How to expose original paint? lacquer/fiberglass

Thanks for the additional suggestions and thoughts.

"You want it to look as close as possible to worn,original paint" - BINGO.

I'm worried about sanding too. The original surface was very wavy from the factory to begin with. If I can't do it via a chemical means, then I doubt it will happen. 1956 GM fibergl*** is no where near metal in terms if flatness, heck on most original paint cars it's common to still see some of the weave in some places, nothing like a 1953 though where there is weave all over the entire surface under the original paint.

 

Its not like this car is pink with heartbeat grahics down the side. I think the car looks great in the photos. I am sure this car is probably a blocker,but I would leave it alone til I had the money!!! You wont like what it looks like under the red paint!!!

 

Didn't think about it being that wavy.Typically,the goal is to make a car straight,but that is not what you're going for here.That does change things a bit.

 

After looking at the pictures,I'm going to side with those who said "leave it alone till you can do it right".Considering the car is not straight and it looks pretty decent as is,I feel you may regret digging into it.I don't like red either,but it doesn't look too bad.It's your car though,and like I said before,you're not going to hurt it.You might make it ugly,though.

 

I say go for it in a hidden area such as a door jamb or underside of the trunk lid.

This is like removing paint to "restore" a hidden mural on a cathedral ceiling. It can be done, but may take a zillion hours.

I agree with the lacquer thinner first. Then go with 2500 wet paper. If that gets most of the red off, you should then go with a fine rubbing compound, working by hand as you start to expose black.

I'd think "backwards" with my wet sanding and polishing compound grits here. Normally, you would start with 600 for example and work towards 2500 machine, then finally hand rubbing, removing previous polishing swirls as you progress.
I'd start as fine as I could get away with as long as it removes red paint. I wouldn't move "down" to a co****r grit if I didn't have to.

You'll have to hope that they didn't scuff the original black much prior to the first red overpaint.

As you mentioned, the weave may haunt you with a final finish of black weave filled with red.

 

As was said earlier, the car had to have been sanded before the first repaint due to paint chips and scratches. Remember nobody repaints a perfect original paint job. Back in the late 60's we used 220 to start then went to 400 grit paper on a DA to knock back the finish. This was standard practice to get the best adhesion, even with a lacquer repaint. Back then there was never any thought about someday some one would want to go back to the original finish. The object was to get the smoothest finish without having to do a lot of cutting and buffing. Also the original paint was baked so there really wasn't a lot sprayed on it during ***embly. To try to get to the original black paint and find it unblemished is an exercise in futility. In other words it ain't gonna happen. And yes, I did do corvette work back in that time period. Jeff
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/565813084eDmCsw?vhost=good-times

 

Actually it was painted red by the original owner just a couple years after purchase because she simply wanted a color change. She also did the top, carpet, and seat covers. I have replaced all of those with correct originals.

Best I can tell, she did it in 1959, only 3 years after she bought it. Plus it only had about 10K miles on it. I can't imagine the original paint was trashed in such a short period.

Hell I just don't even know now lol.

 

You see the strangest things on the internet.

 

I think you should leave it alone til you have the money to paint it. If your going to go into the tedious task of paint removal why not just paint it yourself. you can lay a decent paint job for a couple hundred bucks and not have to worry about a show shine. the rest of the car really does look great! just remember, paint doesnt make a car run and drive better.

 

If you are still considering it, I would use a foam sanding pad, and wet sand with anywhere from 800 to 1500 grit wet / dry paper. Using a chemical method has just as much chance of removing the factory paint, especially if both are laquer.

Be prepared for lot's o' tedious work, possibly with a bad result......

 

No.... it's because you want a rat rod, and you wanna make one out of a 56 corvette!

 

The old original paint on those cars was very shiny, not worn out flat black that probably has been sanded through in many spots before it was painted red the first time. The car deserves a decent paint job.