It’s time to begin stripping the old paint off the car.

The entire surface gets a once-over with 80-grit sandpaper, followed by 180-grit to smooth out the layers and blend in any imperfections missed from previous paint jobs.

Most of the old paint has been removed, leaving a cleaner surface to work with. The car’s original color was Candle Light Yellow.

At some point, replacement panels were welded into the lower quarter sections, and the grille’s nose had been filled. The dent was pulled slightly and filled, but the holes weren’t welded.

I flipped the grille over, hammered out the dent, and then welded the holes shut. Now that the dent is gone, the grille nose is much closer to its original shape.

The car didn’t have too many dents overall, but every panel had some work to be done, mainly from years of wear and tear with smaller dents in various spots.

Once the filler was applied, the panels were blocked with 80-grit, 180-grit, and 400-grit paper. Afterward, they were cleaned, prepped, and hung on racks to be sealed with epoxy primer.

The catalyzed primer helps seal any leftover paint layers, providing a high-build finish that can be sanded smooth for a flawless surface.

Inside the car, the semi-gloss black paint was used on the door edges, quarter sills, rear deck, and dashboard. All of these areas were sanded down, smoothed out, and prepped for paint.

The firewall and any areas where primer might overspray were carefully taped off. The car was then wrapped in plastic to protect anything from unwanted overspray.

The primer went on a little thick in a few spots because the wrong tip was used on the spray gun at first. It’s always a good idea to double-check your tip size and read the instructions carefully before starting.

Once the primer was down, the car was reassembled to begin the block sanding process.

Before tackling the exterior, I started with the interior sanding to prep it for the black paint.

After that, the whole car was masked off again, and I sprayed the black, followed by a semi-gloss clear.

Once the dash was sprayed, the remaining panels were hung back on the car to continue the blocking process. I left plastic covering the engine area to make cleanup easier later on.

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