Starting on my 79 262c

Thanks. I just like ANY progress.

Moving very fast. We may be painting this Sunday, . Any suggestions on paint brand? Not looking for the most expensive but something in the really good category. I know better paints have more solids, hence better coverage with less material. So no watered down paints. Also need a clear coat. The car will be painted the original 1979 color, silver, need to check the paint code. The 4 small sections I removed will be painted before the weekend.

We only have one auto paint store within 50 miles and it is PPG so I guess that is what I put on the cars. Painter buys clear by the big bucket so I do not have any info on that but still happy after several years.

Here are the paint codes for the silver '82 which I suspect is the same for your '79.



My painter put a LOT of clear coat on because he knew that I was going to cut with 1500/3000 and polish.

For future reference, here is the '81 gold paint label:



I ended up using almost a gallon of the metallic silver and metallic gold and probably more than a gallon each of the clear coat. My painter charged me less than $400 each for the materials which he supplied at his cost. I don't know if that is a good deal or not but the bottom line price was $700 for the silver wagon and $950 for the two tone Bertone. That is drive out, PITI, shop materials, tag fees and anything else you can think of. Cash of course. By the end of the Bertone I had gotten very tired of all the prep work and the difference is certainly the result.

I was embarrassed by the wagon price and slipped the guy who sprayed the car a $50 with his promise that he would not tell anyone what a cheap deal I got.

Thanks for the info. I'll be at the paint shop in am. There are actually 2 paint supplies places near by. One is Kemperle Auto Body supplies and the other I think is a Sherwin Williams location. Kemperle is where most of the painters shop. I didn't realize they have location down the east coast, I think all the way to Fl. Looks like I'll be needing a gallon of paint and at the very least a gallon of clear and maybe a little more. Fingers crossed.

Pics tomorrow. First, everything was going good until it wasn't. Got some color on the fenders, hood, door jams on door and jams on car. Then something got on the hood and left a few spots, maybe from the tree. Thought we had that under control. Took a bit of sanding and priming before we got to go away. Also maybe a small bug or two that we were able to get out with a small piece of tape. Wet sanded and shot more paint. The Volvo Mystic Silver is not very forgiving. A small section on the cowl, about the size of a quarter, that was repaired, sanded, blocked, primed, sanded, leveled, etc., still looks like something is not right. No high or low spots but something is up in the reflection. Not sure what to do without taking it down to metal again. Not going to happen. Then as the clear went on the breeze kicked up. Got a little dust here and there but the painter thinks it will all come out with wet sanding. Then we notice, after the clear, that we missed 2 very small dings on the fender just above where the trim goes. Not happy. May try a paintless dent tool to push it out. If not it stays. Not sure what happened. I was sanding, blocking and using a guide coat. He too went over again. Maybe the heat got to us, I think it reached 95 degrees . But making progress. Not sure you can get 100% perfection working outside.

Auto painting is not for for the faint of heart. I spent weeks preping the wagon so I wouldn't be embarrassed at the paint shop. The shooter spent 4 hours taking care of all the things he could see that I couldn't. The clear coat makes it a little less overwhelming if you put enough on to be able to cut-n-polish all the bugs, bug tracks, dust and other metal up defects that get through.

Excited to see pics!

Here we go. A bit tricky taking pics of silver paint even with partial shade. My set up, view from above.

This is the trouble area on the cowl.

passenger side

difficult to imperfections but the gloss is nice. Needs cut and polish.


cowl not too bad
doors will get paint on top side soon

The plan is to wet sand the under side of the hood ( scuff and paint ) and make look a little nicer. It has a few nicks and small rust spots buy nothing major. Also will try to blend in some paint where the radiator and battery sit. The battery side always gets the brunt of damage. The passenger is ok but will try to improve. Both of those sections you don't really see but will still try to improve.

We needed more shade and my neighbor was throwing out a bed frame. The rails were metal and 6 feet long so these became supports for another tarp. Works for me.

Looking back at the pics I see that you can see some of the trash in the clear. We'll see what happens. Also about the drivers fender with the dings, I have a spare fender I just might paint that one too and choose the best. Stay tuned and thanks for the kind words.

Starting to think about the wheels. I tend to be a purist about redoing this car. But I do have other Volvo wheels to choose from. So it will either be a set of newly refinished Coronas that I've been hoarding since forever. Or Virgos painted silver like the car. Or 780 rims painted to match. What do you think? Need to find pics of other Bertones with the other 2 wheel options.

A few observations. Last night we had 2 heavy rain events. I thought for sure the doors would be filled with water they I had left them on the tables. I got lucky. The saving grace was 2 things, the quality of the masking paper and the fact that i had taped closed almost all of the overlapping seams. Lesson is to buy good automotive grade masking paper. Some of the rain water puddled onto the paper but did not penetrate it.
Next, I was looking at how I masked the door. At the time I wasn't too concerned about the space between the rubber seal and the frame of the door. Who's going to notice, right? Well the new paint is just a shade lighter. Around the area that houses the mirror, when you open the doors you can see more of the paint. The doors were masked differently. on one the gap section was exposed for maybe 4 inches but on the other it was covered in the same area. I tried to lightly sand and polish the old paint to make it match but no luck. Again very subtle. I re-taped both doors and will discuss with painter how to proceed. He'll think I'm nuts. To the untrained eye most would not notice. You guys would rake me over the coals about it.
Here is the before tape

the after


here you can see that I had covered the gap

I like the 780 look.

see here > http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showpost.php?p=7654334&postcount=181

Nice car! I thought 780s came with multi X wheels?????

Not much happened today. My right hand and thumb are killing me. But I had to do something so the rear bumper shocks got sanded and a fresh coat of black paint. I know it will never be seen but as they were already off the car why not. Now I really hurt.

You do know that the panel in front of the radiator is body color?

The upper panel will be painted body color on top and left POR underneath. The same goes for the lower support. The parts are with the painter. He said he may just spray both sides of everything silver. The pic you posted is showing the underside. Thanks

I've been on a POR 15 kick. Still have some paint left, can says you can paint over rust to stop it. Who knows but it can't hurt. So I've using it on parts where you don't actually see it. I think it will provide some protection to the metal. Plus I don't have to top coat it as the parts are not exposed to UV.