Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.

Never mind about church; it's Sunday night and I'm in no condition to assess the morning. By Tuesday I might have some perspective but then it's time to get to work on next week.

After lunch I drove out to Tonapah to see the progress on Ilsa. I knew almost nothing about the body work-to-paint process and still don't have a real good handle on what's involved. What I can tell you is that these pics show the exterior primed with a 2-part epoxy primer. The uniform flat color reveals any areas that need more attention, in this case a couple spots on the rear lid and one on the passenger door. Once those are fixed - and that doesn't take Pat long at all - they get spot-primed.
Then the whole body gets "blocked." I'd heard him use that term before but today he showed me what's involved. Yikes.
He takes a stir stick like you get when you buy paint at Home Depot and folds some fine sand paper around it, and then goes over the whole car, smoothing out the primer. On a normal car he could use a larger sanding block but because a VW has all rounded surfaces he can't risk the flat spots that would result.
The next step for my car is two color coats followed by three clear coats. Inside and out. It cures for three days and then he color sands the whole car. I had to look that up. It involves using a very, very fine sandpaper and lots of water in order to get rid of the "orange peel" which always occurs with a paint job. Maaco and Earl Scheib don't color sand!
Then he polishes the whole car.

Pat is doing this job for me at a rate which I now understand is embarrassingly low. I didn't realize just how much I was getting for the amount we agreed upon at the beginning. He's fitting the work on my car in between the jobs that pay him his normal rate, and tonight I have a better understanding of the gap between those two. He said he might get a coat of paint on by next weekend and that I should go out next Sunday to see it. Best case scenario for completion is probably two or three weekends from now. When I heard he would have it primed this weekend I had (unrealistic) thoughts of getting it back the end of this week. Now that I realize what he'll do... I'll wait!

What should I do while I wait? I'm in the habit of spending much of Mondays and a little bit most other days out in the garage doing something on the chassis but it's now done. The solution to that problem will have to wait until the Sunday night fog lifts.