This is what greeted me this morning 🙂  14997.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

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First thing to do was add a guide coat before starting the wet flatting.
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I've Just seen this whole thing on this '58 :!:

The car is (was) incredible. It was a car I would go straight over to and want to buy at any cost.

I'm sorry, but a repaint on a car like that is a mistake :!:

Though not restored, it will look more like any other less interesting (well to me) restored Beetle. Cars aged 50+ wearing their original paint are so rare and of course cannot be replaced. 1958 is one of the best Beetle years, and this car has the nicest colour too.

I have a 1949 Beetle that's never had a respray. The paint is far from perfect, but at 59 years old it wears its original paint with pride. It looks a survivor car, I don't think this '58 will now.

Re paints are a risk any way. They are never as good as the factory dipped high bake finish. There is always the risk of problems developing in the future with a respray. These things have happened to me in the past, and I have regretted resprays.

Anyway its been repainted now, a shame I think :cry:

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Believe me guys, I thought long and hard about this. I am a real die hard purist when it comes to my cars, the more original the better, with that I could not agree more. I would have loved to keep the car in it's og paint. I know how special that is on a car of this age, but as I mentoned earlier I want to use my car when ever I can and plan to keep it for the long term.
I'd rather replace the paint now and avoid having to start making more intrusive repairs in the future. The photos I originaly posted are kind to the car, yes it is in amaizing condition.....for a 50 year old car, the photos do not show where the car is starting to show signs of its age. the paint was no longer water proof. the original steel had already started pitting under the original paint. I managed to rub most of these out. In a few years time with regular use this would have only got worse, then the first pin hole appears, then the first bit of welding is needed now my car is not strucurly 100% original and a local paint repair needed anyway.

I think it is a topic that will never realy have a right or wrong answer, yes my dream car would be 100% original rock solid complete with og paint, second choice never welded and rock solid.
I know I can have second choice, but risk having neither if I had left alone.

The pitting appeared alot wore once rubbed back to the steel than it does here.
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at what point do you give up on OG paint? (especially the early metalics that weren't very good)



Yes, original paint is nice - but would you be prepared to see your car rust away in front of your eyes?

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Wow - a respray! :shock:

Like you say, its a shame, but I suppose it needed to be done. I'm guessing that all was not as well as it appeared in the photos either. I was kind of wondering of it could have been clearcoated, but its kind of a moot point now.

I'm sure it'll look great when its done. Much more like it did when new in fact.
😎

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Clearcoating is kind of 1/2 a respray anyway, it would have made for a shiny finish on an old weathered base which I thought personaly would have looked odd. Besides which, would you normaly respray over rust and not expect it to re-appear?

As you say, its all a bit trivial now anyway.
The top coat is schedualed for Tuesday afternoon, I'll post some pics.

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You are right - clearcoating would probably not have helped.

I look forward to the pics anyway.

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All went well and the body was painted on Tuesday, I'm very pleased with the result, Martin (my painter friend) thined the laquer a little more than he does for more modern cars so he could achieve a more authentic depth and texture to the final finish. No machine polishing was required either (as to plan). The colour is also a good match. The pictures show the new paint compaired to the best bits of original (decklid protected by the no plate and the ash tray). The paint is 'ici' and mixed to the original formula the laqure is by 'Glacurit'.
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🙂  15158.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

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:)
The doors, wings etc are planned in the next week or so.

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Nice! 😎 😃

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I must admit I was pretty shocked when I realised that you had repainted this car! As said above, it is the difference between a car I would home in on at a show for a good look regardless of condition.
My new original paint car is just 3-4yrs behind yours and my paint is no where near as good as yours was but still I feel well worthy of being maintained/preserved original. But I will admit that mine will rarely even go outdoors ( I am very happy just owning it in my garage! :lol: )
So given that you plan to use yours a bit, a new coat of paint is fine. Although my only observation about bare metalling a car on which vw factory paint has lasted 50yrs already is that no repaint will ever be as hardy or last as long as that 50's original paint. The factory process/dipping etc just cannot be recreated as well. Usually most people are lucky if a repaint lasts 15years before blemishes start appearing. Usually less.
I do appreciate what you mean about metallics going flat, 'rough' & porous though.
but hey, the car is looking pretty good again so far.
The colour match looks super! I think your painter has done a great job with matching such an odd and difficult colour!
😃

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I did not have a lot of option realy, I had to to remove the rust spots. You'll notice I did not go to bare metal on the inner wings as there was no rust there and I have not on the bonnet either. As I have mentioned before the rust 'speckling' on the surface ended up looking like little brown worms under the under coat 😞 , This had affected most of the bodywork. Probably as a result of standing in an old garage for the last 15 years. If the car had none of this I would not have re painted it in the first place, I was not bothered about the dents and dull paint, I liked it.

The gearbox is with Pete at 'Cogbox' now should be done midle of next week. (That had to be done as reversing was a problem)
I'm on schedual to have the car back on he road for begining of June.
It's first major outing will be Lavenham, can't wait 🙂
It will be great to meet all you guys there (I asume most of you will be there)

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Any more photos? 🙂

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I'll sort some more out. Its in a mechanic friends workshop at the mo.
I pick the gearbox up on Monday, I've finnished putting the engine back together so will take that to the workshop on Monday as well so they can go in together, then I can get her back home in my garage for the refit 😃 😃 Thats going to be fun, Every thing I took of has all been cleaned and ready to go back on. I've even brushed and oiled all the original nuts, bolts and washers. There not perfect but it got rid of all the old road grot and snot. I don't want new shiny ones although I might use some stainless to fix the running boards back on, you cannot realy see them and it may help protect the seals. not decided yet.

I took the opertunity to re 'Waxoyl' the underside while the running gear is removed. (great stuff waxoyl), must remember to do under the running board covers before I refit them to the car.

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Good stuff - glad its coming together OK.

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The refit is going well, starting to look like a car again.
The wheels look superb with the new crossplies fitted. 😃
With the help of my two youngsters Bethany and Luke, We fitted the Glass today.
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😃  15571.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

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