I picked up this 72 Cutlass a year ago, so far have done a ton of work to the engine, drivetrain, suspension and interior and now its time to tackle the body. The previous owner had done some body work and got it to the primer stage.

My goal is to have a nice looking car, I am not building a show car more of a street car that I can have some fun in. I have been looking and paint and I plan to do a medium dark blue something in a urethane with an epoxy primer. I have a decent setup in my garage and want to tackle the bodywork and paint myself, I have block sanded a complete car before and done some basic bodywork but the painting part will be a new challenge.

Most of the body looks really good a few small dents here and there but my main concern is the drivers rear quarter and the front lower fenders. It appears that some filler has been used on them and there are some cracks and you can see a bit of rust seeping through. I was going to sand these rust areas down to see what I find underneath but wanted to get some advice first, so what do you think???

Who really knows what's hiding under that primer... And being that you already see bondo cracking and rust probably nothing good but who knows! Cool car though

Here's some better pics of the problem areas... On the rear quarter it appears to be a fiberglass filler that was used. So what do you think should I sand into it the areas to explore?

It looks like it's bulging/bubbling up in the first picture ? which generally indicates it's rusted through all the way.. Of course you want to see what's going on and fix the problem, otherwise it will come back and be a problem in your new paint. In perfect world you would strip the whole car to fix any problems you can't see but we all know that's time consuming and or expensive. But like you said you just wanted a street driver so I'd definitely fix any problem uou can see and then just hope for the best years down the line after you paint

Yes that's exactly what I am hoping for. I had the front fenders off when I painted the frame and installed the engine, they looked good from the inside, could not see any major filler, it was all pretty smooth metal so I am guessing it might have just been a bad filler job there or moisture penetrated the primer and got to the filler, but I am more concerned about the drivers rear quarter panel....

Only one way to find out lol

Damned son! My sister had a 70-something Cutlass just like that when we were kids. I drove it on my 16th birthday...without a license. Too stupid to come home before my parents got home. Much trouble. "But mom, I didn't think I actually needed a license."

It was pristine with a beautiful brown paint job. Wasn't wise enough to know that in 38 years it would be a classic. I envy you.

Strip it down and redo that lousy bodywork. Gonna be a prize when you're done!

if it were me I would strip the entire car down to bare metal and address any problems lurking under all that primer. Time and labor consuming hell yeah but at least you will know what you have and you can build it up correctly. Get a commercial grade aircraft paint remover and start on 1 panel at a time.

Yes I think that's my plan too, first I am going to try to strip it down with my da sander and 40 grit, we'll see how that works as I would like to avoid a chemical stripper if possible but it may come down to that... I'll keep you guys updated probably won't get into it until the new year.

A beauty like that needs to be stripped to metal and fixed correctly. Fastback Cutlasses are few and far between... sweet ride

Oh and for God's sake don't paint it BROWN !!! lol