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What is everyone's prefered method of removing paint/primer? My '39 has what looks like 2 coats of primer on top of a coat of black lacquer on top of another coat of primer. Finally all of that is on top of what appears to be the original Packard Blue lacquer. So that makes 5 layers I guess.

I have a random-orbit sander with 80 grit paper. That has been doing pretty well, but it is still slow going. I also have a small syphon fed blaster for smaller parts (I know not to use it on large pieces of sheetmetal).

Several people I've talked to have recommended aircraft stripper. Has anyone used this? What are the pros and cons?

Pro's are it will do the job although can be expensive and time consuming as well. Cons: The biggest issue with any type of chemical stripper is every last bit of it must be removed. Any that's overlooked or hidden in a crack or inaccessible place and the first time water hits it, it can leak out and the new paint is damaged.

I can't say that I habe used it on a car but I have some experience with it back in my helicopter building days at Sikorsky. The sheet metal guys swore by it, but the stuff didn't work well on the parts that I needed it to work on, which was removing the factory green primer so I could get a good electrical bond.On the underside of the part I was working on, which was painted a white aircraft-grade paint, it bubbled up almost immediately. I ended up using the old standby-3M rolocs with a die grinder.
Now, that being said, most cars probably have a softer finish/primer than an aircraft would, so I think for most guys here it would work. With all of your layers, it would likely require repeated applications. The stuff we used does burn your skin if you get it on there and it is very reactive to some plastics, styrofoam, etc.

I've done it both ways. All I can add is that if you use a chemical stripper, carefully read the label warnings and the Material Safety Data Sheet if available to understand the hazardous properties of the mixture, and pay special attention to (and adhere to) the personal protective equipment recommendations.

Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to try the aircraft stripper on part of the fender to see how it works. I figure there aren't too many spots on the fender that can hide the stripper from being washed off so it's probably the best place to experiment.

I tried both on my car and found the sandpaper to be the quickest. The stripper took forever, was messy and still needed to be sanded to get the final layer off. It was also expensive. My biggest problem with the sandpaper is that I have an air powered one and eventually my compressor couldn't keep up with it. I thought it was a faster process over the chemical though.

I tried some of the paint remover disks in my angle grinder and that also seemed to do a really good, quick job. I don't know how long they last vs the sandpaper for a final cost evaluation though.

4.5 inch stripping discs from HF on a angle grinder makes quick work of removing paint and rust. About $4-5 a disc. You could easily strip an entire fender with a single disc.

I agree that chemical stripper is nasty, and the clean up and neutralizing is more work in the long run.

"My '39 has what looks like 2 coats of primer on top of a coat of black lacquer on top of another coat of primer. Finally all of that is on top of what appears to be the original Packard Blue lacquer. So that makes 5 layers I guess."

So??? If current coatings are not cracked or showing any signs of lack of adhereance then just sand it and paint it.

The coatings that were on it are cracking and peeling. The last two coats of primer were simply applied to keep it from rusting away (been sitting in a garage since the 70s). There is also some...questionable....bodywork underneath one of the fenders that I'll need to get to in order to fix. It definitely needed to be removed.

I tried the aircraft remover and it worked great. There is still a little paint left behind, but nothing that will take a huge amount of time to fix. I'll probably hit it one more time with water and again with a solvent to neutralize it, but all in all I'm impressed.

I've used some automotive grade strippers over the years. Never had any trouble with bleed thru of the stripper after painting. BUT, i am always very carful to be sure that everything is well watered 2 or 3 times over to insure nuetralization.

Takes along time for those seams to dry out. So i hope u're not in a hurry.

Mostly i only use stripper for detached parts doors fenders thing like that or very low on the car near the rockers where there are no seams. For higher areas i strip small areas at a time.