Guys,

I have a plain jane 68 (vin 12337) car and have already had my fun with the suspension, engine, and drivetrain. This winter I plan on doing the body.

I would like a bit of a custom look and really do not want to make the car an SS or Z28 clone. I was thinking about using the new 383 fender emblems that Classic Industries has and maybe the SS style black stripe across the nose and down the sides. The base paint would probably stay the same or a similar color of red.

My question is this -

1. Would the SS stripe look tacky with the plain Jane hood?

2. Any other ideas for a color scheme?

3. The paint that is on the car is not original (the car was originally Lemans Blue - Laquer?). The red that is on there looks good from a distance but I think it is a urethane and it has checked badly on the horizontal surfaces.

I understand that I will have to strip it down to bare metal. What is the best way to do this? There is only a little bondo in the rocker panels the rest of the car is fairly clean.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1754837&a=13522623&f=0

Thanks a ton for any suggestions.

Eric

z-28's had stripes with a flat hood.Not tacky at all.Go lemans blue,with stripes or keep it red with white stripes,or maybe a bumble bee stripe.

The other day I saw a 69 with Z stripes and the hockey stripes on a standard hood. Now that's tacky, IMO.

I don't think I'd go for both hockey stripes and Z stripes together either, that seems a little odd to me too. I do like the idea of just the hockey stripes though.

Never knew you could get a Z with a flat hood, thought they all had the cowl hood.

[This message has been edited by Eric68 (edited 07-22-2001).]

Red with those stripes in white has to look great. Later, you could add the SS hood, at least thats what I'm planning to do.

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The special ducted hood (cowl hood) was not even available till 1969, then only in very limited numbers. Only 10,026 hoods were factory installed, and only 6,352 of these were put on the Z28's and SS's. These days, everyone puts a cowl hood on there first gen, but originally it was a pretty scarce option. I think the stripes look fine on a flat hood.

I've been struggling with the same decision on my plain 67 ragtop. What color is your interior?....looked black in the pictures but I couldn't tell.

My plan has been SS clone with black bumble bee stripe as the convertible top is block and the deluxe interior has black accent stripes on the red seats.

But like other suggested, really like the idea of white Z/28 stripes and I could just keep my straight hood. But would the white stripes look stupid with the black top (but usually down under red cover) and the black accents inside? Opinions?

And even if I go with the bumble bee stripe, I like white better than black....but again, would it look bad? What I have usually seen in pictures is stripes that match top/interior color.

Mark M.

Gambitt - that's interesting. I guess I've seen nothing but cowl hoods on the Z cars so I assumed they went together. But then 90% of the 1st gens around here are 69's anyway.

Mark, my interior is black. There's a picture of a 69 SS convertible in the Classic industries catalog (actually it's just a model - pg 161) that has the white hockey stripes on a red convertible with a black top and black interior. I think it looks pretty good, the Z style stripes would probably look good too IMO.

Any tips on how to strip my car down to bare metal? Solvents or Sandpaper? I've not done this before.

[This message has been edited by Eric68 (edited 07-23-2001).]

I'm no bodyman, but the guys over at www.autobodystore.com (http://www.autobodystore.com) say that using a buffer
with a hook and loop attachment for the sandpaper is the way to go. They say it is easy for a novice and fast. Len sells Makita buffers that he recommends for this, check out his site.

Striping that way works fine, but don't use ant coarser than 80 grit, and you really have to watch not to hold the buffer and to much of an angle (or you can gouge the metal). Another alternative would be to have the outside of the car Media Blasted. Either way you will want to use a good Metal etching primer (wash primer) on the bare metal.
Austin

Thanks guys, any recommendations on a specific metal etching primer? Cans would be easiest, but I do have a small bottle with a separate propellant can that I can mix and spray with.

Maybe I'll invest in a new buffer.

Eric, I needed to strip my '67 to bare metal also. The parts that I could remove from the car - hood, fenders, valance, trunk lid - I took to a shop and had them blasted. The quarters and the doors, I used air craft stripper and did the work in my garage. The blasting saved me alot of time and was relatively inexpensive. I didn't blast the doors and quarters as I did not want to have the "blast media" in all the nooks and crannies. If you go the blast route, call around for basic quotes like "what would in run to blast two fenders and a hood?" Make sure they are experienced with auto parts. Once you have found a shop that is reasonable, take ALL your stuff in at one time. They will give you a better price than if you bring it piece by piece.

Do you know what brand of paint you will be using? For PPG I recomend DX 1791/1792. Most major paint companies have a metal etch, my shop uses PPG. Others on this board can recomend for differant paint companies.
Austin