Classic car paint SOS

[Burdekin]

Hopefully getting another 50 year old Volvo, whilst it is in excellent condition it has been out of service for a long while and the paint has faded. I’m in two minds as what to do; properly clean and just decontaminate the paint and then apply a sealant/wax to bring back some life but keep her honest or clean, decontaminate, polish defects out and seal paint. What’s folks thoughts and experience on old car paintwork?

 

[ronan]

Hopefully getting another 50 year old Volvo, whilst it is in excellent condition it has been out of service for a long while and the paint has faded. I’m in two minds as what to do; properly clean and just decontaminate the paint and then apply a sealant/wax to bring back some life but keep her honest or clean, decontaminate, polish defects out and seal paint. What’s folks thoughts and experience on old car paintwork?

Old celly was poop. Offered little in the way of rust protection.

 

[Burdekin]

Old celly was poop. Offered little in the way of rust protection.

Yeah, minimal rust on this one though.

Keep a bit of patina or try and get her looking as good as possible. In two minds what the best approach is.

 

[RWD3M]

Hi Burdekin,

All this 'patina' thing is, in my opinion, complete BS. Nothing more than dealers avoiding doing anything before selling to ensure maximum profit.

Would you deliberately walk around with holes in the bottoms of your shoes or the ar5e hanging out of youer trousers? I doubt it.

Give it a good polish, take some pictures and show them here!

Just an opinion, I don't expect anyone else to share it!

 

[Burdekin]

Hi Burdekin,

All this 'patina' thing is, in my opinion, complete BS. Nothing more than dealers avoiding doing anything before selling to ensure maximum profit.

Would you deliberately walk around with holes in the bottoms of your shoes or the ar5e hanging out of youer trousers? I doubt it.

Give it a good polish, take some pictures and show them here!

Just an opinion, I don't expect anyone else to share it!

Yeah get your point. I’m in two minds, I don’t mean to leave it ratty and not look after it, this car will get plenty of tlc. A good clean decontaminate and wax will bring it up a lot but leave the wear and tear. But I also think a bit of a polish to get her gleaming a bit more is nice too. Maybe I just need to see how she looks after a good decontaminate. My problem is I’ve seen the exact car after it has been polished and looks great.

 

[Burdekin]

She is also in original condition and I don’t want to mess that up.

 

[Dcal]

Once you painting, it's been painted.
If it's lasted this long without paint that's remarkable so I wouldn't be in a rush to get the sandpaper out.

Take your time, live with it and think about it you can decide to paint it at any time but once it's done there is no going back to where you are now.

 

[Burdekin]

Once you painting, it's been painted.
If it's lasted this long without paint that's remarkable so I wouldn't be in a rush to get the sandpaper out.

Take your time, live with it and think about it you can decide to paint it at any time but once it's done there is no going back to where you are now.

No not going to be painting her, original paint is staying.

 

[malcolm]

Worth a bit of care - a lot of people will have cut the paint back in the past so the paint might be thin around the edges. The old celly paints seem to oxidise and don't keep their shine for very long so it seems a constant polishing job to keep them nice which eventually wears the paint away.

If the paint looks like it will take it why not give it another polish and tidy and see how well it lasts. You won't be the first, and a bit of love might kep it going.

Tried that on my van but it was red cellulose (red is a special case) and it went pink again very quickly.

 

[Burdekin]

Worth a bit of care - a lot of people will have cut the paint back in the past so the paint might be thin around the edges. The old celly paints seem to oxidise and don't keep their shine for very long so it seems a constant polishing job to keep them nice which eventually wears the paint away.

If the paint looks like it will take it why not give it another polish and tidy and see how well it lasts. You won't be the first, and a bit of love might kep it going.

Tried that on my van but it was red cellulose (red is a special case) and it went pink again very quickly.

Very sensible. I would worry about going through. A minimal approach and gently gently I think is required.

 

[steveo3002]

clean it up best you can then see how you feel , might be able to get it looking smart with a few touch ins etc , theyre only original once

 

[atomant48]

Wow 50 years old makes it 1970 which doesn’t seem that old but I guess it is. Bet it’s got loads of life yet. Someone pointed out to me that 2050 is as far away as 1990 now. That challenged my poor brain at first.

 

[Domdom]

2 trains of thought,
Originality
Quality appearance

So I like a nice looking original motor and I would do what I could to preserve good, original paint. The main word there is good.

There comes a point where the original paint can’t be made to look acceptable though and then I have no hesitation in repainting, just as long as it’s done properly.

Patina is one thing, but passing off rusty surfaces as patina is rubbish. And the craze for putting clear lacquer over rust to preserve it in that condition is mental as far as I’m concerned.

Each to their own of course. Your car, have it how you want it. Everyone has different taste, mine just happens to be shiny.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Each to their own of course. Your car, have it how you want it. Everyone has different taste, mine just happens to be shiny.

Quite. My argument is that it is unlikely to have left the factory looking "worn" so it should be repainted etc to look like it just rolled out of the factory. In my opinion, this 'patina' is just short for 'can't be bothered'.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

@Burdekin A good wash, then go over it with a clay bar [or mitt ex Halfords if you've never used the clay bars before https://www.halfords.com/motoring/c...iling-products/farecla-g3-body-prep-clay-mitt], then polish/wax with Collinite 476 wax [or if you're feeling flush, their 915 Marque D'Elegance ] for long-lasting weather protection.

 

[Burdekin]

@Burdekin A good wash, then go over it with a clay bar [or mitt ex Halfords if you've never used the clay bars before https://www.halfords.com/motoring/c...iling-products/farecla-g3-body-prep-clay-mitt], then polish/wax with Collinite 476 wax [or if you're feeling flush, their 915 Marque D'Elegance ] for long-lasting weather protection.

Definitely will clay bar it and maybe autoglyn super resin wax for a gentle start to see how it looks.

 

[scottmk1]

How do you know it's all original anyway? I'm of the opinion that if it needs a respray after all these years, or even just paint repairs it's no different to changing anything else that wears out or otherwise fails.

 

[Burdekin]

How do you know it's all original anyway? I'm of the opinion that if it needs a respray after all these years, or even just paint repairs it's no different to changing anything else that wears out or otherwise fails.

It's original and that is a big plus for the car. An original unmolested 50 year old classic in the UK with virtually no rust, that's a rarity and that's not something you repaint just because the paint isn't factory finish any more. There's beauty in a car that has been used, looked after and tells a story.

 

[scottmk1]

Absolutely, if it doesn't need painting then great but I wouldn't get hung up on fixing any bits that need it. It's better to prevent a problem, ie rust, than to fix it.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

maybe autoglym super resin wax

It's got more 'fillers' in it than the others.....