1979 Mercury Bobcat

While many of my friends got cars as soon as they got their licenses at 15, I had to wait until I took Driver's Education and got insurance before I could drive, much less get a car.  I was looking at a Javelin and a GTO (that I had not raised the money for) when an elderly friend of my mum's mentioned that many people had asked to buy her 1968 VW Beetle Convertible, but she wanted to sell it to someone she knew would take care of the car.  She had just bought a Triumph TR7 and hinted that a nice boy like me might be able to convince her.  I did not really want a VW Bug Convertible (CHICK CAR), but my mother told me that she would give me her brand new 1979 Mercury Bobcat if I bought the VW for her.  So, I bought it using money I made it my first real job (McDonald's) and she gave me the Bobcat.  I would be allowed to "customize" it (mags and tires), but could do nothing mechanically to it until the warranty ran out at 36,000 miles.

My best friend, Jim Lantrip, got a job at a Body Shop after school.  I worked at the Gulf Coast Research Lab as a lab assistant from 1:30-5pm and went from there to the shop, where I eventually got a job working, too.   Since we could not do anything mechanical to it, Jim and I repainted the car.

The first time, we did it the original color, with the original stripes.  After a while, we got bored and decided to paint it another color.  We sanded the car down and sealed and primed it, getting ready for a new color.

This is how it looked in Primer Gray

We ended up painting it a midnight blue, with blue pearl metal flake.  I had to admit it, it looked good for a glorified Pinto.  People used to pull up to challenge me, thinking it had a V8.  They'd blow my doors off.

This is how it looked after we painted it.  People used to say we painted my car rather than wash it!!
The bottom pic is to give you an example of how the paint looked up close.

NOTE:  See the wrecked Mustang behind the car in the pic.  When our boss could not pay us, he gave us that car that was in the back lot.  We had grand plans for that beast.  I don't even know what happened to that car.  We obviously never built it.

We also painted Jim's 1969 Buick Skylark Sedan that year.

We also painted Jim's car, a 1969 Buick Skylark. 

I kept Bob through 4 and a half years of college.  When I graduated, my mother bought me a 1980 El Camino!
 

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