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I bought this car about 12 years ago when we lived in Dallas TX. It was originally turquoise, but painted black by Eric Sandstrum when he rescued it from a junkyard in Del Rio TX. Eric was a kid in high school at the time and he hired someone to do a quick fix -up and paint job on it. It was later painted black again by a later owner prior to me getting it. Two years ago I overhauled the 288, converting it into a 327 compliments of a 327 donor engine with a cracked block. The car now runs nicely, but the old paint job(s) were looking shabby. So I hired a stripper (I always like saying that...) to blast the body with crushed glass to remove all of the paint jobs, allowing me to see the bondo and assorted body damage. The first repaint used some thin sheet metal stuck on with rivets, to cover some fairly major rust out on the rocker panels. The rusty metal was cut out and C2C rocker panels welded in. Several bad dents on the trunk and roof had to be heat-strunk. The hood was banged up pretty badly, so I installed a spare hood I had in the garage. It was a 52 version, so I had to drill holes for the P A C K A R D letters on the hood.

The car was then painted in etching primer, then sanded and some spot primer put in to take care of some minor divets that didn't show up the first time. Block sanding starts tomorrow. The etching primer is a funny product - it went on yellow and turned to gosh awful green when it dried. The final color scheme will be Packard Ivory body with a black top, which is a 52 color scheme.

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Here is the damage in the rocker panel and dog leg. I previously bought a set of replacement rocker panels from C2C. The passenger side was replaced last fall, but the driver side looked good until the bondo was blasted off. The panels have to have some cutting done on them, but the metal is good and thick and is close to accurate. I drilled holes in the top of the clip and spot welded them on under the aluminum sill plates, then drilled more holes in the bottom and put a floor jack under the bottom and pushed the repair panel up to the existing seam on the car body. Spot welded them using lots of welding clamps to hold things together. A little bit of bondo at the end joint and some seam sealer and things were ready for the primer.

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Lookin good David! I agree about the green - wow! Thanks for providing a pictorial "play by play". Can't wait to see the finished product.

I'm getting off pure stock here a bit. I'm using a 52 two toned color scheme, Packard Ivory on the body and Jet Black on the top. But I'm using the 48-50 and 53-54 way of dividing the color, starting it at the drip edge of the roof, rather than the 52 version where the color divides like most two tone cars, at the belt line. I always liked the drip edge division better. So don't look for me at Pebble Beach......

Good on you David - 'long live the fifty-ones'!! It will be nice to see your car painted, please post plenty of pics!

It is very handy that you guys can get replacement sheet-metal like rocker panels. (Not available here in Oz . . . and freight is too expensive to have them sent over. I had to have those (and a lot of other parts) made).

I guess you'll be rust-proofing the gap between the old and new metal? If so, what will you use?

That primer - looks like the PPG epoxy-urethane (2-pak) stuff which was what I used on my '51. It's a strange colour for a primer.

Larry, I'll check with the painter (he's the guy in the photos). It is a PPG self etching primer. It goes on yellow and dries to gall bladder green. The nice thing is that it has a bit of a sheen, so you can see the spots you missed. He will be using another type of primer, a high build type (Rage I think), after we block sand. Then another sanding and then several coats of PPG Acrylic urethane followed by several coats of clear coat. Then color sanding with 1500 and 2000 grit sandpaper and hours of polishing. The bumpers have been cleaned up, and painted with rust converter, then zinc oxide, which dries to a nice flat gray on the back side. The stainless steel that I could remove has been straightened and polished. More photos to follow.

I am following closely because my 52' is in a similar state. needs down to metal and de-bondo in the same spots.

my original colour was " Yosemite Blue " which looks like a deep metal flake.

i hope it will come together this year.

The painter applied the final three coats of primer today. He will sand it down tomorrow and tape it off. The top should be painted on Monday in the Jet Black. We will let it dry a day or so and then paint the body Packard Ivory. Still working on polishing the stainless and chrome. I will post more photos this coming Friday.


James - I would certainly recommend blasting the car with crushed glass. It took the paint off all the way down to the metal. Bondo can be removed this way as well. It won't damage the glass, but any stainless or chrome should be removed or masked as it will etch it. I loosened the front fenders and removed the old rubber on the body (around the doors) as well as the weatherstripping. The stripper also did the door jambs, trunk and hood jambs. He also did the wheels. The cost here was $600 plus $25 per wheel. The work took just over one day to accomplish. It was a great investment in time saving - sure beats chemical stripping or a DA sander. Plus it doesn't warp the metal like sand blasting can do. It did leave the interior a bit dusty, but nothing a shop vac and an air hose couldn't cure.

Just got back from Yellowstone Natl Park, shooting photos in the snow while the painter worked. I'm adding some photos showing the products used and the equipment. The top was painted first in Jet Black, and then the body in Packard Ivory, which in florescent light looks almost yellow. The paint has more orange peeled than I would like, but apparently when it sits in a warm (75+) garage for a few days, it actually smooths out. After a week, we will apply three coats of clear for color sanding. While the body is drying, we will be painting the 51 wheels Ivory, as well as the fender skirts and the bumper shields. The car presently has 50 model wheels on it.

The first photo is me block sanding the hood with the filler primer on it with a guide coat of black spots. The next one is the rocker panel after new metal was welded in, and smoothed out with a bit of bondo. Next are of some of the products used. After this was done, several coats of regular primer was applied prior to the finish coat. The next one is the roof painted, and then the entire car.

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That's amazing David, great to see!