Hi Everyone. Brutus my 1972 F250 is now 4 weeks removed from my buddies paint shop. He had it to Grabber Blue repaint the hood I had buffed thru the clear coat on trying to remove the remnants of a rogue sprinkler. While there he was also commissioned to fix a dent in the passenger door. Its my guess a neighbor fell off the side walk and into/against its west coast jr style mirror. The bar brace support for the mirror pushed a dent into the door where it connects.. He was also to eliminate the hint of rust that was threatening under the now 4 year old Wimbledon white on the roof on that passenger corner near the drip rail.

I left him the truck while I vacationed in Nuevo Vallarta Mexico for 15 days at the end of the year.
I came home and was sick as a dog and so was my wife. When I finally went to see my truck to my surprise/ delight he had basically repainted the entire truck for everything that was Blue . He rationalized since he found a few spots on the bed etc it was easier to just shoot the top part of the truck rather than to try to color match etc. He had removed all the moldings door handles etc to do this paint work.

The truck looks great again.Im sure it was one of his easier repaints, the paint he painted over was done by him only 4 years earlier and for the most part was in great condition.
I just ceramic coated it a few days ago so it should have additional protection it did not have when that sprinkler sprayed my hood during the Pandemic. When that water spot damage happened two years ago it was a perfect storm....I had contacted Covid and did little more than look out my window to verify the truck was still parked in the parking spot outside our Condo. That spotting could have been on the truck and undetected for 3 weeks.
I learned that I need lessons on how to buff paint. My attempt to buff my hood myself taught me I dont know how to buff paint. I removed all the clear coat and had to live with a flat non gloss hood for 2 years after having it look great for about two years.

My tailgate handle was looking ratty now with fresh paint on the truck. Its the second time its been off and put back onto a freshly painted tailgate looking ratty like that. Yesterday I removed it, sanded it and painted it with that spray can "chrome" it now looks nice.
I put it back on the tailgate and found my tail gate wont open. I dont know if the tailgate opened before I removed the handle mechanism or not, I havent opened the tail gate since before it went into the paint shop.

The passenger side tailgate latch rod doesnt pull anything and has no spring tension. It wont release the latch on the passenger side. The driver side is still spring loaded and sounds and feels like it is releasing the latch. HOW DOES ONE FIX THIS??? There is no access plate to remove from the tailgate to see or to reattach this rod. The tailgate is of course stuck closed.....I appreciate the help that is bound to come my way.



Brutus fresh from the paint shop is back to looking like this old picture taken Memorial Day 2019


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