1981 Fiat Spider paint fix

[rjkoop]

Over the years I've spent a bit of time trying to improve the paint on my '81. With color/wet sanding and some buffing I'm generally happy with the paint (ie. I don't want to spend the big $$$ on a respray) but have a few problem areas. There are some chips/flaking and an area, near the power antenna, that looks really scaly. Here's a video of that area, then I moved to the trunk area where I tried a small repair (around 10 seconds, you can see the difference in paint color where I did a repair) and then finally to the front hood (around 20 seconds) where's there's a few chips then I move back and you can see overall the paint's not too bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R6sc9m-cEk

So I'm thinking to fix that entire area near the antenna, and sand, prime and touch up those other chips. Any advice on the process? I think a good sanding down to metal where required (feathered out to good primer/paint), a light coat of bondo, sanding, priming and then a few top coats of paint followed by clear.

I also find the paint difficult to match. Essentially I brought the car to a paint place, they used a special camera to match the paint and produced a few cans of spray paint for me. I don't have access to a proper sprayer. Maybe with a 40 year old car I can't do much better. I'm sure if somehow I go off the color code for the vehicle it won't match anyways because of the age/exposure of the paint.

Richard

[SteinOnkel]

The only way to repair that is to repaint the entire quarter panel. And you will never get the blending right so at that point you are repainting that side of the car at a minimum. You want to avoid paint matching and blending at all costs.

[rjkoop]

The only way to repair that is to repaint the entire quarter panel. And you will never get the blending right so at that point you are repainting that side of the car at a minimum. You want to avoid paint matching and blending at all costs.

Yep. Figured as much. I think I have this color...

Fiat Safari Ivory
Manufactor paint code - 285
DuPont paint code - 44042

I may try to see if I can get some of that and fix the chipping/rust spots. Better than what I have now.

Richard

[rjkoop]

Here's the paint they mixed for me a number of years ago based on them taking a picture of the existing paint.



Funny it worked out to be a Volkswagon paint code closest match.

Richard

[SteinOnkel]

My paint is called Grand Prix White.

Very popular with Porsche in the 80's.

[rjkoop]

Well... now I'm committed!

Should I take this down to bare metal? Minimal rust has been removed. Just a weird area where the paint cracked and chipped. Do I need bondo before primer? Guess I'll block sand 1st to the edges and see what I end up with.


Weird paint filled edge between 2 sections. Is that fixable without too much work?


Not expected a perfect match for these spots. Just removed the chipped paint and will get things smooth.


Richard