1977 Ford Truck Paint

Ray Sotero: Where, oh where, has Ladydog gone?

Ladydog, please come home.

Like many OCD motorheads, I name my cars.

There was Gus the Custom Cruiser, a 1967 Ford Custom (a stripped Galaxie) similar to the cab Robert Duval drove Steve McQueen around San Francisco in while retracing a dead witness's steps in the movie "Bullet."

Gus turned eyes not for its cool-looking factory-installed spotlight — but for having its rear bench filled with three car seats required for having three kids in 37 months.

Other favorites include:

ª The White Knight, a white-over-beige 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix provided as newspaper perk; and her sister, the Black-and-White Knight, another 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix, also white but with a black interior.

ª La Cucaracha, a 1977 Datsun B210 GX 5-speed, named because, as a hatchback, his looks reminded us of the pesky cockroaches in the Modesto duplex we endured for six months — as required by lease.

ª Checkers, a white 1991 Miata that had what afflicted many Mazdas of that era — peeling paint. I slowed her hair loss by overlapping bare spots with checkerboard contact paper.

ª And, as some readers may remember, the Black Ratmobile, the 1988 Toyota MR2 with pop-up headlights, a salvaged title and dynamite handling. Bought, rebuilt and painted white by a niece, it's now back in the Sotero garage because I made her promise me first right of refusal if she ever decided to sell.

Which brings us back to Ladydog. It's a green 1995 Saturn SL2 sedan with tan leather seats, a sunroof and new Pirelli tires driven by Daughter No. 2.

Its license plate read 3LDG275. In our minds, LDG translated to Ladydog, the name of No. 2's rescue mutt, Lady.

The whereabouts of Ladydog the car became a mystery three weeks ago. A pickup had rear-ended Daughter No. 1's 1991 Firebird convertible, leaving it totaled. Daughter No. 2 is away for a year attending grad school, so we loaned Ladydog to Daughter No. 1.

Only three days later, Ladydog was stolen from the grade school where No. 1 works as a teacher's aide.

Officers said most stolen cars are recovered within a couple weeks, usually within three or four miles from where they were stolen.

Heeding the officer's advice, I worked outward from the crime scene, distributing about 200 wanted posters.

The top read: MISSING! Then, below a picture of Ladydog: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS CAR? A $200 reward if found.

These posters are now hanging in Laundromats, gyms, donut shops, auto parts stores, empty newspaper racks, apartment complex wash rooms and the breakrooms of four local post offices.

Paint Problem. - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

It very well could be stone chips from the road as that is a common problem on the fenders especially if you have glass fenders but also on metal fenders,the stone makes a little dent from the bottom side of the fender and cracks the paint and has to be sanded out, dent fixed, primed and repainted. A good coat of rubberized under-coat can help with this problem, Garry Usually a star shaped cracked area like that is the result of something impacting the inside of the panel, like a rock or other similar piece of debris. The problem is worsened by the fact that you have lacquer paint...very brittle. To effect a lasting repair on this cracked area you will have to remove the paint down to the primer...get out all cracked paint or it will crack back through any new paint you apply over it. Hopefully you have some of the original paint that you can use for touch up. After removing the damaged paint you will have to fill that area with primer and block sand it smooth so that you have a level surface. Paint the area with the color coat and feather the edges with some thinner as you spray. Color sand and buff.

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