Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Members Cars => Topic started by: Lou Drozdowski on Sunday,June 09, 2013, 06:14:22 PM
-
The dilema : Stay original or be creative, I really could not decide which way to go. Both have merits and drawbacks, but in the end I bit the bullet and hired a 17 year pro of the steady hand process. Never having seen a Europa, my new pal Dennis made the 50 mile trip to my house. A total of 9 area applications were involved, we talked price and agreed. Then we spent the next hour scouring over photos and making exact measurements. Using a tape line only for his hand, he started dipping & brushing. I had to walk away! Not knowing what to expect, I figured to leave the artist to his work and not disturb him.. 3 hours later, he walked into the kitchen and said he was done. I was stunned by the work, flat and even, beautiful lines and spacing, color match and radius bends...Perfect ! Well worth the money ($300) including travel and I will gladly recommend him if you are planning adding a few lines to your ride. ld
-
I'm surprised he finished in 3hrs, there's a lot of lines to draw on a Europa. The guy clearly has skill.
When I first bought my car the original owner had applied black pinstripes but as black tape over the yellow paintwork. It's not a TCS so I don't know if he did it or the Lotus dealer, but they didn't sit well with me and after the first respray I didn't bother to re-apply them. And there's no hope of me ever being able to paint them on, so I've kept to a plain finish.
The hand painted stripes you have there look much better, definitely the quality that such a paint finish deserves. I think you got a bargain, I bet the guy has a queue of work.
Brian
-
Very nice work!! Wow! I'm still debating on if I should put stripes on mine... The Blue goes so well with the chrome and silver sills, I think the gold would clash it, would it not?
-
You could try silver stripes ? If you're not sure about it then I'd either photoshop a picture of your car or buy some stick-on vinyl pinstriping to see if you like it.
Black and gold work really well together but the stripes have to be a contrast IMO. I remember back in the 80s a friend had a metallic brown TCS which had gold pinstripes from new, and you could only see them close up.
Brian
-
Lou, I am very impressed with the stripe work exhibited here. This is perhaps the nicest Europa panel striping I've seen. I really like the idea of painting versus tape. I also think the paint stands the test of time better then tape, and it's a lot easier to wax and polish the car since the tape doesn't like that treatment and as a result over time tends to dull. When the time comes to paint mine, I think I would like to go this route.
-
Those stripes look GREAT!
Black and gold work really well together but the stripes have to be a contrast IMO.
I agree, which is why I'm surprised that I like my gold on yellow stripes. Maybe I'm just use to them?