By: Mark Summers

Over the last few months, RV Buddies has spent a lot of time at Final Touch Coachworks. Dave and Joel have become friends of the show and the ALS community with their incredible transformation of Sandy and Kenny Olivers' access coach remodel.

What first looked like a straight paint job turned out to be a whole lot more. In fact, the work doubled when they found checking and dry-rot in the fiberglass; and then later advised that their amount of time to work on the coach would be less than planned! Well, fate is on your side when you are doing something worthy and the project turned out great – as can be seen in other posts within the "Lifestyles" section of this website.

During that project, we also filmed the first segment on the GMC remodel. Dave and I joked about the project. What we did discuss off camera is the subject of this story.

Final Touch was approached by a client with a Classic "Dolphin" coach. It's stood the test of time and is a member of their family. They were not ready to part company – but wanted to bring some new life to the appearance. Dave and Joel told me that the client had an affinity for the color blue and for dolphins.

If you look at any of the newer coaches, nobody is really doing "blues". Everything is leaning toward golds and tans. So everyone shook their heads and wondered how this coach might look. The client wanted some very bright blue as the base coat as well. I queried Dave as to how he would present creative options to the client. He told me he wasn't sure – but he was sure that a primary blue coach wasn't his vision – that was for sure!

Well, I hadn't heard about this coach in weeks, and RV Buddies had finished some recent shoots. I was in the area of the Final Touch shop and dropped by to see Dave and Joel. Walking in the back shop, there was an incredible coach. I knew instantly that this was the Dolphin coach. I could not imagine how blue would ever work – but Dave had a vision. He took the clients concept and made it brilliant. The base coat is a silver blue, with two accent tones of blue. And instead of doing "obvious" dolphins on the coach, the side accent striping includes artisan graphic treatments within them. In a word – gorgeous.

I must confess that a lot of my ideas are often good – but sharing them with my crew, or with experts like Dave lets them grow to their best potential. If you have a vision for your coach, whether you use Final Touch, or some other shop – make sure you have faith in the creative. Look at the renderings. You will live with your choice for years to come. This Dolphin will continue down the road for a long time – looking majestic and reborn.

CLICK HERE to visit the Final Touch website. Here is a  BEFORE picture.
Click on any picture for a SLIDE SHOW.

Here are the AFTER pictures. The coach isn't even completely finished and it still looks awesome! Note the dolphin art integrated into the side stripes - subtle, artistic and beautiful!