Big changes at the last minute

I washed and masked the car this morning to get her ready for the big day tomorrow and the test patches of fabric on the roof peeled right off.  About 30 minutes later the phone rang and it was a call from heaven. My angel Holly (an art car expert and friend of a friend of a friend) read this very blog and was answering the question about adhesives that I posed oh so many weeks ago. She said that the contact cement would be too brittle when it dried and the expansion of metal as it gets hot would cause the adhesion between fabric and car to crack. She suggested a spray adhesive which with less that 24 hours to go and lots of people helping would be too hard to implement. She also told me about an art car yahoo group which is a great place to ask these questions.

Richard had the bright idea of calling DAP makers of the contact cement to ask their advice and the very knowledgable customer service rep actually talked me out of using their product. Since it needs to be used in temperatures of over 65 degrees (Baltimore is in the 50's during the day) and then stay at a constant temp for 72 hours (going down to 40 degrees tonight) proper adhesion was not going to happen.

Moments later Memo appeared. He entertained me with a story of his teen years in Mexico learning how to drive his dad's bright yellow car and deciding it would look much better painted black... with several cans of flat black spray paint.  He also drew upon many years experience as a contractor working with silicone caulk.  He suggested that we prime the car with an oil-base paint, sand it and then apply the fabric to the car with a clear silicone.    The silicone will stay flexible as it dries and not be too difficult to apply to the fabric.  Natan made a  quick dash to the paint store and as the afternoon grew late and exhaustion set in we painted the car white!  I could grow to like this chalky white rough exterior.

Thankfully Home Depot kindly took back the three cans of contact cement, sold us a case of silicone caulk and some spreading spatulas and we are good to go. Janet and Abby Bolted down from NY and are actually willing to get up at the crack of dawn to help sand the primer.  Stay tuned. Tomorrow is the big day.