Newbie greeting from Long Island

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wikkid

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Hi to all. I have read a lot of the huge amount of info on this forum, and I have a lot more to learn as I work on a couple of older cars.
First, a 1984 Pininfarina Spider Azzurra. Basically a Fiat Spider, but Pininfarina took over from Fiat on production in the model's last few years.
The car sat out in a field for years before I found it and bought it from the owner. Much work to do, probably a re-paint, but I may try out some restoration techniques beforehand. Light blue metallic, surely a single stage paint.
DSCN5183.jpg


And now I have just picked up a 1991 BMW 318i with "diamond-schwartz metallic" dark paint. In better shape, but still generally neglected finish - will work on restoring it to a (hopefully) very nice daily driver finish. Sorry, no pics yet.

I may try some Meg #7 as an experiment to restore the light blue metallic on the Spider, just to see how it comes out.

I will be trying Meg's ultimate compound with Porter Cable 7424 DA on the beemer.
 
Just joined AG myself after picking up a 1989 MB 560SL. Mine doesn't really need any restoration, just some spiffing up, but I've certainly received a lot of help and general information from the folks here. Good luck with your projects and I hope you find all that goes on here helpful too!
 
:welcome:

By the way, Todd Cooperider worked on a Fiat Spider like yours some years ago: Google it - it may be useful!
 
Thanks to all for the warm welcome! I'll definitely google that spider resto!
Looking forward to getting info on this site, and hopefully giving back with my own experiences.
 
Welcome to Autogeek Online!


wikkid said:
Hi to all. I have read a lot of the huge amount of info on this forum, and I have a lot more to learn as I work on a couple of older cars.
Click to expand...

One of the key features of a good forum is a resource of information...

wikkid said:
First, a 1984 Pininfarina Spider Azzurra. Basically a Fiat Spider, but Pininfarina took over from Fiat on production in the model's last few years.

The car sat out in a field for years before I found it and bought it from the owner. Much work to do, probably a re-paint, but I may try out some restoration techniques beforehand. Light blue metallic, surely a single stage paint.


And now I have just picked up a 1991 BMW 318i with "diamond-schwartz metallic" dark paint. In better shape, but still generally neglected finish - will work on restoring it to a (hopefully) very nice daily driver finish. Sorry, no pics yet.

I may try some Meg #7 as an experiment to restore the light blue metallic on the Spider, just to see how it comes out.

I will be trying Meg's ultimate compound with Porter Cable 7424 DA on the beemer.
Click to expand...

Here's my article on restoring antique and older single stage paints...

The Secret to Removing Oxidation and Restoring a Show Car Finish to Antique Single Stage Paints


Keep in mind, older metallic single stage paints are the most difficult to restore because the aluminum flake oxidizes itself inside the paint resin and you can't polish each side of each flake to remove 100% of the oxidation, all you can affect is the surface.

But it can be done and if the paint isn't past the point of no return it can be maintained...

Page 37 - Paint Condition Categories



By the way, I did restore a single stage metallic finish on a similar project, it was on a Porsche 914 that had a brand new single stage metallic finish but the owners when through a divorce and as such it sat outside in a field for 2 years unprotected.

It came out perfect EXCEPT where some Caveman Detailer rubbed on the deck lid with a course compound trying to show how smart he was and rubbed through the paint to the primer.

The owner then drove around a beautiful polished out Porsche with a black spot on the trunk lid.


:)
 
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