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The winner for September FOTM goes to.........
Britstiva!!!!! Congratulations!!!!
Here is his entry again
Britstiva!!!!! Congratulations!!!!
Here is his entry again
Originally posted by Britstiva
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This is my first attempt ever at FOTM! Here is the story of Sapphire Britstiva:
The sign read:
For Sale
Its name is Sapphire. Good friend since September 1992. -Charlie (540)xxx-xxxx
This car was listed on here when it came up for sale! It was a one owner and was listed in Roanoke, VA, so our good friend, Neanderpaul went and checked it out for me and gave it 2 thumbs up.
I already had a driveway full of cars, so I knew if I brought it home in the shape it was in, there would be some rough times coming my way... SOOOO with Smedley's help, we snuck off on a four hour drive to Roanoke, VA to pick up some "festiva parts". (I just happened to forget to mention that those parts were all assembled into a vehicle and titled together! LOL)
Here is how it looked when I first saw it:
It was in rough condition. The engine bay was soaked in oil. The front fenders were damaged. A small accident had forced the PO to park it and get another vehicle. The interior was covered in concrete dust and hay! The driver seat had chunks missing and what was there was so dirty, you could barely see the original color!
I decided to buy it and promised the original owner that I would keep him informed with what I did to "Sapphire".
He also had EVERY receipt for EVERYTHING EVER done to Sapphire! I organized them in a binder by date and year. Including, the window sticker!
Thanks to littlebluecar and Jiminy Cricket, I was able to hide the Festiva at their house until it was fixed and ready to come home. I would sneak off to their house and work on it every chance I got. For three long months, they hid the Festiva for me! LOL While there, I was able to tear it apart and figure out just how much was damaged. I also cleaned it up. It took FOUR LONG HOURS of vacuuming to clean it out!!
During one weekend, I towed it down to Jay's house (3 hours from me) and he helped me fix the damage!
The part was straightened.
A donor part cut out.
Fit tested and welded in.
We reassembled it and admired our work!
Back in Raleigh, I continued to process:
Now it was time to personalize Sapphire and make him Sapphire Britstiva! The top was sanded, primed and painted white.
Then, the design taped off.
After it baked in the sun, the red and white is taped off and blue is sprayed:
And then some more sun baking.
It was now ready... Or so I thought. The roof peeled!! So I repainted it a second time and did a silver and blue instead. I hated that, so I sanded it off, and repainted it again! When pulling off the tape from the white, it peeled. so back to square one AGAIN!
The final time was the trick. Since I was starting over again, I decided on a different shade of blue. The final result:
Repainted the bumpers, striped them, placed the decal on the sides, repainted the rims, added a spoiler and voila! Here is Sapphire Britstiva!
....And as for Charlie, I emailed him every step of the way and still keep in touch with him. He LOVES what I've done to Sapphire Britstiva and gave his approval of breathing life back into his "friend"!
Stop on by and "LIke" Sapphire Britstiva's fan page at www.facebook.com/britstiva
The sign read:
For Sale
Its name is Sapphire. Good friend since September 1992. -Charlie (540)xxx-xxxx
This car was listed on here when it came up for sale! It was a one owner and was listed in Roanoke, VA, so our good friend, Neanderpaul went and checked it out for me and gave it 2 thumbs up.
I already had a driveway full of cars, so I knew if I brought it home in the shape it was in, there would be some rough times coming my way... SOOOO with Smedley's help, we snuck off on a four hour drive to Roanoke, VA to pick up some "festiva parts". (I just happened to forget to mention that those parts were all assembled into a vehicle and titled together! LOL)
Here is how it looked when I first saw it:
It was in rough condition. The engine bay was soaked in oil. The front fenders were damaged. A small accident had forced the PO to park it and get another vehicle. The interior was covered in concrete dust and hay! The driver seat had chunks missing and what was there was so dirty, you could barely see the original color!
I decided to buy it and promised the original owner that I would keep him informed with what I did to "Sapphire".
He also had EVERY receipt for EVERYTHING EVER done to Sapphire! I organized them in a binder by date and year. Including, the window sticker!
Thanks to littlebluecar and Jiminy Cricket, I was able to hide the Festiva at their house until it was fixed and ready to come home. I would sneak off to their house and work on it every chance I got. For three long months, they hid the Festiva for me! LOL While there, I was able to tear it apart and figure out just how much was damaged. I also cleaned it up. It took FOUR LONG HOURS of vacuuming to clean it out!!
During one weekend, I towed it down to Jay's house (3 hours from me) and he helped me fix the damage!
The part was straightened.
A donor part cut out.
Fit tested and welded in.
We reassembled it and admired our work!
Back in Raleigh, I continued to process:
Now it was time to personalize Sapphire and make him Sapphire Britstiva! The top was sanded, primed and painted white.
Then, the design taped off.
After it baked in the sun, the red and white is taped off and blue is sprayed:
And then some more sun baking.
It was now ready... Or so I thought. The roof peeled!! So I repainted it a second time and did a silver and blue instead. I hated that, so I sanded it off, and repainted it again! When pulling off the tape from the white, it peeled. so back to square one AGAIN!
The final time was the trick. Since I was starting over again, I decided on a different shade of blue. The final result:
Repainted the bumpers, striped them, placed the decal on the sides, repainted the rims, added a spoiler and voila! Here is Sapphire Britstiva!
....And as for Charlie, I emailed him every step of the way and still keep in touch with him. He LOVES what I've done to Sapphire Britstiva and gave his approval of breathing life back into his "friend"!
Stop on by and "LIke" Sapphire Britstiva's fan page at www.facebook.com/britstiva
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