn't there just then... The thought only entered my mind last night, so I hadn't yet discussed it with the painter... I was a bit nervous about her just leaving it. She's funny, sent me a iPhone pic to console me...

2u408xc.jpg


Anway, I just spoke with the guy and he confirmed he has it and would spray it when he does the car, complete with shiny automotive clearcoat.

I will have this back in about a week... I hope I can find belts for the box by then and make some progress with that part of it. Plus, I need to clean up the speakers.

I'm just as thrilled over the boombox as I am about the progress on the car!
 
jaetee

jaetee

Member (SA)
Thanks Jeff... (By the way, check you mail the next couple of days!)


More progress today...

All the trim has been reconditioned. The mid-door trim has been painted black. The bottom trim will be left in its present, quite good condition.

I was also able to paint the GE's woofers and speaker grills today...

Now it's a waiting game for the replacement rear bumper to arrive from North Carolina. More progress next week.
 
jaetee

jaetee

Member (SA)
Paint update!

Went and saw the car and the box today. The box hasn't been clearcoated yet and it was too dark to shoot pics back where it was... So, no boombox updates...

But, here's the color on the car!

2hy8e81.jpg


2zit0ty.jpg
 
Fatdog

Fatdog

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Looking good, JT. It appears that the guy knows his stuff when it comes to painting cars. :yes:
 
jaetee

jaetee

Member (SA)
Okay, The car is almost done... and the boombox is put back together...

Here's some follow up pix of the box...

ran3w1.jpg


34gv66e.jpg


And a close-up that does a pretty good job of showing the actual color under direct sunlight....

beu05j.jpg


And here's the car..... (which will look MUCH better once my German spec headlights arrive).

11gt26q.jpg


2s1ncrb.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom