I am at the stage in my restorartion of stripping the original paint from my 78 Cruising Wagon. There are up to 4 distinct layers.red grey, black , silver. is this normal for a factory paint job? I am the original owner and have never painted it.
Thats the right amount of coats of paint, ,back then all fords, were all single stage paint, no clear coat was available til 1982.Thats not to say don`t clear coat ,but if your going for the original look stay single stage ....
At this point I plan a base coat /clear coat. It would be a lot easier to keep shiney! I am still undecided on the stripes, to paint them on or have new ones reproduced from vinyl.Right now I am leaning to vinyl .I think it would look more original.Any one have an opinion ?
do you want to copy them yourself
Flash.
Depends on the car. How far are you taking the project? are you restoring or restifying? a restored car do it the way the factory did.
If you have other improvements and upgrades paint 'em on. if you are really gonna spend the money to repaint the whole car go the extra mile and run some masking tape and buy the additional colors. peel the tape. color sand the lines smooth and bury the whole deal under a mile of clear. really what you spend in the booth won't be that much more than the cost to get a bunch of mac-tac cut up for your car. Personally i have an aversion to vinyl, it looks cheap and lazy. leave it for the ricers.
Other things to consider. if the car is reasonably straight and rust free i would not go all the way back to metal it is usually just the top layer that will be spider webbed and cracked, strip with 80 on an orbital deep enough to get it out but no deeper. If the car has never been painted a 2nd job will not make it too thick to be a problem. leaving the original primer and etch/epoxy on the steel a) saves you time and materials since you dont have to redo these steps before going to high build except where there is bare steel and b) gives and you some extra leeway for block sanding once you lay up your first coat of primer before you break through..
Just a little advice from someone who has gone both ways with the deal. My current project was stripped bare top to bottom and i can say we are well into the 100+ hours to get everything where we want it even before the first coat primer has been shot.
Personally i am going with a single stage urethane that is made locally, It holds its shine pretty good is damn near indestructible and can be cleared if one so chooses. Was originally going to use standox b/c sonic blue on the outside but a change of direction and color plus a lingering urge for a new front clip made the single stage a better choice until all the details are worked out. We have on several occasions painted a car with this method, run it for a season or two then proceeded to scuff it all, add graphics and clear. the oldest of these jobs is approaching 10 years now with excellent results. another big advantage to this method is it is generally budget friendly.
Good Luck
OhSix'
Thanks for your input ohsix.I was not originaly going to strip the car bare as most of the cars t paint was intact.But I have replaced the left quarter, and may replace the right if I can find one.There are rust scabs here there, door dings , a few other small dents , also cracks that have been there since I got the car new. It did feel bad sanding off the paint as there is a lot more on that I thought and had stuck well for all these years.I know its a lot of work, but I have already started , so now I am all in.I want to restore it as close to original as possible , which is why I an considering vinyl.At least the new stuff in soild color not dyed.Alot will depend on how much it will cost.After its painted I can mask it off myself.I traced patterns so it should be easy to do.