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At some point in the past 70 years, for reasons unknown, someone painted over the dash board in my 1282. Is there any way of removing this without destroying the "walnut grain" treatment underneath? The paint is old and flaky, and looks like the dickens. I can see the wood grain under it, which would look alot better, even if not mint. Thanks in advance.

You could try oven cleaner. I would try it on a very small area, as it may well take off the wood graining as well.

As a chemist I'd say your chances are somewheres between extremely slim and none of removing the paint w/o affecting the woodgrain. I'd guess oven cleaner is far too agressive; you might try various dilutions of commercial paint strippers, but don't hold much hope. When you find the guy who painted over it, while you're giving him a few whacks for his stupidity, give him an extra for me.

You may also find that the graining was already bad in a few places and that is why it was painted over to start with.

Or perhaps the previous owner was trying to modernize the car. The wood grain look was out of fashion in the '50s automobiles, just as many of the great movie palaces from the 1920's lost their elaborate plasterwork in the 1950's.

This may be a little off topic and it may not work on your problem. but I would like to endorse a great cleaner I've discovered. . . Krud Kutter. It works very well on stains, grease, grime, oil, tar and old wax. I recently used it on my enclosed trailer and it removed tons of old sins. I then applied a coat of Rejex, a wonderfully slick polish used primarily on airplanes. It makes bug removal a snap . . . just hose 'em off! My trailer looks like new again.

Thanks for the input guys. What ever the reason was, I think that just about anything is gonna look better that how it is now. I have a plan of using this stuff called Demon Clean, a fellow a couple towns over (Ansonia) is marketing. I have used it in the past to clean up delicate parts and what-not, as it is a bit pricey. I will do a test area first; a small swatch, wait for the bubble, and follow with a damp sponge to neutralize the action, hopefully before it starts eating into the wood grain. Worst case, I end up repainting it, anything would be better.

When I was at the PI Meet there was a vendor there that does Woodgraining. His work was gorgeous. He even had a dash that was dividied into 3rds showing each stage of his work. He does alot for the museums in the LA area.

If you are intersted, I can dig up his card for you.

Thanks BigKev, there may be a point when I take you up on that. First, I am going to try with great diligence to completely ruin it here, I have everything to gain. I have attached a couple pics, so you can see what I'm up against. I would have actually tried a little bit tonite, but it's colder than a you-know-what out there, maybe if you look close you can see the swirling snow storm raging outside if you squint.

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