Perfection. . .from the workshop of Series900, New Hampshire

[304065]

Mike, good question. Original color is 6606 Irish Green.

Many of the Irish Green cars you see both in person and on the Internet have more yellow in them-- I think this is fading due to the sun, because the green underneath in certain spots (there wasn't much of it, places like the glovebox door behind the wood) shows it to be closer to British Racing Green. (Not my car below, but same basic color as I'm shooting for)

[preS]

John your car is becoming wonderful. Stunning!

Richard

[304065]

Thanks Richard! It helps that Damon has a real passion for the early cars and an appreciation for the details.

[Sean F]

It's interesting, my car came from the factory in Irish green and now that I have it stripped I can see the untouched paint in places like under the dash and it's much lighter/more yellow than I thought it would be.

[304065]

I better hurry up with the plating and chrome and interior. . . you know how long my project is taking when you see a dozen different cars in the background. . . where'd that white Carrera come from?

[304065]

Into the sun! This will have to come off the bench and go back onto the rotisserie to be "schutzed."

[Fritter]

Nice! Underside is all "wurth schutzed" it appears, and block sanding is done, and you just need some final schutzing in the trunk area?

[304065]

Mike, that is black DPLF primer-- a very tenacious, anticorrosive epoxy. The factory applied Teroson undercoating over bare metal, which is why the cars developed rust UNDER the undercoating. The modern way is to use an etching primer first over bare steel, THEN apply the schutz-- makes for a finish that will be indistinguishable from the original and last at least another 40 years.

We will practice extensively with the schutz gun to replicate the factory texture-- this is something that isn't easy to get right. Of course the aerosol cans don't replicate the finish-- but the schutz gun has like six different adjustments for airflow, pressure and pattern, so it's possible to achieve a finish that approximates the real thing. Which is pretty hard to find-- every SWB I've ever seen has the flaking undercoating.

There is a lot of masking that the factory did, getting that right is one of the keys to a correct restoration.

The shell will sit for a while to let the primer shrink and harden- then a final blocking before final paint. By that time I should be finished with the plating-- it's one of those things where you are never satisfied with the prep of the fasteners. I am considering another comprehensive ceramic media tumble to REALLY get the schmutz out of the threads and the headmark details. . . .

. . .I keep repeating. . . "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good . . ."

[Fritter]

John, gotcha. I primed a 64 Bug sunroof project I am working on with PPG DP50, tough stuff! Sounds like you are being super retentive on this one and I applaud you for that!

I used acid to strip all the Kamax hardware on a 65 VW project I did a few years ago and it made everything as new. Then I had it all silver cad plated.

[Mark Morrissey]

Wow, John. Unbelievable. The work in this thread has my eyes popping out.
You must be excited to get things started again.