Have had this Burb awhile, but noticed the marina blue paint on it starting to go bad on the roof recently. The clear coat to be specific, and I decided to repaint it. Plan is to make the truck two tone by adding a white roof as some Suburbans had from the factory. But of course, nothing goes as planned! Set up a ladder and began to survey the job, only to find more issues!
The Burb appears to have been an ambulance in it's past life, and there are signs of the 5 lights or siren mounting holes beginning to also let loose! I could see large circular shaped areas where the roof was cracking around bad patches. Some were a bit over 1", and up to nearly 6" for the largest! I got a screwdriver, and putty knife, and began digging the bad filler and paint out around the patches. Turns out some PO tried to pop rivet sheet metal from the inside over the holes, and then ground the ends off the rivets. Problem is he didn't use any sealer or glass between the metal, and rust began to creep under the joint, until it worked it's way and inch around the shaped hole!
I got all the filler out that was loose, and then ground the rest back. Got a can of rust neutralizer and painted the surface after I ground as much as possible to bare steel. Then mixed up epoxy resin, and sealed the joints, and the surfaces with that.
Today I ground all the resin, to rough it up, and put a thin skim coat of filler over it. After working the filler down, I shot primer-sealer, and then went over the surface with glazing putty. Another coat of primer, and it's done for now. Need to get paint, and supplies, and then remove the rest of the bad clear coat before doing anything more.
Here's a picture of some of the spots I'm dealing with after putting the clear epoxy over them:

There's 5 of them, plus the bad clear coat you can also see around the roof.
After repair and primer:

 

Here's a few other pictures from a couple years ago. I took all the crummy interior out of the Burb, and bought front buckets, and folding bench from a 2001 Durango off local CL. All dark gray leather, with electric buckets.




The side panels were gone in back, so I cut templates and made Masonite panels. Then bought black naugahyde and covered them. Installed the new stereo system in the panels, and mounted them up. Carpet was in good shape, but dark blue and stained. So I pulled it out and sprayed it with black carpet dye.


All the heater controls were broken, so got a repair kit off the internet, and rebuilt the controls. Also found a Blazer center console, so got it and shot it black to add between the seats.

 

that sucks, when we had the headliner out of taboo you could see where the welded up the hole for the radio. the car luckily never had a light since it was the head sheriffs car.

 

Didn't know cop cars were ever two doors? That's interesting!

 

it wasn't a regular patrol car. it was like a personal car the sheriff would receive and drive like a everyday car. He would get a new one every year. that's what the 56 was traded back in to the dealer in 57

 

Been a long time since I've touched the '69 Burb! Nearly 2 years since I fixed the roof, and it's been primered ever since! Life gets in the way, and since it's a daily driver it gets driven! But noticed the rust starting to work it's way through the primer, so had to address it.
I also had an encounter with a sign post. Someone had knocked it down, but left it sticking into the street, and my front tire caught it on a dark, rainy night. It flipped up, and wiped out my grille! After changing my shorts, I searched for a grille with no luck. Finally found a good '71 grille cheap, because some dork painted it all white; metal and plastic! I stripped the white paint off, and got the aluminum looking good. Then shot the egg crate with silver VHT header paint, as it matched the original best. While I had the grille out, I swapped in a new welded aluminum HD radiator too. Old one was clogged, and more expensive to clean than the new one!
So here's the end result, after shooting the roof white to make it a two tome Burb!





Wasn't sure if I'd like the '71 grille, but after installing it I like it better than the '69 grille!

 

Looks good wearing a white hat!
I saw you've been lurking for some time, but haven't jumped in here for a while. Good to see you haven't forgotten how to work the reply button. lol

 

Thanks Chuck!
By coincidence I got a call last night from a guy who just bought my old Camaro! Spent an hour on the phone with him dispelling some myths the intermediate owner had told him, and confirming other things. By another coincidence, it's back in my area. Not sure I like the idea of seeing it, if it's nt taken care of. But new owner seems to be very excited, and I'm selling him some parts the other guy didn't want to buy.

 

You can put the fear of god in him, to make sure he takes care of "your" Camaro.
At least it's still alive. A few years back I tracked down the person who bought my first 69 Camaro convert that I (stupidly) sold in 1982. It got totaled 3 months after he bought it.

 

The guy I sold it to was headed that direction. At least he was neglecting it badly. The new owner said it was filthy underneath, and interior/exterior. Said the guy didn't even clean it up to sell it! He also said it looked like the guy hadn't changed the oil since he owned it, as it was black.
He said he stopped by his work with it on the trailer and washed it before taking it home.