Paint jobs. How to tell if they are original or repainted?
 

Before I take my new 72 Plymouth over to my mechanic to have him look it over. I have one big probably easy question for every one. How can you tell if it is the original paint through out the whole car? I realize this is not easy. I do know that this can be figured out with a few easy tricks though. One being the obvious. Over spray or badly masked off trim work. I have not been able to find any signs of a repaint job on my car. I am highly convinced that this is the original paint and that the car was originally from Miami. Which Florida cars are kept a lot cleaner. This has been garaged kept most of its life. There are markings on the trunk etc... with an x from the factory like you see on new cars and my newer Sebring as well. The chrome is in just about perfect condition with no rust! For some reason I think I've found a legit original car with 50k miles on the original 318 block as well! I am open to all responses and criticism and will not be offended by any ones answers. I will also have no problem at all taking more pictures of the car if anyone needs them. Thanks for the help.

:swinging::hello::dance:

i worked i a restoration /body shop there are a lot of ways to tell.
first we are looking for 3 tell tail sighns...
-over spray is a fine mist of paint thats not smooth, but a word to use powdery or fuzzy texture.
-tape lines. these are a usually a sharp line or some lines may be a soft feather.
-mismatch. usually a slight difference in color and texture.

open the doors, hood and trunk gas door "if you got one. what we are looking for in here is over spray usually between the door and front fender run your hand along the inner fender feel for the above mentioned usually most shops are lazy here.. same with the doors run your hand and use your eyes you will feel the over spray and angle your look you will see it. repeat this in all the jambs
look also at the gas tank if its got color on it, up in and around the grill and headlight bezels around the chrome trim and bumpers and there fillers, between the side mirrors and the window

tape lines can be hid on the edge of the jamb opening by back rolling the tape or by "straight taping it
back rolling is when you run the tape across the edge of the jamb and roll it back giving the edge a narrow light feather line, straight tape will have a sharp line. also lift up the trunk seal and look under there for a line also along body seams, pinstripes, door molding guards,

mismatch can be quite easy to spot with the surface of your car in all types of light "bright shade indirect stand back look at the side of your car fenders doors any part the kinda just doesn't flow with the color you'll notice it also the texture or "orange peal" effect of paint when it has dried the factory and the shop will not match perfectly.

this should help you let me know how it works any other questions ask away:)

All good advise by Gorts. One other place to look is remove the sill plates and look under the carpet for a different color. If its that hard to tell someone did a real top notch repaint. Be happy.

I will look again but I tried these tricks. I'm convinced it's original. No blotches no tape lines no over sprays. Will have to check the door sills next. I will let you know what I find later.

It's called Back Masking not rolling lol.

The best place on these cars to tell a repaint is to look under the rocker. From factory there was paint there that matched the car and tapered off to very little at the inside edge. There was always overspray going under the car towards the middle. It would be almost invisible but its there.

Putty work is almost always done around wheel wells. Look on the inside edge factory never had this area smooth.

Common areas for rust is bottom of the fenders and the rear quarter panels at the bottom. Or the trunk extension on the inside there should be a plastic cup in the drain hole. Earlier models it was a metal one.

Car has been repainted darn it! How ever they did a killer job on it in my opinion. Matters the most is it looking good and you looking good in it! Other good thing if I ever spent the money on a real repaint job there isn't much body work needed.

Another way is, under a certain light at a certain angle you can see a faint hint of the sanding marks.

A car that is 42 years old will most likely of been painted at least once in its life time. The 72 Duster I bought from Az. was painted 4 or 5 times. As I sanded the whole car to bare metal it was very interesting to see all the diferent colors it had been. It started out gold and ended up blue. It is now Citron Yella with black stripes and a built for street 360. But I think it is over built as it spins every time I touch the go pedal. Lol

My Charger had 14 paint jobs on it (!) when I bought it. I did #15 (I was only 18 years old). Since then I had it media blasted and it has a single paint job now.

The new paint base coat clear coat really makes these old car look super nice. The shine is something you really had to work at back in the day and now its efffortless.

One thing for sure is. The paint job and the car really turns heads down here in Florida. Then they see a young skinny kid driving it! LOL

Actually I hate the base coat clear coat system the paint sucks and yellows after a bit making the color ugly. I prefer enamel paints so much better overall and last for years.

If the paint is done right the gloss is incredible and cannot be matched but I doubt anyone but me knows the process of how to do that anymore.

I agree that enamel is better but to find anyone willing to paint it anymore is like pulling teeth. They all want to take the easy way out. With acrylic enamel all you have to do is add wet look to the paints finish coat add wah la great shine like magic. But the body/paint guys say it doesnt last as long and fades fast. IDK why they say that and its not my fortay so who am I to argue.

enamel requires 3 coats minimum. Base coat is one round and the clear is the next round. They are just lazy.

After enamel is painted you wax it with a good wax. Turtle wax used to be good for it but the new stuff isnt as good. buff the wax and your done for a few years then do it again.

Yeah I wanted at least 4 coats of clear and when I got the car home and on the lift you could see that it didnt have 4 coats, one maybe two. It shines but I was looking for durability so maybe down the road in a few years it could be wet sanded and buffed back to super shine. But... it is what it is.