I have a 69 pace car survivor that my late father passed on to me. It is 90+ percent original paint and the trunk lid is all original but on the inside around the calk area there is some rust forming but not through to the surface. Does anyone have any good ideas for me to remove this without impacting the paint? I was thinking about some chemical rust remover that could get in there and wash it out over multiple applications and then touch up just the seam but wondered if anyone else had ideas or recommendations? Any mild chemicals that anyone has used that would not impact the original paint? The remainder of the car is mint like it came out of the dealership yesterday.



Thank you in advance.

 

That is not harmless surface rust. It needs serious attention. When I saw the title of the post I thought I was coming in here to explain linseed coating process. Anything you do to that will just cover it up while it eats away your car.

I am not a professional body man but I was trained in body work and have been doing restoration type work for the last 30 year and I have inspected a lot of car for buyers. Maybe its the picture but that does not look like a survivor. That rust is from the underneath up, the paint was cracked from being just from up. That is not how joint compound naturally goes bad that I have even seen. That is general caused but a bad prep job before paint. I would advise a customer that the paint needs striped completely so see what is going on underneath. If there is bad prep work here then there is most likely bad prep work other place.

Again it could be the picture but that stripe paint does not look factory. The metallic looks to heavy for that time period and the paint looks too smooth, like its been cleared coated. This would be what I would commonly see on a car that was repainted in the 80's early 90. Back then the cars would not worth any where near what they cost now so repaint where not really restorations as much as make it look good. Even a mid-level body man can do a better then factory paint job. It just takes hours and hours of blocking. I would expect once the paint is removed that there would be metal work need underneath it. If you look hard at survivors you will see the paint has orange peel in it and the body gaps are crap compared to what we think of as a show car. Honestly in that era the paint and body was nowhere near what you see on a car lot today. There was extra costs in buying a black car. Most manufactures could not do black cars in there normal process, the car looked so bad when done they where not sellable. The had to be pull off to the side with extra body work and selected painter.

Go to a good car show ask around find the best restoration shop in the area and get their opinion. The best shops are not desperate for work but they should look at your car and tell the truth about what needs done for free, a big part of that will be if its a survivor. A good restoration shop will do small local repairs if they believe it is a survivor but they will want to do a redo if its been painted before. A restoration pro can tell if a car is a repaint from 10 feet away walking a full speed, I have seen it at auction.

I would like to see other peoples opinions and maybe so more picture.

 

Thanks for the reply. I would probably have assumed a bad prep too, but I know this car since the 70s when my father acquired it and I am certain it is a survivor. I am even afraid to drive it much because I know anyone can restore one of these better than the factory work actually, but I can't re-create a survivor and worry about it getting harmed. I also had a couple of experts come by and see it in his garage before I got it running. It sat for 25+ years before getting started again but started up easily and runs well. Even the spark plug wires have dates 10-69 on them. The rust is likely from humidity in the storage, it was heated but no A/C and I know it was touched up in spots with a brush but time has let it progress and I need to find one of those shops that can restore but not re-paint the lid. I recall as a kid Camaro experts coming to measure stripes on it to make exact correct templates for selling stripe kits. The stripes are very factory, even the overspray into the jams how the factory did it, imperfections in the pin striping and more. The under carriage was detailed (not disassembled) to exact factory down to the textures, tones of paint and even templates of the assembly like they would overspray with build information. This was done back in the 70/80s and it looks the same now since it was just stored and didn't really move ever. I need to find some wheels and tires to swap since it is on the original tires but they are in good shape, it just would be nice to find some that look correct but are on new radial tires for driving to a show or cruise night. Here are a couple more pictures after a light clean up post getting it on the road again. It is running here and the lights were on, passenger side is dim so I need to check the grounds and such but also have some NOS headlights too. The doors do close when it is not running and the lights are off.

 

Either way finding a a top restorer is the way to go. They should be the best at a seamless repair. A real restorer will know how to achieve a factory like finish.

Has the car been shown and judged in a real show where it is scored? Have you had it certified as a survivor? It would be worth it for insurance purposes. Being a survivor adds a lot of value to the car. When you are looking at a burnt husk it can be hard to prove. If you have the papers just store a copy at another property or in a safe.

 

Yes, it was shown a lot, but probably back in the 80s and has sat pretty much since in a climate controlled garage. From a certified perspective I am not sure and unfortunately my father passed in late 2019 who would know. I have a lot of the original build papers, trophies, protecto plate and more and will sift through it all at some point. Thanks for the reply, I don't know who could restore it. I am in the Chicagoland area, if you or anyone has a recommendation, that would be helpful.

Thank you.

 

I searched around a little, and found "Custom Classics Auto Body and Restoration" 4.9 stars on google. I did not dig into it. You are looking for a shop that does Concours Restorations. The good part about going to shows is that you get the see the cars and talk to the owners about who did any work and would they use them again. This industry is full of shops that are run by body man. Some guys can do great work but it will take 4 time longer then promised and at least twice the original quote. They can make awesome cars they just suck at business.

In the upper end show world cars a judged on a number scale. A 100 car would be a perfect example of a car that just left the assembly line. Some purest say there is no such thing as a 100 car because just the drive to where the car carrier was at the factory makes it a 99. If you can find a judging sheet like that that would be a big time boost. Many cars would go on a the show circuit for a year and get a national ranking, then tuck them away as investments. Maybe your dad did that?