'76 Camaro - Body Work And Paint - Show-Quality Paint

Classic Industries It's In The Details
The main objective here is to detail what went behind the paint now on the g/28, giving insight on just how to produce a show-stopping finish. When the paint looks that good, you can't overlook the details. Any worn or tired parts will really let down the effect. Fortunately, Classic Industries has many of the required trim parts that make all the difference to the overall effect. We used their available parts to both replace timeworn items like door hinges and handles, the moldings, the pitted stock windshield, and the faded lenses. Classic also supplied the hardware, weatherstrips, and body bumpers that should be a part of any serious repaint. Classic was also our source for styling items that helped change the look of the g/28, such as the three-piece rear spoiler assembly, initially rendered by artist Kris Horton.

One thing we couldn't get from a catalog was a way to make those oversized '76 Camaro bumpers look good. Here it took the eye and skill of Johnson's Hot Rod Shop to come up with the solution. Alan details: "The only real body mods we did on the car were the front and rear bumpers. The bumpers were pulled tighter to the body, and we cut the ends off, sectioning the bumper two ways. We are narrowing the bumper widthwise across the car, and at the very end cap of the bumper we are narrowing that up length-wise. The front and rear bumpers both had rubber impact strips and we had to weld up all the holes for those. For the front bumper we had to make new brackets to move it in." After all the heavy mods, the bumpers were refinished with the same level of detail as the overall paintwork.

A final step was the application of the stripes, keeping with the original design theme penned at the very start of this project. The stripes were applied after the car was assembled, again relying on the talents of Alan and his crew. "After everything was final-buffed, lined up, and fitted up like we wanted, we laid out the stripes. We did the layout by eyeballing and a little bit of measuring, but more by eye than anything else. Once it was laid-out, we papered off the car and then used a gray Scotch-Brite pad to rough the surface for the paint. We used Sherwin-Williams Bronze Mist basecoat with a flat clear over the top of the basecoat. That same color was used for the wheels and grille," Alan says. The details do make the difference, and with quality suppliers like Classic Industries and Sherwin-Williams behind the product, and a pro like Alan Johnson providing the talent, you'd be amazed at just how good a '76 Camaro can look.