Spring 2008:

This 1949 Cadillac was kept in the garage except for parades and sunny Sunday drives.

After 59 years the original paint is worn in some areas the primer is starting to show.

View of interior.

The odometer reads 41,185 miles, and we can tell by the amount of wear on the vehicle that the odometer hasn't "rolled over" the 99,999 mile mark.

If you think you know old Cadillacs, let me ask you this... where is the gas tank filler?

I started by using the 9 inch sander with 40grit sandpaper.

When sanding near chrome moldings I covered the molding with two layers of masking tape.

I sand a small area, about one square foot, until the metal and paint get too warm. Than I move to another area of the panel while the first area cools down.

Sometimes I go back and forth between two or three areas until it is somewhat bare. Then I switch to 80 grit sandpaper on a six inch sander.

Sanding Tools:

These sanders are all air-powered dual-action (random orbital) sanders.

Green Arrow: Finish sander, smooth stroke. This tool is less aggressive than the others.

Red Arrows: Rough sanders, aggressive stroke.

The 9 inch sander (on the right) is very aggressive. We call it "The Hog".

Red arrows: 80 grit.

White arrow: 40 grit.

If I used the 6 inch sander on this area, there is a serious chance that I could damage the lights or the bumper when I tried to get close to the edges.

So I used a much smaller sanding tool.

Detail Sanding Tools:

I used this air-powered grinder (which looks like a drill) with an assortment of 3M Roloc abrasive discs.

The green and red discs are fine and coarse abrasive pads. The others are 36 grit sandpaper discs. All of these discs are 3 inches in diameter, and they screw into a holder that mounts in a die grinder.

There were a couple of areas around the headlights that I also sanded with this detail sander.

I tilted the sander slightly, so only a small patch of the sandpaper was touching the metal. This gives me better control. I wanted to avoid touching the taped-off areas.

In a few minutes, I had removed all of the paint around the tail lights.

We used Matrix System 2KPB Urethane Primer, which is a sandable fill primer.

This primer fills in the deep scratches in the metal. It saves us the labor-intensive step of applying automotive painter's putty to the entire car, and then sanding most of it off.

Note that the left rear fender was not removed because we didn't want to mess with the gas cap and fuel filler hose... and that complicated hinged tail light.

I used 150 grit and then 220 grit sandpaper to scuff-sand the first coat of primer.

After drying, we sanded the primer with 320 grit sandpaper.

Then the dust was blown off the vehicle with compressed air... while the spray booth ventilation system was running, which filters the dust out of the air.

First I brushed the filters with a broom, then I swept up the dust that fell on the floor.

Then we wiped down the entire car with wax and grease remover. This removes any traces of skin oil from touching the car.

Show-Car Finish:

Bob Mapes, owner of R-Tech Auto Body, wetted the surface with a spray bottle and used 2000 grit sandpaper wrapped around a sponge block to scuff-sand the entire car. Then he rubbed-out and polished the paint to a showroom finish, using a buffer.

Read more about buffing paint to achieve a highly polished surface.

I installed new gasket beads. I simply pushed the gasket into the gap.

But the results are worth the effort.