Bought a Norton roadster fiberglass tank on E-Bay from Brent. The tank is beautiful, better than the pictures could show.
Was so impressed by the craftmanship, that I sent him the tank and side covers from my 1975 MK3 to be refurbished.
His paint over paint technique is far superior, and will last far longer than the factory decals over paint.
Had considered repainting the Norton red, but after seeing how good the black and gold could look, decided to stay with the original colors.
The beautiful paint brings back much of the pride of ownership I felt back in 75 when I bought the motorcycle.
Keep up the fantastic work, and Thanks

Again, more of the same. Very nice work, fast, and personable. Brent was interested in helping me thru the types of paint that would be best for my application and needs. VERY reasonable prices, about a third of what a local painter wanted. He's got my future business! Ted

Brent just finished color matching a steel roadster tank for me. Brent did an awesome job. I could not be happier with the final product. He kept me very informed through the whole process and sent and incredible amount of pictures documenting the job. His price was more than reasonable for the job he did. I would highly recommend him to anyone else in need of painting services. I know I'll give him a call if I need anything else done...

Chris Moore
White Hall, AR

Got back tank and sidecovers from Brent for Norton MK3. Couldn't be more pleased with the results. Can highly recommend Brent's work to anyone. The photos just can't do justice to the depth and shine of the paint. Great job Brent, Thanks.

Brent: do you seal the fiberglass tanks prior to paint? if so, which product?

Dear sns,
To address your question, I can seal fiberglass tank interiors. I have used Caswell and had success. However, I am hearing that a shop I do painting for, Classic Bike Experience in Essex, Vermont, (www.classicbikeexperience.com) is telling me they have seen at least one or two failures from sealing jobs they have done. So it may be that the ethanol can get to the product, but cannot confirm this 100%.
I just spoke to a potential customer and he is sold on a product called kwikpoly. Here is a link. I have heard nothing of this product up till now. http://kwikpolyllc.com/
I hope this helps. Feel free to call me at 802 485-4238. If no ans, leave a message and I will get back asap,
Regards,
Brent Budgor
The Vintage Vendor
www.vintage-vendor.com

Hi

I am lucky, I live just over the hill from Brent and it was a natural to give him a call when I picked up a 1970 Commando Roadster to restore this winter. Brent enticed me with dozens of photos of Nortons he has painted and the hardest thing to do was to decide what color. After considerable debate, I decided to make her Canary Yellow as close to original as possible. More pictures came from Brent with stuff he had done in yellow. It was a real pleasure dealing with someone that actually answers their email promptly and understands the restoration process.

I located a steel tank to replace my fiberglass original. I bought one from India that seems much better than the ones from Pakistan. So, one Sunday my wife and I drove over Roxbury Gap to make our way to Brent's house and shop. He was waiting for us outside and we went into his shop where he showed us the projects he was working on. I was very impressed with his work and it certainly didn't hurt that his son was a big fan of my company, Small Dog Electronics.

A couple weeks later I started to get "in process" pictures from Brent - lots of them. The finished job looked great in the pictures but when I picked up the parts I was completely blown away with the great job he had done. He told me they "were not perfect" but to my eye they are as perfect as any paint job I have seen. The color was spot-on and I could not find any defects at all.

I took the parts home and they are sitting safely in my closet until the rest of my restoration is ready for them, I just hope that the rest of the work is 1/2 the quality of this paint job.

I wholeheartedly recommend Brent!

SUBMITTED FOR OWNER AS HE REFUSES TO GET NEAR A COMPUTER. AS A SIDENOTE, TIM WAS REFERRED TO ME BY THE VERY TALENTED FRANK HOLMES. THOSE OF YOU IN THE NEW ENGLAND AREA MAY KNOW FRANK, FORMERLY OWNED "FRANK'S BRIT BIKE BARN" IN N.H. FRANK SOLD THE BUSINESS TO SOME GREAT GUYS IN ESSEX, VERMONT, THE CLASSIC BIKE EXPERIENCE. I HAVE DONE WORK FOR BOTH. - BRENT

"As a self-employed finish carpenter I am always concerned with design and detail. Brent did a super job on my 1965 and 1966 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle tanks for a very reasonable price. I highly recommend Brent for all your painting needs".

Tim Sheely
N. Berwick, ME

SUBMITTED FOR TRIUMPH OWNER, RICH MAKRUSKI
I wanted to write a recommendation for Brent Budgor, master painter and owner of the Vintage Vendor. In the last year Brent has done two paint jobs for me on my classic Triumph motorcycles. These two jobs were very different and they showed the diversity of his talents.

