Just some additional info on paint removal and prep.
I'm retired now from many years in the resto biz. I owned a shop specializing in Porsche but we did our fair share of Jaguar and MB work too. Our prefered method of stripping was soda blast if the car had one coat of paint. While it is the gentlest process (easy on the metal) it can be very slow depending on the paint type and thickness. Hence it can get very expensive. More aggresive is plastic media. Sand blasting is great for the underside, but you need to have a very man running the blaster our you'll end up with warped panels from the heat generated. Pressure and angle of attack are crucial. And that good many can get paint off in a hurry. These methods result in a uniform surface that give paint something to bite to. I agree with Rick on chemical strippers in general. Not only are they nasty but the brush applied variety are messy, very slow and can leave residue in crevases that will come back to bite you under the paint and body work. You must be meticulous in clean up and I recommend using these only for small areas or parts you can remove. Back in the day there was a company called Redi-Strip who offered full body shell dipping chemical paint stripping. I used them several times. Not sure if they still around as I hear that the EPA shut them down. They had a neutralizing solution tank to dip the body shell into after the stripper did it's work. I had great long term results from them and you got back a virgin body to work with. It even left the original sheet steel stencils in tact. Soda blasting gives you a surface very close to what the factory had when they put the first paint on your car.
A distant last is mechanical stripping via abrasive disc. This we used only when there was extensive body work on that panel. I know, I know, any yahoo with a DA can strip paint off a fender but as Rick said you run the risk of warping the panel and you are greatly altering the metal surface. Bondo and filler/primers like those 80 grit surfaces though. But primer doesn't and you end up doing a lot of sanding to get a nice surface. We used soda even in rolling cars that were not getting a bare shell resto. I have enclosed photos of my own 73S as evidence of its effectivness. You leave the glass in they duct tape the hellout of any opening including all glass. Obviously remove the motor and as much trim as you can. After the blaster is done you can pull the glass and strip the border stipes left from the tape by any method you choose. My own car (pictured) was a one owner,60k, original paint with a perfect body so it made sense to preserve the original metal as much as possible and it didn't need any body work only blocking. We even left the jambs, engine bay and trunk original paint to do what we termed a sympathetic restoration. This is not always possible, especially in a color change, so it can get more complex. I'm just showing how it can be used for a simple repaint. There is some soda residue to clean and it does get into a lot of places but baking soda is so benign compared to any other abrasive media and it is water soluble so clean up is super easy.
Hope this info is helpful.
Scott
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