Some paint questions

[Terry NJ]

I'm thinking of painting my coupe soon. My question is how do I identify what type of paint the last restorer used? Will lacquer thinner remover old, weathered lacquer? Do I have to take it down to bare metal? What if it's enamel? It's not a good paint whatever it is. It scratches easily and peels. My records indicate a restoration in 1969 in California. I think the paint is lacquer but I have no way to be sure.
Terry

 

[krzewinskibe]

if its peeling easily, you likely don't have a great foundation. I'd strip it personally. Also, helps identify if there are any issues hiding under the paint (i.e. rust)

Edit - just realized that we are practically neighbors

 

[RawhideKid]

Definitely strip it back to bare metal since the "base" you presently have is so weak in adhesion. Media blasting is well worth while, and with an expert or caution, can be done without any warping at all.

Get it as clean a surface as you can before paint.

 

[Mike V. Florida]

Best, strip it!

Enamel can be painted over lacquer but not the other way around.

Take a nice clean rag with a bit of lacquer thinner on it, and rub it onto the paint. If lacquer, it will dissolve some of it, and the color will come off on the rag.

 

[serf2]

Take it down to bare metal. Thats the only way with the way you describe the current paint it is going to hold up. If you do not want to totally disassemble the body it can be sanded down with some effort. The fenders and other pieces I would have blasted by a competent blaster.

 

[pgerhardt]

If you send it out to be blasted be prepared. It might come back with some nasty surprises. I sanded back the body of my 29 tudor by hand using 40 grit disks and a random orbital sander. It allowed me to discover the paint history of my car. I discovered that the upper back was originally rock moss (dark) green while the last repaint left it vagabond (light) green. It is now back to rock moss. Since doing it by hand did not get back to bare metal over 100% of the body, my first coat was with an epoxy primer sealer. I think the final paint job came out fine (Picture 1-2). And I am very picky!

I sent my front fenders out to be blasted. While they looked good in paint on the car when I bought it (picture 3), they were in fact so poor I replaced them. I printed up the sign below for our local sand blaster to hang in his shop. (picture 4)