I wanted a unique tank on my 1978 T140E. I was looking for a color and style that was eye-catching and different, but kept the classic theme of a 32 year old bike. Brent worked closely with me so that I could meet this goal. It took some time for him to show me all the color combinations he had painted in the past. He made recommendations but always allowed for, and didn't laugh to hard at, my crazy ideas. He finally painted the tank a dark metallic green with gold scallops and a white pinstripe. The result was outstanding! Not only was the color combination exactly what I was looking for, but the workmanship was impeccable. I get positive comments and thumbs-up every time I take the bike out.

On the strength of this success, Brent was my choice to paint my rare 1965 Triumph TR6SR. I am doing a complete restoration on this motorcycle and my hope is to have a bike that looks like it just came off the showroom floor 45 years ago. Brent took great pains to make sure that the duplicate colors matched the original. He had to remove the bad paint that was on the bike, make repairs, ensure the decals were accurately placed and that the details and dimensions of the different colors and pin striping matched the original. Once again, Brent did a wonderful job and I am very pleased with the results.

I would highly recommend Brent and the Vintage Vendor for any classic motorcycle paint job you may have. He does a very professional job. For what you get in quality and customer service, it is at a very reasonable and competitive price too.

Richard Makruski
Atwater, Ohio

And another satisfied customer!

I decided the time had come to retire the fiberglass tank on my 72 750 Commando and I selected Brent to paint the new bodywork. I shipped off a steel Roadster tank and fiberglass sidepanels to him about a month ago and collected the painted parts from the post office today. One month turnaround including a round trip from Colorado to Vermont via Parcel Post (my choice), not bad!

I decided to have the new parts painted candy blue with a silver base and silver lining and logos. The parts look fantastic! Brent has a good eye for the lining. I've seen a lot of Commando jobs where the painter didn't quite follow the lines of the tank, resulting in the finished job looking "off". And we've all seen how most painters get the sidepanel logos wrong, by aligning them with the top edge of the panel (which is not parallel to the ground, giving that sloping logo effect). Brent got it right.

Brent kept me informed with emails and photos every step of the way too. I wish all vendors were this good to work with. The cost was quite reasonable too. Very highly recommended and I'll use him again if/when I have more parts to be painted.

Debby

SUBMITTED FOR OWNER OF '70'S VINTAGE KAWASAKI.
Doing business with Brent was truly a pleasant experience. Not only was his
workmanship superb,but he is genuinely a nice guy.He kept me informed with
pictures as project progressed and met time schedule almost to the hour.In
our era of lost public relations Brent seems to turn back the clock to a
time when a hand shake was a bond and pride in quality work was
paramount.Thank Brent

Roger Buford
Clarksville, Ga.

The examples look great.
Certainly looks like quality work.
What are the reasonable prices like?
Lets say for a steel in bare metal primer, front fiberglass fender previously painted, 2 side panels also previously painted, and the rear fender that is steel and has been powder coated. I have some gold decals but kinda like the look of the reduced size ones.
Standard 1972 black commando with gold logos and simple gold pinlines. The double ones that go into single lines.
A ballpark figure would suffice as to be considered reasonable.
I didn't see any prices mentioned in any of the posts?
Thanks

Hi Surfdog,
Brent @ Vintage Vendor here. Assuming no bodywork to speak of beyond a small ding or two, figure $825 plus the shipping. That's finished in 2 stage PPG Global base/clear, decals used only as stencils, so final product is all paint with no decal issues, wetsanded and buffed. Typically I'm around $750 for tank and side covers, but adding the fenders bumps it a bit. Let me know what you think. If you send your e-mail address to brent@vintage-vendor.com, I can send you some recent examples of Nortons. The price includes all labor, materials and stencils. I am the only one to work on your tank as I'm a one-man-show.
Regards,
Brent Budgor

The following is submitted for Peter Eastwood, vintage Kawasaki owner-

I had read about The Vintage Vendor on an old Brit-bike site, so I decided to call for a quote for painting some Kawasaki parts. The parts were from a 33 year old bike, and I wanted to match the original color as closely as possible. Unfortunately, no reliable data exists for the paint formula, so the color had to be matched using old photos and one pretty beat-up tail section with a small amount of remaining original paint.

Brent did an excellent job matching the color. He also removed a dent in the tank so that now, no one would ever know that the tank has been dented. The quality of the paint is excellent. Throughout the job Brent kept me informed of progress by email, with photos. He answered my questions, some of which were probably a little bit obsessive.

Furthermore, the price for the job was less than I had been quoted locally. Even shipping the parts from California to Vermont and back was cost effective.

I was very pleased wit the workmanship and service afforded by Brent Budgor, The Vintage Vendor.

Peter Eastwood
Corona, California

Just sent my steel Interstate tank with original paint to Brent at The Vintage Vendor. -will post a pic here when it's back.