A man has revealed how he transformed a car for £30 using a wall sander and home interior paint because he hates red.
Jordan Gold, 25, from Alton, Hampshire, picked up a Seat Altea car for £600 on Facebook marketplace in July.
Initially, he planned to fix it up and sell it on for a profit but after taking it for a spin, he quite liked it for himself.
“I realised how amazing it was on fuel reaching an average of 60mpg and that it was really nice to drive,” he told Jam Press.
“The only problem was the colour – for some reason I hate red.
“My partner and I moved into a flat last year and the first thing we did was paint over the red wall in the kitchen.”
Although the estate agent already has a car he loves, he thought he could use this one for long motorway journeys to avoid adding miles to his main vehicle, and with a few tweaks, he could use it as a camper.
He said: “I’ve always wanted to do a van build but they’re just too expensive for me so I improvised with a car.”
As the car was originally a budget buy, getting it painted or wrapped was going to cost a lot more than he had paid in the first place.
Instead, he decided to do it himself – using a home sander and some basic wall paint.
He said: “A professional respray was going to be about £2000 and a wrap-around £1300 which was way more than the car was even worth.
“It was summertime so evenings were light so I thought ‘Why not. If it doesn’t go to plan it won’t be a huge loss and if it pays off it might look pretty cool and be a little project to keep me busy!'”
He headed off to Wickes to have a look for his options, keeping it as cheap as possible.
He said: “I didn’t know anyone that had done this before so asked the employees at Wickes for advice.
“They were very worried and doubted the idea but I went ahead anyway and just bought some normal wall and ceiling house paint.”
After chosing a tin of the Wickes own brand walls and ceiling paint in midnight black for £14, he also bought a sander for £15 and a roller for £4, bringing the total to £33.
Jordan spent a day sanding the surface of the whole car to make it rough, helping the paint to stick.
The next day, he was ready to paint.
He said: “I got my roller brush out and began rolling the paint onto the car as if it was my bedroom wall at home! I remember it being so hot at the time and the paint was drying instantly on the car.
“My parents and neighbours were worried the paint would come off as soon as it rained and ruin the driveways with matt black paint.
“It got me thinking maybe this was a bad idea but it was too late to go back.”
After applying two coats over the course of a day, the red was completely covered.
Jordan said: “I finished painting the car and it looked awesome!
“Then it was an anxious wait until the rain came down to see if all my hard work would turn into my car going back to its original colour and an invoice from the neighbours for a new driveway.”
Luckily, when the rain came, the paint all stayed on the car.
He said: “All the paint was completely stuck to the car. There was a really good hold I’m guessing, because I sanded it down first.
“There were a couple of gaps I couldn’t get to with the brush that I filled in with black spray paint. It was all done and ready to decorate with some stickers and put the original badges back on to make it look like a factory finish.
“I wasted no time and the next day the car was packed and ready for my first car camping trip.”
To make it more comfortable, he picked up a foam mattress, window covers and a TV from Facebook marketplace for a total of around £80.
He put the seats down and cut the foam matress to fit, then attached the TV between the front seats, facing the back.
The idea is that everything can be folded up when driving, and Jordan has already made use of it with trips to the Lake District, Peak District, Wales and Broadstairs.
Jordan also made sure to notify the DVLA of the car’s colour change, which is a legal requirement.
Now six months on, the paint has held up well and Jordan if pleased with the outcome.
He said: “I have had a few knocks and scrapes but I just got my roller out again and rolled straight back over it and it’s good as new again.”
After posting videos on TikTok, Jordan has had thousands of views, with one being watched by over 1.1 million people.
One said: “Mateeee that looks so class, and for £30!”
Another added: “Looks good. I have always wanted to do this to a car but never had a car were the paint work is bad enough to justify if haha.”
Someone else wrote: “How did the paint come out so well for a £34 job. This man needs to paint full-time.”
A fourth said: “First time I’ve seen a car transformation that isn’t sh*t.”
A fifth explained: “The sanding made all the difference you done a fab job.”
Jordan said: “I posted the video online nearly six months after I had painted the car as I didn’t think anyone would really care about it!
“However I was wrong, the video instantly started soaring with nearly 500k views in the first couple of days.
“Five days later it has reached over 1 million views with hundreds asking me how I did it, what steps I took and what paint I used! I guess they all want to attempt it themselves!
“My advice to people wanting to give this a go would be”
“Prep is key, sand the car first and mask off areas you don’t want paint on! e.g windows and lights.
“Be patient, cars are big canvases and it does take a bit of time.
“Pick a car that has paint imperfections so it doesn’t matter as much if you do a bad job.
“Put a clear coat on top. I didn’t do this and everything clings to the paint so easily so it does get dirty fast!”
In other news, family convert old school bus into state-of-the-art motor home with three beds and indoor climbing wall for $15,000 in just two months
