Patina problems

[BarrieLynn]

I hope everyone out there is faring well during this pandemic. I feel a little guilty having free time and nice weather to finally address my patina conundrum while people are out there risking their lives and dying. It's been about 2 1/2 years since I've posted about the Wonder Bus but I assure you we are both still here. Here are the links to the previous posts. This bus has a pretty incredible story.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678300&highlight=
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=684809&highlight=

My 59DD walk thru camper conversion came to me about 3 1/2 years ago with original SWR paint and some identical spray can touch up spots on each side where a logo might have been prior to the camper windows being added. There weren't any raised letter outlines showing through the paint so I kind of gave up on the idea that there was an old logo hiding beneath.

After getting a little more aggressive with removing the touch up paint in the past week, I have finally solved (for myself) one of the mysteries of this bus. It appears there WAS a logo that was aggressively sanded off with an orbital sander so the raised letters wouldn't show through when the bus was repainted after the camper windows were added. Where I removed the spray paint behind the right rear camper window, you can see heavy scratches and burned out spots that appear to be from an orbital sander.

I started removing the newer spray from the panel below and I can begin to see the shadow of the same thing emerging there. For those of you wondering what the rubber circle is, it is a plug for an old CB or ham radio antennae.

After exchanging a few texts with the prior owner, I got a little more of the story. He had actually removed an entire bad SWR repaint job with oven cleaner and a plastic razor blade to reveal the OG SWR paint that was there when the bus came to me. When he removed that layer and found the sanded off logos on each side, he sprayed over them with (accurate) SWR paint. Now I really don't know what to do. Do I remove the rest of the touch up paint and go for a funky sanded logo patina or do I just polish the original paint to blend in with the respray? I have tried a little of both, and now I am calling for input. What would you do? Here is the same lower panel polished. A few more coats of wax and it will blend in with the newer stuff.

I have now removed a little more of the spray from the nose and I think there are sanded off letters visible. Do I keep going or what? I'm worried if I keep going it will look horrible. I guess I can always retouch it if it does.

I also scrubbed the roof with CLR and determined there is no primer left at all, just rust on bare metal, so I put a coat of linseed oil on.

[Major Woody]

Well, I will say it I guess. I don't think you have "patina" there in many places. It has crossed the line into deterioration, corrosion and neglect. I think you need to take the roof down to bare metal and repaint it and that other areas such as the area you messed up hunting for logos need to be professionally sprayed and blended.
With all that said, personally I would repaint the whole thing. It's pretty battered all over. Others will disagree.

[mandraks]

i am with you on the roof, i would paint it. The rest of the bus is fine as is, blend it if desired. Logos are long gone
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regards

Uli

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'53 3-Fold Oval, L35 Metallic Blue, looking for a narrow hatch panel

[LJay]

I’d say paint the roof in a patina fashion,grey with buffed red but sealed properly an fix the rust an it’ll look perfect the way it is.
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1962 Turkis Westfalia so34.

My build thread.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=742279

[velvetgreen]

just my opinion but i would treat the significant rust on the roof and repaint it SWR with a flattening agent so it matches the rest of bus as well as possible. I would leave the rest of the bus in its original paint. The drip rail on the roof will provide a nice separation line between new and original paint so the difference won't be as obvious . This is a lot easier than say putting new metal in rockers and then trying to blend to rest of original paint

[AS350driver]

I would lightly sand the roof to minimize the scale, continue with clr to lighten the dark areas, then use rattle can clear coat and be done with it. The rest of the bus looks fine either way. And definitely enough OG paint left there to justify not doing a complete repaint.

The rattle can clear coat can help a lot. Some before, during, and afters of my junky 13w

[nineteensixtyfiveVG]

i would definitely stop whatever you are doing with stripping paint. the PO did a great job on the blend. you should really just polish this bus as is. Below are a couple of pics of the roof of my bus that had a lot of rust on the roof. you can always do like this, just 409 and steel wool, wet sand, compound, wax and buffing. Also, I love the way this bus looks, I absolutely would not repaint it.

[BarrieLynn]

Good feedback from all. I love the color of this bus. I wasn't exactly "hunting for logos", I thought there might be original paint underneath the patches of shiny spray, and maybe logos. After looking at the shiny patches for 3 years I had to know why they were there. I didn't have the knowledge from the PO about his finding the sanded logos until after I removed the first patch.

[aa390392]

I agree with Velvetgreen...100%
IMO
Thomas
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getting grumpy & less tolerant!


55 ragtop
56 delux sedan
56 Kabriolet

[Dustin B]

I definitely wouldn't sand on it anymore. The logos are long gone so at this point your just losing original paint. I would polish it then have paint matched to touch it up.

You have an awesome bus by the way. A SWR walkthrough camper is a dream bus near the top of my want to own list.

My bus was in a similar condition when I got it. It had holes in the doors where window were but where long gone. I had to decide weather to make it a panel again or search for windows that would fit. I ended up making it into a panel polishing it and touching up the paint to match the original paint.
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Wanted Victoria motors licence plate frame.

62 og paint L469 type 1
61 og paint L31 DD panel type 2
64 heilite viscount tent trailer
71 sears clamshell trailer

I <3 Brazilian busses

Original paint and patina extravaganza http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=187156