I recently went to look at a 67 Electra a few states away that was a 30,000 mile original car. The car looked like it should have been in a museum it was in that nice of shape. Everything looked mint on the car. My concern with the car tho and my question on here is the paint. The guy who was selling the car had it willed to him and to best of his knowledge it was never repainted. It looked to me it might have been repainted at one point and time because of the imperfections I saw in the paint. It looked in a few areas that there might have been sanding lines from being refinished. The guy told me that the steel on the car might not have been perfect when it was made or something about the paint about being that old would bring up imperfections. I didnt really know what he meant. He had a huge collection and showed me on a 66 442 with 9,000 miles on it that had the similar appearing blemishes in the paint which looked like again to me, lines from sanding/refinishing. He said the paint on the 442 was original as well. One other blemish in the paint was on the door above the handle. There was debris of some type, dust, lint, not sure, in the paint. Would something like that come from the factory. Ive looked everywhere and could not find paint on any molding or overspray anywhere so if it was repainted the car was completely disassembled. I want the car because I dont think I will find another 2dr this nice again. He told me the car is completely orriginal and the price he is asking is appropriate if it is untouched. However, if the car was repainted at one time tho I feel it takes away from its value and then it isnt a completly orriginal car. Any info is appreciated.
In 1986, I bought a garage kept 1965 Chevrolet biscayne coupe with 16,000 miles from the estate of the original owner - a neighbor of my parents. The only thing that wasn't original on that car was the battery. According to the son of the original owner, no one had ever sat in the back seat. Never any body or paint work of any kind. There were grind marks under the paint in several places, paint runs here and there, thin spots, dust under the finish.... I learned then what the terms "over-restored" and "better than new" mean. Like Keith says, "Some of the worst paint jobs ever put on a car came from the factory." If it passes all the other tests, buy it. :TU:
Use a paint depth guage for starters. Usally the paint should be approx 3 thousands thick from the factory and should only vairy about 1 thousandth of an inch... Check all panels if it is uniform odds are it is original.. Alot of time it will thin at the bottoms of the 1/4 and rockers.. Also the guage should show any filler or heavy primered areas.. Paul
