THE CAR THAT MARK BUILT Glasurit’s Mark Appleton doesn’t just paint them, he can build them too! The British automotive and commercial refinishing market is a little different from other industries in that customers have always demanded that paint company sales and technical staff actually know what they are talking about and practical knowledge and experience is essential. Well, Glasurit’s CTS Business Development Manager, Mark Appleton is proof that not only can he talk automotive technology, he can apply it as well, as he has built a car from scratch and what’s more he’s painted it using Glasurit’s 68 Line commercial vehicle paint system! The car is called a GBS and on seeing the bare space frame and some pre-cut parts, Mark took one look and said “I’ll never get this done, it’s not even like an Airfix kit, with a set of instructions!” Mark had never built a car before nevertheless, after researching on line specialists car builder’s forums, Mark disappeared into his garage and with a little help from his 12 year old son Josh, he started bending, riveting and bonding panels. Dropping in a 2 litre Zetec motor and five speed gearbox, together with a Sierra differential and GBS’s custom made rear suspension, this car not only goes well, it corners like it’s on rails. Though Mark spends a lot of time on the road in his role as Glasurit’s CTS Business Development Manager, or recovering after breaking his ribs crashing his mountain bike, he has been able to work evenings and weekends in the garage and in just under three years, Mark’s “Great British Sports Car” was ready for paint. Some of the panels, including the nose cone and mud guards were supplied in a bright orange gel coat, so therefore needed no further treatment, whereas the fully panelled, bare aluminium body, Mark treated just the way he would treat a new commercial body. First and foremost, Mark wanted to achieve an accurate colour match using Glasurit 68 Line and he left this to the colourist at Glasurit distributor, Saris Coatings and the match was spot on. Thanks to Mick Grayson, the owner of S&G Coachworks of Mansfield, Mark Appleton and Glasurit’s CV Technical Sales Rep, Phil Bungenaar, together with Morelli CV Refinish Technician Dean Niland were given the run of his bodyshop and spraybooth one Friday evening. It’s incredible how much work can be achieved, when you have three experienced technicians on the job and the car was fully masked in two hours. The bare aluminium required limited preparation prior to applying Glasurit 283-6101 Wash Etch, then using the wet on wet system, 284-45 Primer filler was applied and it was straight on with two coats of 68 Line top coat. An hour later the lads were cleaning up and de-masking! The resulting finish quality achieved by Mark, straight from the gun, is nothing short of astonishing and considering orange can be a notoriously difficult colour, complete coverage was achieved with just two coats. This rather different paint job went to prove just how fast and efficient the 68 Line system is, ensuring commercial vehicles are repaired and back in service in the shortest possible time. Once Mark had trailered the car back to his garage, the painstaking job of assembling the car could begin and as the vast majority of the car was new, it had to be subjected to the very strict IVA (Individual Vehicle Approval) test and registered as a new car. Mark waited at the VOSA Testing Station, and following the completion of the test and with more than a little trepidation went to find the result. To Mark’s delight, the tester remarked that it was one of the best prepared cars they’d seen and were happy to issue the necessary paperwork, so the car could be registered, taxed and insured. Mark’s GBS is now on the road and as you can imagine from a car that can reach 60 mph from a standstill in about 4½ second, he’s driving it very gently and running it in carefully. Yeah, we believe you Mark!
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 11:10:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015