Hi guys! Glad to find your forum! I have a 73 Convertable that I am restoring, and just got some after-market interior rear quarter panels that don't have the correct holes for securing them. The originals are turning to powder on the surface. Does anyone have any ideas or techniques on how I could perhaps re-finish or re-coat the originals so I can just use those? I don't think just re-painting them would do, and I'm afraid to try to sand them in case they just keep going until they are gone... I'm looking at a product called Rainbow Fiberglass Protective Coating, but not sure if that is viable of if there are any other ideas...
Hi Lif,
Hope i can give you good advice on this one. Like you, i own a '73 vert, and was faced with the exact same problem with my original quarter trims(CREAM COLORED), powdering away with age.Even though i am a pro auto spraypainter, i would not really advise trying to refinish these old panels.
When they were new, the panels had a nice fake vinyl grain on them. You won't be able to reproduce that exact finish through spraypainting them. You can achieve a textured grain like finish which looks passable, but not original.Secondly, trying to paint over crumbling gelcoat is a big ask. Because the surface and below the surface is powdering, it's hard to get any paint to bind and stick on and last.If you insist on painting them, i would do a heavy sand back,and use 2 pak primer, or maybe even poly primers for a setup before using any color coats. In the US, there may be a special paint for this exact purpose, which i would not know about here in Australia where i live.
It would be cheaper and easier to refinish your new aftermarket trims with the color of your choice than trying to retore the old originals, but i decided to go with what i think is a better looking practical idea that's been done before by other Mustang owners in the past.
SO! Here's what i did. I took my original trims to a local top quality trimmer, and had him retrim them with a beautiful off white vinyl that matched the color of the door pads perfectly. They came up beautifully, and look a million dollars. He simply glued the new vinyl onto the old gelcoat after a heavy sand down and sealer applied.
I think the end result looks more classy that the original factory finish. So that would be the way i would go if i were you. The all up cost for the whole job was close to $350.00 Australian, and was very much well worth it. With all that labor and materials involved with repainting, retrimming is the best way to go in my opinion.
Hope that helped, Greg
