original factory process for painting a car

resq302 said:

ok guys, I'm starting the long process of stripping down my car for a complete restoration. While I am doing base / clear, what was the proper way the factory painted the car? I'm trying to emulate a factory type job with modern technology and paint process. I'm familiar with the dip tank system they had but I'm not too familiar with how they got the body color on. Was there a pit they were in or was the car raised up some what? This will be for my 69 GTX convertible.

thanks for the help.

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I'll asnswer your question... I'm real good with 67's but I think 69 was the same, or fundamental the same. If your car has never been disassembled you'll be able to verify some of this. The car had the hood, fenders, doors, and trunk lid all on the car then it was sprayed. You should have bare metal on the hood and hinges where paint can't get to. Behind door hinges should be bare too. Trunk rods or hinges (whatever they're called) will have no paint on the ends once you take the trunk off.

Problem is you need a big paint booth to open everything up and you'll never get around the car in time to keep a wet edge on the clear coat. This picture is basically what's on the car when it's was originally painted. On my car we took everything apart except the doors when we shot color. Trunk and engine bay were done separately too.

Keep in mind the engine bay and trunk got sprayed at the same time too. Interior and underside where over sprayed. Bolt heads for fenders, hood and hinge, and trunk are all body color. If your car only had a respray you'll be able to tell what was painted and what was on the car originally.

69L48,

Thanks for the info. My friend who is painting my car has a fairly big spray booth so I'm sure he will be able to open the doors, hood, and trunk when he paints it all at once. He will start off by spraying everything with an epoxy primer and then probably do the darker gray dip tank primer over that and then body color.

The pictures of the paint booths in the assembly line was informative. Thank you for whoever again posted that ! Judging by how low the car was to the ground, I doubt very much that there would be a lot of coverage under neath the car like under the doors and / or rocker panel area.