Removing aftermarket paint to get OG paint

[Mike Fisher]

[MDKG]

I am sure that would be the wisest decision Mike and I probably would have done that already if my budget (or my skills..) would have allowed me to (and probably will do it eventually). For now I am just having some fun and getting to know my car through and through and believe me it is a great conversation starter! Better than the most expensive concours restoration !

[Shady]

any recommendations when dealing with a fiberglass body ?

In spots I can see gold metal flake I assume its jel coat.
Its covered with a flat black and flat red might be rattle can it is very thin.

[Mike Fisher]

Sand/primer and paint it with base coat & clear coat if you want to be proud of the results.
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69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
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'68 Karmann Ghia sold

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[Shady]

I was kind of interested in seeing how it looked as gold metal flake. Kind of doubt I would like it but you never know.

So would like to remove the top paint without damaging the stuff under it.

I have read several of the how to's but they seem to be metal bodies and not fiberglass.

[Michael Turney]

This thread is amazing. Big respect to you all.

Decided that after many years of running what always looked like a 'tidy' bus, I could no longer live with the constant cracking and bubbling of the paint.

Here's what I revealed. L345 light grey. I'm going to run her in the original paint where possible (dents and all) and blend where nessessary.

The bus had been badly painted in Italy before I owned it and had since had two repaints. The product underneath fianlly gave up and started to let go. Just goes to show that however nice a vehicle looks, it could well be hiding a mass of horrors underneath!

Progress so far has been achieved with metal scrapers and a heat gun to get the filler out.

[rlmartinez]

I started stripping my dash to uncover the Inca red. It has two respects over it. First it was pained green them blue. The blue paint is tougher then a yellow toenail. It’s slow going for sure. The green paint wipes right off with steel wool and graffiti remover.

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54 Bug
56 convertible

[rlmartinez]

At some point a PO went wild with undercoating and sprayed the entire trunk area. The stripped easily.

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54 Bug
56 convertible

[Luman]

Hi there
So I started my search for the OG paint on my bus, cause I knew it was born as the crazy wild westerner with the strange colours. I had allot of luck with my technique and with finding the OG paint. But it seems as someone prept it pretty good for the repaint and therefore I found allot of bare metal spot and body filler... What would you do about the spots and the filler?

Cheers

[Rayflem]

The only way you can remove paint from a car body , Is to sand it off or chemical remove it .I guess you want to do a repaint on this vehicle ? If it has been repainted be for and you dont want to do any major body work? just take it all apart and sand it down, And Prep it for new paint. Once you start removing paint from a car make sure to prime it .if you have bare metal a good etch primer will do but dont wait to long befor you paint it . Paint is the only thing that seals the metal. primers are porous and over time rust will start on bare metal . once a car has been repainted you can not remove the paint and hope to keep the OG paint . Most old cars have been repainted some time in its life , do to a accident or just to refresh it . you might get luck and get a car w / og paint . Good luck Ray

[TheRustySuper]

Luman, it looks like your car was prepped for its repaint pretty well. I encountered something similar when trying to take my car down to original paint. I ended up abandoning the idea of stripping to OG paint, just because there was so much missing. It looks like you might be in the same boat as well.

I'd recommend saving your time and money for a quality repaint in the original color...but of course, it's your car!
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My '72 Super

[Luman]

[Chickensoup]

Quick question.... Will graffiti remover work well on hard cracking paint?

Thank you

[TheRustySuper]

[MDKG]

Finished (...for now... )!

[moogie32]

[frenchroast]

Started restoring the bug’s OG toga white paint today. After stripping the apron, I rubbed it with 0000 steel wool and mineral spirits then color sanded up to 1200 grit. I like how it turned out and think I’ll do the whole car and finish it all with a 2000 grit color sand, cut, and polish.

[Larry Engelmann]

Looks great! What did you use to strip the apron? Any before photos? Thanks.

[zozo]

This corner section had some mismatched spray on it that was making me crazy. I "flicked" with a razor blade one day, and ended up doing the whole upper corner. Just used a razor blade on all of it. I've not been able to get a mix that matches it, since it's faded for 55 years. The color that I scraped off looks like it was a proper match for pre-faded, but stuck out like a sore thumb. No idea what I'm going to do, now that I've replaced one issue with another.

[frenchroast]