How cheaply can a Blazer be painted? (a factory color)

[The Griff]

Ok, well since I'm now a registered member, and have free reign to explore here, I figured I'd get this out there.

This truck needs a paintjob BAD, I think it does at least.
It was originally GM Midnight blue with a white shell, and inside the inside, door sills, etc. But when it was new, it was shipped to an "undisclosed location" (I'm quite curious myself) in Nevada, where it was painted desert tan, then in the late 90's it went to some state park in Louisiana, were it was painted white, and still is.
Then it came up here to some local police station, and stayed white.
Now its mine, and still with its crappy white paintjob.

How expensive would it be to get it back to Midnight blue? It wouldn't have to be an over the top master piece My goal would be blue with a white cab and shell, with a good 25 foot look. Would it be something I could take on by myself? Would I have to sand it down? Or could I just scuff it up and prime it? No rush on this, as my budget is currently zero.


Here's just how white it is now.
You can still see some tan poking through some places, and some blue in others.

 

[Richcz28]

If you really want to do it cheap, I think 496 truck sprayed on rustoleum from a gallon can. It came out really decent for a very inexpensive job. Maybe he can chime in and tell you about it. I forget all the details.

 

[70jimmy]

A decent auto paint supplier can mix up factory colors in either bulk to be sprayed from a gun or aerosol cans and can do it in single stage like acrylic enamel or two stage base coat clear coat.

If you do it your self I would recommend the acrylic enamel and its up to you whether you want to do the aerosol or rent or buy a gun.

It can be done at home, better to do it in a garage but I have done them outside before.

You can also order the color matched aerosol from most parts stores, or you can just pick what is close. As with any decent paint job it is all in the prep. I always sand and prime then paint. The more time you spend and the more particular you are with detail work and masking the better the end result will be.

Some colleges still do auto body and will do the work at a good discount and some body shops will spray for cheap if all the prep is done. A friend used to go to Maaco but did all the prep himself and masked it in the parking lot so they just rolled it in shoot it and roll it out. Its all about do you have time and not much money or money and not much time.

 

[CK5]

it was shipped to an "undisclosed location" (I'm quite curious myself) in Nevada

See if it has one of these tucked up under the visor.

 

[The Griff]

"Sex : Yes"

Pretty sure I would notice something like that, Although it does have some interesting decals on the ceiling, stuff like "Adjust Head Restraints", and one really interesting one in the door sill, It says "Not certified for use in division one" What is division 1? Where is it? and why is it not Blazer friendly?


The imagination could take the "undisclosed location" thing many places, but If I had to guess, it would probably by some national park or something else boring like that.

 

[The Griff]

I got to using my thinker today, and it came up with an idea. Shouldn't there be a factory clear coat on this truck? What would happen if I dabbed a rag in a little lacquer thinner and took it to the white paint? Would it do a lot of damage to the clear and blue paint underneath both the white and tan? It's pretty obvious that they did not sand it down when they painted it, they just shot the new color right over the factory blue.

Like I said earlier, it doesn't have to look amazing, just not plain, flat white.