Body

1956 Dodge Coronet Restoration

Body

After a while, I got tired of messing with the interior. I was anxious to get started on the body. The car has a lot of surface rust, but only one or two pinholes where its actually eaten through.

I started on the trunk first. Tried all kinds of sanding methods, stripping, etc. I finally got this electric sander/polisher that works pretty well. I got the hood sanded all the way to bare metal. Then one windy blustery day, I primed it. After that, winter killed my enthusiasm for the the project. ( This was winter 2005.)

Here I'm prepping the hood with muriatic acid to neutralize the remaining rust. Let's just say there were some "pits" left over. I think Naval Jelly might be better, since it would cling to the surface. The gloves are mandatory when messing with muriatic acid, and you don't want to get a wiff of the stuff! ( I later decided to forgo the muriatic acid step, and just rely on the rusty metal primer to stop the rust.)

I bought this sander for $50 from Buy.com. Its a Vector WaxxPro, and its the only kind of sander I've found that will sand through this 50 year old paint. I've discovered that even in the places where the paint looks good, there's rust hiding underneath, so you have get down to bare SHINY metal. It's supposed to be comparable to a Dewalt or Makita, which cost around $200. The only problem I've found so far is the backing pad, which will not accept any kind of sandpaper I've ever seen. Had to buy a new one at Home Depot for another $15. So total investment, about $65. ( Ed. Note. This thing crapped out soon oafter I started on the quarter panels. I would not reccomend it, except for maybe some light polishing. Definitely not up to the task of sanding rust.)