Tale of a Crossfire roadster

Let's see, where do I start ... I got the hood, front fenders and window posts of my 2005 Crossfire roadster, repainted, at the best Italian supercar shop in Calgary — I didnt care, how much it cost, I wanted a good job ... and, they did a great job ... but, when I got it back, the drop- top was not working at all ... I immediately went on the Forum for help, and got a variety of advice — some of which, I tried, with no luck ... the drop-top was just dead ... in any event, I took it to a shop in Calgary, a good shop but upscale, and, they said it was the computer module ... the so-called go-to for shops, according to some guys on the forum, which worried me ... the diagnostic cost me $300, and, they found a module somewhere, a used one, but they wanted $800 for it, plus more labour to install it ... I thought I could do better on my own, so I scoured eBay, and, found one ... but, after shipping, it was $700 Cdn, so I didnt save much ... but, the seller had 100% feedback, so I felt confident ... I took it to a place in Calgary that specalizes in German imports, and, to make a long story short ... they fixed it ... took them two days, but they did it ... in fact, they went over and above, getting the nearby Dodge dealer techs to pop over, to program the module ... all at no extra charge ... the eBay module worked, and, my car was fixed, and that's all I cared ... there were a few things they had to tell me (such as, be careful what you put in the trunk, if you drop the top), but all in all, it was a happy ending ... I got my Crossfire back, and yeah, it cost me another $300 in labour ... but she looks great now, with the new paint job, no more stone chips on the front -- the previous owners, an older couple, really didn't look after it, they were total fakes ... they just drove it, and didn't do a damn thing ... meanwhile, I have replaced the tires front and back, a headlight, the coffee cup holder, the windshield, the battery and totally repainted the front of the car ... at least $4K in upgrades... but man, I have an awesome Crossfire, now!!!!

 

Bravo. Now post a photo of that beauty, please!

 

You betcha, will do ... I just have to wait for the damn sun to come out, again! The weather has been awful this week ... plus, all the damn forest fire smoke from BC ...

 

You mentioned all of the body parts that got painted, did the trunk lid and bumpers get paint as well? Did the painter paint in two or three stages? How many coats of clear and what brand of paint did you use? Thanks.

 

I took it to a place here called Maranello, who are known for doing exceptional paint work ... and, I just had the hood, the front fenders and the window posts painted grey (I will post a pic later) ... those areas had the worst of the rock chips ... the bumper needed paint too, but, I decided to hold that off until next year, because it was an extra $900 Cdn just to do that ... it was a good decision, because the car looks great, even without a newly painted bumper ... and, the paint, I was told, is actually "water based" because of environmental concerns ... and Im not sure about the painting stages ... regardless, the finish is fantastic, and, they matched it pretty well (dark grey) ... the irony of this story, is that my daughter's brand new silver Mercedes got scraped in a grocery store parking lot last week, and she's also taking it to Maranello, to get it fixed thru insurance! ...

 

Apologies, for the smoky, orange light ... here she is!