Working on repainted 1955 car

[grover]

This weekend I'll be tackling my wife's antique car. It's a 1955 Nash Metropolitan that was repainted in the 1980s. I have quite a lot of Meguiar's stuff including the DA polisher but I thought I'd start very mild like the the Deep Crystal 1,2,3 system by hand.

Question is - my wife's getting info from people on Nash message boards that the paint is very finicky and to not use "modern" car waxes and polishes so I thought I'd get input from this board. Thoughts - is Deep Crystal system a good start? Should I use other products?

I'll try to take pictures this weekend of before, during and after.

I was active on this board several years ago and even went to one of the roadshow classes by Mike. I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

[Murr1525]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

This weekend I'll be tackling my wife's antique car. It's a 1955 Nash Metropolitan that was repainted in the 1980s. I have quite a lot of Meguiar's stuff including the DA polisher but I thought I'd start very mild like the the Deep Crystal 1,2,3 system by hand.

Mild is good. Do you know what kind of repaint? SS I imagine?

Question is - my wife's getting info from people on Nash message boards that the paint is very finicky and to not use "modern" car waxes and polishes so I thought I'd get input from this board. Thoughts - is Deep Crystal system a good start? Should I use other products?

Since it isnt original Nash paint, not sure how they would know what the paint is like. The Deep Crystal System would be a fine place to start.

Are there many defects that need fixed, etc?

I'll try to take pictures this weekend of before, during and after.

Always a good idea.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

What can you tell us about this repaint - single stage, base/clear? What sort of condition is it in overall at the moment? If it has a lot of swirls you may not make a lot of progress with Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner as it's incredibly mild, especially when worked by hand. We've actually had a couple of Nash Metros come through our garage in the past few years and we didn't find them to be at all unusual with regard to the paint. If memory serves, one of them was a repaint and in pretty decent shape, but the other still had a lot of original paint on it (a few panels replaced or repaired and resprayed) and that wasn't all that different than any other old single stage paint. That is to say, it had the same little, slightly unique to it things that all paint systems have, old or new.

We're going to recommend that you do a test spot first, of course, no matter what products you choose to start with. Where exactly you do start, however, is going to be somewhat based on your assessment of the finish; level of defects, your ultimate goals, etc. If the paint is in fact single stage then we highly recommend M80 Speed Glaze since single stage paints just love that product. It can be applied by hand or with a DA.

Still, if you can get some pictures up before you get started, we'd love to see them.

[grover]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

I'm pretty sure the repaint is single stage. It has light swirls in it but is in overall decent condition - until we get it repainted ourselves and I'll try to post pictures tonight that shows why I said that. The test spot is a good idea and I'll probably give that a try. I might M80 in my cart so I'll take a look.

Thanks for the input!

[Murr1525]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

#80 is certainly good for SS paint, and is a little stronger to deal with swirls, even by hand.

[grover]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

Here are the pictures I talked about. Upon further inspection the paint is in pretty bad shape.

[Murr1525]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

Doesnt look too bad, other than the scratch/rub mark.

[The01Cav]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

Awesome Nash Metropolitan

[BillE]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

Nosey question...You have two different license plates, or are the back and front pics at a different time?

I always LIKED those lil critters. Seeing the BMC "A" engine brings back happy memories.

Thanx for posting...

Bill

[grover]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

Those pics were all taken on Saturday when I was working on the paint. Florida only requires the back plate so my wife kept the original California plate on the front.

After looking at the swirls in the paint, bonded materials and trying a test spot, I think I might go with: clay, DA with 83 (too harsh?), DC polish and DC carnuba wax. I looked at my supply cart and I don't have any 80 as recommended.

[Murr1525]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

#83 shouldnt be too harsh, and is worth a try. Just not quite as user friendly, or as full of oils as #80, but is a little stronger.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Working on repainted 1955 car

Those pics were all taken on Saturday when I was working on the paint. Florida only requires the back plate so my wife kept the original California plate on the front.

After looking at the swirls in the paint, bonded materials and trying a test spot, I think I might go with: clay, DA with 83 (too harsh?), DC polish and DC carnuba wax. I looked at my supply cart and I don't have any 80 as recommended.

If your prior experience with defect removal, coupled with a further inspection of the paint, tells you this is your starting point then that's good enough for us. Don't worry about M83 being too harsh - Ultimate Compound is more aggressive still and we wouldn't hesitate to at least do a test spot with it. And of course you plan on doing a test spot with M83 first anyway, right????

[grover]

Yeah, the swirling in the paint
Was more than I expected so it will take some elbow grease get it corrected. I did the DC 1,2,3 to test spot on Saturday and it turned out nice, just need to get a little stronger for the swirls. To do the whole car I was hoping to use the da to make it easier on my arms. I'll let you know how try #2 goes.