Pete Santini

Rather than make a bad situation worse with our custom flame-job skills (the movie Edward Scissorhands was really about us), we decided to go back to the source, our buddy Pete Santini, owner of Santini USA Paint & Body.This was actually not the first time we'd talked to him about the chips in the El Camino."Man, that's tough," Santini said."The chips are in the fogged section of the paint where it's tough to match because of the yellow fade."

"You can do it," we said, "You're the man!"Little did we know how right we were.After we assured Santini we wouldn't take his 440 'Cuda hostage if the paint fix didn't match, he agreed to help.Then we told him he only had four hours to do the whole job, but we waited until we got there to spring that one on him.Despite our urban guerrilla ambush, Santini showed us the tricks he's learned over the last 30 years of doing this stuff.That's why he keeps us coming back.

The Quick FixWhen those of us not comfortable with a professional paint gun in our hand think of paint-chip repair, we think of the classic "just jab some paint in there with a match stick" routine.As you might imagine, there's a little more to it than that.We'll take the easy route at this stage and assume you're dealing with a chip in a solid-color paint job that's a color base with a clearcoat.We asked Santini if those little paint-chip bottles really match to factory paint and he just snorted and said, "Maybe one out of ten will be close."This means if you don't have paint left over from the paint job, you're probably going to have to paint-match your color.Work with your local paint supplier, but assume it will be expensive.Santini says he paid $424 for a gallon of standard color that was not a custom mix.

To fix the small chip in the solid red quarter-panel on our El Camino we used the paint-dab approach.Start by smoothing the edge of the chip with 1,000- or 1,500-grit wet/dry sandpaper.To apply the paint, Santini says the best approach is to use a fine-tipped brush, but he's seen guys use a soft leaf off a tree in a pinch.
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Since we were in a hurry, Santini used a heat lamp to encourage the paint to dry faster.

Pete Santini has been painting cars since the late '70s. Inspired by the choppers of that era, his art is combination hot rod and outlaw biker. His office has several cool helmets and tanks on display. The shop is smeared with color.
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Since we've only heard of such techniques and never really tried them, we called Pete Santini of Santini Paint and Body Werkes in Westminster, California, to get a lesson on something that isn't just a coat of base and a coat of clear. Please use sparingly.

What about metallics? The difference between metallic paint and metalflake, as Santini puts it, is "the difference between fine sugar and the chunky healthy stuff. If you want to see stuff in the paint, use metalflake; if you want a little more shine, use metallic. "If you want chocolate milk, put chocolate in the milk," says Santini.

It was legendary painter Pete Santini who originally tipped CC off to the coolness of this car as it was nearing completion. He's the guy who painted the stripes on this Challenger and the '69 Camaro that appeared on that issue's cover.

The beautiful paint job was applied by flame-maker extraordinaire Pete Santini.Originally blue, our Honda was first painted black, including the doorjambs and underside of the hood and decklid.Then, using paints from the House of Kolor, Pete, the owner of Santini Auto Paint in Westminster, Calif., worked his magic.

With the flame job and all the hand pinstriping complete, the final touches were applied.On went the billet grille from Trenz Manufacturing, the license plate frame from the legendary So-Cal Speed Shop, the windshield graphics and the menacing dark tint to the windows from Permanent Impressions.

Designed by Steve Sanford of Stanford Design and Nik and Pete Santini of Santini Paints USA.

The editor also said a hot rod has hood louvers so we had a couple of rows punched into the Civic's hood before Pete Santini of Santini Auto Body in Westminster, California sprayed on the world's coolest flames.The car was originally blue, so he first painted the car black, including the doorjambs and underside of the hood and decklid.

The editor also said a hot rod has hood louvers so we had a couple of rows punched into the Civic's hood before Pete Santini of Santini Auto Body in Westminster, California sprayed on the world's coolest flames.The car was originally blue, so he first painted the car black, including the doorjambs and underside of the hood and decklid.The pinstriping is all hand done, and after four years, the paint still looks great.

We also added that billet grille from Trenz Manufacturing for a final touch of chrome.

The car wowed everybody at the SEMA show, and ran great during testing, running the quarter mile in 14.7 seconds at Los Angeles County Raceway, which is 2000 ft. above sea level.

My good friend Pete Santini of Santini Paint and Body in Westminster made me some great decals for the Race-a-slot logo on the track.

This year the free seminars included a slide presentation by custom car designer Boyd Coddington on "How The Custom Business Has Evolved"; a panel discussion on how e-commerce is affecting the industry; "Full frame and S.U.V. Damage Analysis" by Chief Automotive; and paint techniques and the "Pro's and Con's of Custom Painting" by Pete Santini of Santini Auto Paint.

The final decision was unanimously to go with Pete Santini of Santini Paint in Westminster California.Pete is widely known in the Hot Rod world for his custom paint and bodywork.The base design was penned by Steve Stanford, an associate of Pete,s.
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wanted and this caused a last minute crunch for Pete.I,m no painter

but I do have a small understanding of the effort it takes to apply the multiple

layers of masking, preparation and paint and for Pete pull off what he did