As you can see, I've undertaken stripping the car. This entire project started on a Saturday. I'd decided that I would repaint it the same, original color and the paint store guy told me that it would be best to strip it down to bare metal, then use a self-etching primer, and paint away. I ended up taking the car apart over the weekend, then started sanding on Sunday. Getting slow progress, I moved to using Aircraft Stripper on Monday, and have gotten this far with about 6 hours of effort.

10-25-00 I got the passenger door done tonight. I worried a bit about the badge, as it's seemingly impossible to get off, or worse get back on. I ended up prying it away a bit then taping around and behind it. In speaking with Mr. Tubbs, another convertible admirer, there may be an issue with prepping the metal before painting it. I talked with the paint store guy and my new buddy Pete who both indicate that washing it will remove the stripper. I also got some metal prep stuff (that is isopropol alcohol) that cleans the metal in preparation for priming.

10-26-00 Spent another 4 or 5 hours getting it this far, course as you can see I had about 3 minutes of assistance from my helpers. By Saturday, I'd gotten the rest of the car stripped of paint and began cleaning it up (along with the garage floor) then began sanding the car.

10-29-00 With all the paint off, and most of the sanding completed, I figured I'd fix some of the rust. Actually, the rust is minimal, but there were some spots that needed some welding. This is in front of the left rear tire, right at the back of the support rail where it attaches to the body. We ground out the bad spot and welded in a piece of metal. The undercoating caught fire between the quarter panel and the inside panel necessitating the use of a fire extinquisher twice, but fortunately no damage other than some serious heart beating excitement for a couple of seconds...

10-29-00 Here's the car ready for paint. This picture shows the filler on the fenders that had been done with another earlier paint job. I sanded the filler somewhat, but it is intact and smooth. This week I plan to tape up the rest of the car, give it another sanding with 180 grit paper, hang plastic in the garage to keep everything in there from receiving a coat of primer, and shoot the primer.

11-11-00 Happy Veteran's Day! After making sure the day job responsibilities are managed, I'm back to the car. With the ball and chain's assistance, I got the car taped up. Then, with my boy's help, I put up plastic making a booth so I can keep everything in the garage from accumulating a coat of paint.

This is the car in the "paint booth" from outside.

Here it is primed. I used Variprime, a self-etching primer. It's mixed with a converter 1:1. I used a respirator as it's pretty noxious stuff. Painting is pretty straightforward, its getting here that's all the work. My hope is to paint the color coat tomorrow.

11-12-00 Sunday. Got one coat on it today. It's the original color, Clementine Orange (L20D) Dupont Chroma One acrylic urethane single stage paint. It's mixed 3:1:1 with a reducer and activator. The color went on very well, not a single run! Trouble was that it now shows all the runs and other imperfections that were in the primer. I guess the next stage is to sand out the runs and shoot another coat. I was impressed at how easily the paint went on, and what a difference it makes to what it was. Sure is shiny, huh? Hope it keeps that wet look!

Monday, 11-13-00 Put another coat on tonight. I sanded out the runs, shot them first, then once they'd tacked up, shot the rest of the car. Here's a shot at painting the hood. You can see the regulator at the spray gun along with the water trap. The second coat went on easily as well, except I had some initial trouble with the gun. It spit a little at first, so I strained the paint and found it had gotten some "clots" in the cup. I think by using the same container I'd used the day before, the old paint came loose and got in the cup. In any case, straining fixed the problem, and the subsequent coat went on without a hitch.

The finished paint job. It looks great, although I expect it will take some polishing in places to take out some rough spots.

Here's why I used the respirator....

December 10, 2000 I got the car all put back together, and found some of the problems with the paint once I get it into better light. Some overspray, missed some spots here and there. I'll get the windshield in and wait for the weather to break.

January 29, 2001 December was cold around here so there wasn't much progress. I finally got the windshield in after screwing around with several different gaskets. I think this task is definitely a warm weather task! No more progress until a couple of weeks ago when the weather broke back into "seasonal temperatures." On one day when it was in the 50's I decided I'd hit areas I knew I'd missed, like at the bottom edges of the fenders. I mixed up the paint, this time using a spray gun with 8oz capacity pot making it easier to get the gun into tight places. I hadn't planned on painting any areas except the edges, but once the paint was mixed and it was going so well, I figured I'd hit areas I felt needed touching up.

In the circled area you can see the result of a spontaneous third coat of paint. As I hadn't masked anything, I couldn't get into the corners. As a result the edge of the third coat is still noticeable. Some paint got onto the previously new and pristine fender beading as well. Otherwise the third coat of paint made a big difference.

Someone once told me you can measure a paint job by determining if its a 1 foot, a 10 foot, or 50 foot paint job. I figure this is a 8-10 foot paint job. Not too bad for an amateur.

The quarter panel on this side ended up pretty "wavy" after the second coat. I didn't have good light, the gun wasn't working right, it was probably too cold resulting in my having a hard time keeping the wet line in sight. This resulted in having stripes where I'd missed the wet line. This third coat fixed the stripes taking out the wavy features. It turned out much better, even though I had to use some chrome polish to get some spray off some spots on the molding.

I've gotten quite a few responses to this page since I began. I've appreciated all the advice. In emails with one guy early in the process, after I'd questioned concern of all the stuff that could go wrong responded, "Remember, the journey is as important as the destination!" Those words have been inspiring to me throughout this journey. I feel good about having accomplished this task, I know what I'll do differently with the next paint job, I am generally pleased with the results. The car is a driver, I get a kick from the comments and thumbs ups given I'm out and about. The pros shouldn't worry as I'll be sure to hold onto the day job, but I'm glad I can check "painted a car" off my list!

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