Old paint on caddy

dubtom

A mate has just bought a 55 or 6 caddy in the states. Although in general a minter,the paint work is original,so looks a bit like enamel,with tiny cracks, but buffs up excellently.Even though the vender, a professional outfit, have offered to paint the car if he wants,they rekon the original paint will help keep the cars value. I'm not sure about that, perhaps in sunny climates 60 year old paint with cracks is perfectly acceptable, but I rekon 1 year in Irelands climate and it will begin to lift and rust.I'd hate to see his dream car start to rot. Although he has wanted a classic for years, an old caddy was his dream and it wasn't cheap so it's as much an investment as an occasional cruiser.Any advise? I have no pics yet as it's still in the states, but will upload some when I get some.

245

Originality can be important but the condition of the car is also important- it probably depends on how its stored and used - he'd need to keep moisture out from under the paint as much as possible. The outfit that he bought it from sound honest - they could easily have talked him into a bare metal respray...

I guess it boils down to how it'll be stored and used. Its hard to get a decent bodyshop thats sympathetic to classics here.

carchaeologist

Hard to say without looking at it, climate plays a big part,a friend bought a datsun 120y in from oz with its original paint,which was in ok shape but had been rubbed bare in places from polishing,as soon as the damp air got it here it started to rust so he got it painted recently,are the cracks down to bare metal?