Alan---the prep work you have done is incredible! The way Paul's paint turned out is as good as it is possible to produce---really I have never seen a black that looked like this--I am anxious to see it in person.
Some will get a chuckle out of this. Back when I started searching for my Speedster I saw ads by builders who charged something like an extra $450.00 for black. Dumb ass me, I thought at first that black paint was more expensive than other colors which was the reason for the up charge. Of course I now know that because black is more reflective, the prep has to be flawless and prep like Alan has done takes hours and hours of extra blocking and sanding ---days and days even and that doesn't come cheap. Hard to admit I thought like that but I didn't know better at the time.
In the case of my car, rather than having the prep work done "under the paint" I had to spend a bundle to have all the chrome, etc. removed to get a perfect color sand job done by the top shop in the area and now mine is now show quality and has won one "best paint" award in a good sized show. But it's so much better to have the prep done under the paint rather than ON TOP of the paint like I had to do to make it as good as it is now.
My paint will never look as brilliant as Paul's because mine is a cream color rather than black, but the point of this post is how great the prep work was that Alan did that produced those great results.
Congrats Paul---you will be thrilled with your car and since you will have it well before Carlisle I hope to see your new Speedster and meet you in the spring.
