HOW TO RESTORE AN OLD CAR--Part 4: Paint Work

We had already sprayed the unibody inside and out with Dupont 615S self-etching primer to protect it from surface rust. Running our Campbell-Hausfeld dual-action sander lightly over the surfaces, using 100-grit paper, instantly showed high and low spots.

The next step was to sand the bad spots down to bare metal, then fill them with body filler. We mixed only a small amount at a time and threw the remains away, bowl and all. Throwing everything away avoids contaminating the next batch of filler with residue from the previous batch.

Auto body men call filler "cheese," because it is greenish-yellow and the proper time to start working it is just after the catalyst has kicked off and the filler has the consistency of Swiss cheese.

I started the sanding process by using an English File sold by The Eastwood Co. This is a body file with a turnbuckle that adjusts it to either concave or convex surfaces. It's perfect for rapidly cutting down filler.

Some auto body men like to slather large areas with filler, then sculpt it back to shape. We preferred to build up dents a small amount at a time. The sequence that worked for us is English File, DA sander with 100-grit paper, DA sander with 220-grit paper, then hand sanding with 220-grit paper wrapped around a sanding block.

The most precise tool for discovering and measuring imperfections is still the human finger. Running your hand over the surface will detect bumps and hollows you can't see.

The most difficult areas on our Camaro were the weld seams where the quarter panels meet the rear deck, and the top edge of the quarter panels where they meet the top molding. The weld seams in the door openings, floor and trunk were not filled at the factory. We brought them up to a reasonable appearance, then brushed them with seam sealer to duplicate the factory look.

Modern catalytic paints are extremely toxic. We entrusted the finish coat to our friends at Sharon Auto Body, where they have sealed spray booths and clean-air respirators to protect both themselves and the environment. This stage of the project was like a jigsaw puzzle. We brought them the unibody, doors, trunklid, rear spoiler, hood, front fenders, front upper valence and lower valence separately.

Master craftsman Jim Young started by filling small sanding imperfections with Evercoat 417 glaze. Then he scuff sanded each part with red Scotchbrite pads to give the paint a good bonding surface. Over this he sprayed PPG Kondar primer/surfacer. This was block sanded using 180-grit paper, reprimed, then sanded again with 320-grit paper on a DA sander.

Before the pieces of the body could be put together, the edges had to be sprayed with Matador Red. Sharon Auto Body used Glasurit 21 Line, a single-stage urethane enamel. Not only did they spray around all the edges, they put a light overspray on the body panels. That's extremely useful for detecting any last minute imperfections.

With the edges painted red, we could now carefully assemble our Camaro. We installed the trunklid, doors, front fenders, front valence and hood. Once the bodywork had been put together and adjusted for even edge gaps all the way around, the whole thing was given a final sanding with 320-grit paper on a DA. In the paint booth, the interior was masked off with brown paper and tape, along with the wheel wells and the area under the body. Fifteen minutes before applying the finish paint, we had the body sprayed with a catalyzed sealer. And then, after six months of work and anxiety, in a matter of hours our dull gray project metamorphized into a Matador Red Camaro convertible. We rolled it out of the paint booth beautiful enough to bring tears to our eyes.

Back home, we installed the rear spoiler and front airdam. Then Jim Young came by and masked off the white Rally Stripe that distinquishes an RS Camaro. Back in 1967, the Rally Stripe was applied by hand, and there are no specifications for it. We used the width of the RS fender emblem as our logical width, scuff sanded the stripe area then sprayed it white. We removed the tape about 20 minutes after painting to minimize pulling at the edges.

We used a variety of spray paints from D&R to finish off our car. The trunk took No.19003 green/aqua spatter paint. The wheels required Rally Wheel Paint and the firewall, dashboard and interior trim took No.19001 semigloss black. Since all these areas had already been primed, it was a simple--though surprisingly time-consuming--matter to scuff sand, clean, mask off and spray these areas.

Wouldn't you know it? I stood back to admire our bright red Camaro and noticed a small but still undeniably obvious dent right in the center of the front upper valence. It was too subtle to see in flat finish primer, but all-too-evident in gloss red. The hood hinges also had primer overspray that made them look disreputable.

We still had the original valence that had come on the car, which turned out to be heavier and more accurate than our new replacement. It had to be sandblasted, bodyworked, primed and painted and reinstalled on the car, and then both fenders and the hood readjusted for fit. Camaro hood hinges were raw steel when they left the factory. We sprayed them flat black for a neater appearance before reassembling the nose of the car.

Spray painting a car is easy. Getting it ready to paint is difficult. It requires the most meticulous kind of handwork, and you simply cannot skimp. Modern-day materials are also frighteningly expensive. We paid well over $1000 just for paint alone. On the other hand, the materials represent such a small part of the total cost of a restoration that it's foolish not to buy the best.

In Part 5, we show you how we detailed the exterior of our Camaro with new chrome and trim and installed the diabolically complicated "hideaway" headlights. At that point, not only was our car red, it truly looked like a real 1967 RS/SS Camaro convertible.