Bringing the paint back

[lelshaddai]

These are my first attempts at bringing back the paint. It had a clearcoat on it but it has all peeled off. A lot of elbow grease here.

Before.....


And after...



Before...and after




You can see the original color under the gravel shields. It still has clearcoat.


I think it will make a fine driver. Going with a medium dark grey metallic on top. It matches the inside trim and from what I have seen is a good combination.

[thunderations]

IF the paint job is truly a 2 stage, base coat/clear coat, and the clear is gone..........polishing the base coat is an effort in futility. Base coat will not retain a shiny finish. It was never intended to shine by itself. It requires a finish coat of clear to seal it and provide that finish.
If the copper color is actually a single stage paint that has oxidized, you may get it to shine for a little while before it dies back. Whoever cleared it probably did so to get a shine again.
An old "car flipper" trick is to spray WD40 on a dull, faded finish and then put a couple coats of liquid polish on it. Sell ASAP because it will dull out again in less then a week.
What you might consider is to get a color for the roof and after painting it, spray the entire car with a satin clear. It's very popular with the "Rat Rod" group and hides a few flaws. Prep is still very important or you will have another peeling problem to deal with.

[TWChamp]

It looks nice!

I finally learned why Studebaker added the tray between the 51 bumper arms. I carry spare gas in my trunk.

[lelshaddai]

Well, I figured I would give it a try. It is just time. The paint did seem to take the wet sanding well. Then rubbing compound, polish compound and Carnuba wax. It is a driver right now. Hopefully it will look better than before for awhile.