OK here's the deal. I bought a 69 Dart with really bad paint. The car has not been plated since 1978 or so.

The car was originally gold, then within 2 years of being new it was repainted purple. Then sometime within the next 10 years I assume it was painted black. So, the current condition of the paint has some really cool patina and rust.

OK so here's the deal. I want to give it some protection since now that I'll be fixing it up mechanically and get it driving again. I'm not really interested in doing the matte clear route, it's not worth the effort since it may get a full resto in 5-10 years, who knows.

So what do you guys recommend? I'm thinking of doing a wet sand by hand, maybe 800 or 1000 grit, then I also have some compounds like Meguiars 105 & 205. Just thinking that maybe I should use the products I have to help preserve the paint.

I'm not looking for show car paint, part of the style of the car is to keep the car pretty much as-is bodywise with the rust and stuff. But mechanically I want it top notch. Oh, I will try to pound out the left front fender so the door can open and close properly again.

I'm open to ideas and suggestions for just getting the paint looking better but not necessarily really glossy or shiny. If it does turn out shiny it's not the end of the world.

There are people that polish old rusted paint like that but 105 will shine it up. It looks cool. Try to google it see if you can see some on there.

A lot of the guys on the classic car groups are using boiled linseed oil to preserve patina finishes.

http://busnbug.com/sb_clients/busnbug/b ... or_wax.cfm