New to this forum and looking for some guidance on my restoration project. I have read many posts on this forum discussing lacquer paint projects and thought I could get more specific info on my project with this post.

I am getting close to refinishing my 1966 Corvette coupe. The car currently has the original lacquer paint on all surfaces. If the paint was in slightly better condition I would attempt to save it, however, there is just too many areas with checking or where the paint is so thin that the red oxide primer is showing through. The car is Nassau Blue Metalic.

Although I understand all of the advantages of modern two component paint systems, I will be using lacquer. I have already purchased: 2 gallons PPG DZ3 Kondar primer, 2-1/4 gallons PPG DDL DURACRYL color, 1 gallon PPG DCA 468 DURACRYL clear, 9 gallons PPG DTL 876 medium thinner.

I will be painting the car myself in a well lit and vented temporary paint booth. I don't have much full car painting experience. Initially I did not plan to use a clear coat on this car because the factory did not clear these cars originally. The restoration is done to NCRS Top Flight criteria. The factory did "bake" these cars after painting to get the lacquer to reflow, and then did a light polish. I understand I likely could not color sand the metallic color coat, so I initially thought I would just polish the color. Although I need to keep my project as close to original as possible, I now think I should add a clear coat, cut it, and polish.

Looking for any guidance on whether a clear coat is absolutely necessary. Also looking for any advice on inter-coat sanding, and sanding color prior to the clear coat. I have unlimited time to complete the painting of this car. Thanks.

Dragin88 wrote:I am getting close to refinishing my 1966 Corvette coupe........ The restoration is done to NCRS Top Flight criteria........

That car deserves a top notch paint job, and the fact is an occasional painter can't
do the high quality work of a pro that paints every day. My best advice would be to
do the prep work and let a pro (someone you trust) do the final spraying. A judge
would be able to tell that it has a clear coat, whether it's acrylic lacquer or not, so
my best advice would be to have a pro spray the lacquer minus the clearcoat.

No offense intended, but the high value of the car combined with low painting
experience is why I say this.....

NightTrain, thanks for the reply and certainly no offense taken.

I would like to better understand your recommendation to eliminate the clear coat, is it:
because an experienced painted could lay down metallic lacquer without the need to do any cutting before polishing or more because a factory correct NCRS standard paint job does not specify a clear coat.

Also, if I was to proceed with a clear coat, would you recommend adding some color to it so that a rubbing of the finished paint would show some color on a white rag.

Uhh,.... a 66 with original paint..... Hmmmm... any chance you could throw up a couple of pic.s of the paint's current condition? I am in the furniture restoration/conservation biz. and we conserve and stabilize extremely old coatings all the time. Our goal is to not even show that we have worked on an original coating. There are car guys just like me out there that conserve car coatings as well. Lacquers, in particular, lend themselves to repair because of their ability to "melt in" chemically.
And on that clear coat thing, in my opinion, there is a huge difference in straight colored lacquer and lacquer with clear coat over it.... well, at least to me.....

Attached are a few photos of the car. I am not currently with the car so I cannot take close-ups accurately showing the condition. I can post more close-ups of the worst areas on the weekend. If you zoom in you may be able to see checking and where the body seems show through the paint.

I'm getting drool all over my computer screen from those pics. A C2 coupe is my
favorite car of all time. My best friend had a 64 coupe and I've owned a couple of 59
Vettes myself. Where have all the years gone?

Darrell alluded to saving the original paint. Good idea if it were a survivor. Since the
resto is already started and supplies bought, might as well recoat it. If it's a driver,
then you could clearcoat it, but for a show car and one that valuable, I'd go with the
straight acrylic lacquer because that's what the factory used. Regardless, don't mix
color with the clear because the color won't wipe off by a judge and it'll look terrible anyway.

It's been many years since I sprayed any type of lacquer, but acrylic isn't the same as
the old school lacquers that were very forgiving of mistakes. With the AL, the last coat
is what you live with because the metallic can't be sanded. It's more like acrylic enamel
in that respect. It's not used much anymore, but maybe someone here is more familiar
with it and can give suggestions...

Okay, yeah, it's got some stuff going on... that probably wouldn't make coating restoration very viable. I still think you should just do a straight single stage shoot on it. I just don't think clearing over that is going to look right. Working with acrylic lacquer isn't bad but it can be challenging for the novice.... I haven't shot any (other than minor touch-up work) in 24 years.

I would suggest that you pick up a couple old fenders and a hood and experiment with your equipment. get use to the gun and its settings, lacquer is easy to use when you get use to it. when you mix your paint record how much thinner you used and the temp you are spraying at. reduction is important as you can thin anywhere between apr. 80% to over 200%. also the temp range and air press. are important to a good finish. I would start with the slowest thinner you could get if temps are normal. your biggest problem is going to be tiger stripes. the slow thinner and practice will help.
Jay D.

Thanks for the recommendations. I still have a few months before I start my paint work and will continue to consider clearing or not. I welcome all additional comments and recommendations.

I think it may depend on how my first coats of color go. My current thinking is to spray several coats of color, let it cure for a week or so, wet sand with P600, then spray several more coats. If I can lay down the first coats, and it looks good, I then may plan to spray the final coats without planning to clear.

The car is a numbers matching, very original, 427-425 hp motor with lots of original documentation. The chassis restoration is nearing completion, basically just inspection marks and body shim chalk marks to apply.

That's an awesome car there... I can see where you're headed here.... so I get the new paint thing. I think that's a good plan on the paint...should answer your questions on just how flat you can lay that paint.