An experienced bodyshop guy said that the new painting process that Ford used required the paint to be applied within a certain number of hours after applying the primer. If they waited too long before applying the paint, the primer was too dry and adhesion was poor. He said that my car is likely one of those "primer on Friday, paint on Monday" cars. You've seen the results in my early track pictures.

I didn't do anything about the paint for a long time, because I was more interested in putting my time and money into improving the car mechanically. Eventually, however, I realized that even in California, cars can rust, and the primer wasn't protecting the body too well. I was also tired of getting second and third looks from the Highway Patrol every time they saw my car.

So, during the offseason at the beginning of 1997, I stripped much of the trim and began repairing dents in the body. Also, because spraying the new paint on top of the old, peeling paint would have just meant that the new paint would peel off along with the old paint, I sanded off all the original paint. I later had it repainted in the original color by a moonlighting bodyshop guy.

The pictures you see here are from Norcal-SAAC's Winter Surprise track event in February 1997. As you can guess, the event was unexpected, and I was caught in the middle of prepping the car for the repaint. I wanted to run, so I reattached the mirrors and other essential items, and after doing the usual track prep, I drove the car to the track. Note that I haven't sanded off the paint yet. That's the original paint you see there. Yes, it's pretty ugly.