1966 Rust Repair and Paint

That is a beautiful car as it sits. I'm sure my opinion will be in the minority but I would not restore that car, keep it original. Assuming you have no structural rust problems, I would just repair the obvious rust bubbles and do very selective painting of a few areas, matching the existing color. You can easily have a very nice looking car that remains driveable and you will not spend the fortune that restoration will cost.
OKAY!!! So, this was my first plan.

I need to address the rust. I live in Pennsylvania, the rust won’t stop.

BUT, I love the originality of keeping most of the paint that’s original on the car.

Repairing the rust issues, and I’ve been trying to look for a body shop that uses digital match to go panel to panel with a coats of paint matched to each panel.

But, the problem I found was that the paint was too weak in most spots, and the whole car needs to be shot. Or at least that’s what has come back to me in suggestion.

I would prefer to keep the original paint, but it doesn’t seem possible after the 54 years of wear.

ALSO, thank you for the kind words. I find this car gorgeous myelf!
 
That is a beautiful car as it sits. I'm sure my opinion will be in the minority but I would not restore that car, keep it original. Assuming you have no structural rust problems, I would just repair the obvious rust bubbles and do very selective painting of a few areas, matching the existing color. You can easily have a very nice looking car that remains driveable and you will not spend the fortune that restoration will cost.
Very very true and you oughta know.

You gotta work that out before hand. I’ve been doing this since the 80’s. I’ve gotten pretty good work out of the stoners at earl schieb until they closed. Anything special or a $$$ flip car I took to Bruce Painter the painter Lol!!! Now that I’m out here in California I’m kinda on my own. I have a few buddies who paint but it’s wayyy outta my price range. Maaco was pretty cool - find a private owned franchise and they’ll work with you. I got the full warranty over my crappy bodywork. They just charged me the extra $80 to “seal it” (okay???) and with my coupon it was still $300.
And that’s the thing, I think if I’m smart here I can get much more for my money. And EVERY ounce of advice here has totally changed my perspective.

Thank you
 
What's your expected time frame for starting and finishing the work on the car, and what parts of the job do you think that you might tackle yourself? Would you be doing the heavy mechanical work like pulling the drivetrain and rebuilding the front end? The interior work such as removing/installing the seats, performing the dash swap or installing the Vintage Air components?

The reason that I ask is that I'm considering opening up my shop again part time or maybe full time. I'm likely to be retiring from OTR trucking later this year and I'm trying to decide what to do next, and may be looking for new customers.

Jeff
 
What's your expected time frame for starting and finishing the work on the car, and what parts of the job do you think that you might tackle yourself? Would you be doing the heavy mechanical work like pulling the drivetrain and rebuilding the front end? The interior work such as removing/installing the seats, performing the dash swap or installing the Vintage Air components?

The reason that I ask is that I'm considering opening up my shop again part time or maybe full time. I'm likely to be retiring from OTR trucking later this year and I'm trying to decide what to do next, and may be looking for new customers.

Jeff
Hi Jeff, I’ll send you a private message! Thanks
 
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