Project StinkBug: Time Warp Original Interior

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when it comes to restoring a classic car to original condition, it just makes good sense. A few months ago, I was visiting Long Island and happened upon a local car show. There was an "original survivor" 1955 sedan. With thoughts of my big interior restoration haunting my dreams, I took this opportunity to photograph the interior of this old '55.

Original headliner, windlace, and window trim.

Post board between the doors...

Quarter window trim, quarter trim panel, and sail panel.

Windlace at kick panel on right side.

Windlace at kick panel on left side.

Seeing this car was very helpful. My car was disassembled when I bought it, and wasn't complete either (missing lots of interior trim as well as some exterior pieces.) This encounter gives me a guide of what my interior should look like when I'm done...

Project StinkBug: Interior Floor Rejuvenation

Sometimes I forget just how old this Bel Air actually is...

The floors looked great -- considering they were nearly 60 years old. But the fronts were drafty, so I enlisted a body man to replace them with some Canadian stamped floors I bought online.

Here's the top of the replacement floors with fresh red oxide primer on them.

 The rears on the other hand were rust free, so I just had to clean up the top to match the clean bottom.

The rears were a poop-covered mess (the headliner had lots of mice living in it.)

A couple hours of sanding with my Harbor Freight electric grinder -- and neutralizing any slight surface rust -- and then painting with red oxide primer revealed some nice floors. I cut little strips of the final remnants of some sound deadener I had laying around, and applied it across the entire floor.

Here's the blank canvas before installing the entire interior.

Next up is the windlace and headliner install and on to the doors...

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Project StinkBug: Spraying Ancient Lacquer Paint After 25 Years

I was mostly satisfied with the paintwork going on with the '57 this year, but the labor costs were adding up. And when there was a problem with the hood, and it would need to be repainted at my expense, I decided to try my hand at painting using the old acrylic lacquer paint cans that came with this car.

I bought a 21-gallon oiled Harbor Freight air compressor, and all the various bits like an air hose and fittings and paint filters from them too. I had already bought a gallon of Clear Lacquer Sunscreen and some Slow High Gloss Thinner LT-85 on Amazon. I bought a $42 spray gun from Amazon, which was kind of a splurge, when Harbor Freight guns are $10. But I liked the smaller 1.3mm tip size for lacquer. So in addition to the base coat and the clear and the thinner, which I already had left over, I spent about $275 on various things, most of which can be used again and again for years.

The challenge was trying to paint a hood to match a car that was painted 25 years ago (and I'd be using the remnants in a 25 year old paint can!) And the old paint job on the rest of the car is still great, previously wet-sanded and polished to a mirror shine. To me, the rest of the car looks like a great $10,000 paint job. So the hood had to be great, not just good. I wasn't sure I should even attempt it, but in the end I'm very happy with my results and am already planning to redo the driver's side rocker, driver's side door jambs, and rear door that my painter did earlier this year.

The painting process was straightforward, and lacquer paint was easy to deal with. I think a stunning lacquer paint job can be attained by the average hobbyist in their backyard.

The hood is all prepped, and I'm ready to lay down the green lacquer and clearcoat lacquer in my backyard. My neighbors must love me... ;)

At this point, done with the final coat of clear over the green, I really wasn't sure what to think. I thought it would have much more shine. There's 5 or 6 coats of green and 5 or 6 coats of clear. The coats were pretty thin though, so it built up slowly. The outside temperature was over 90 degrees, so the paint was drying quickly, even with 1:1 of 85 degree reducer.

I waited only 24 hours for drying and started wet-sanding with 800, 1000, 1500, and then 2000 grit paper. I really just skimmed over it quickly. Then I used a wool bonnet with rubbing compound, and a foam bonnet with 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. Most folks suggest waiting a week or longer to sand, which I'll try next time. I'll also start wet-sanding with 1000 grit or higher instead of 800.

Update: So, the clear coat on the hood was damaged two days after painting, when I placed the hood upside down (in the sun no less) to assess stripped hood bolt threads, and the heat melted the clear coat into the foam it was resting on. I ended up wet sanding all the clear coat with 600 grit, mostly where the damage had occurred, but not down to the green, and then re cleared the whole hood. It's important to not get down to the green layer or you'd have to re-shoot the green metallic. I then wet sanded with 1000 and then 2000 and then polished with a cheap wool bonnet and rubbing compound. Finished it up with a foam pad and 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. I'm surprised, but this re-do looks even better than the first attempt, and I'm comfortable with the process of fewer wet-sanding grits.

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