HELP-- pro. opinion needed on paint scratch repair vs. repaint

I have a '75 308 GT4 with original paint and I ran over a piece of metal and scratched the rear fended. The scratch is very small but the original paint on the car shows crazing and seems to be impossible to blend.

Do I repaint the car and lose the rareness of an original paint job? Does it hurt the value?

Touch up the scratch and have a noticable touch up but keep the original paint?

Please help!

If you are a professional in this arena I really need your help to argue with the insurance company.

Thanks!

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I'm no pro but i've repaired a few scratches. The problem with the scratch repair is that you need to not only fill in the scratch without getting the paint outside of it to look clean but also cover it with clear coat to make it match. If you thin the touch up paint with a little paint thinner and airbrush it into the scratch then take your finger and wipe off the paint outside the scrach with your finger you can get a clean repair and not sacrifice originality


The trick is to be able to wipe off the excess outside the scrach without dipping your finger into the scratch and taking out the needed paint. The thinner helps it wipe out with just your finger. After the paint repair has cured LIGHTLY wetsand with 2000 grit and then hit it with a little clear. It may take you several attempts to get it right but i've used this technique with good results.

 

Is there any difference on how you do the repair with a single stage paint job. I assume most or all of the early 308's do not have clear coat. Just interested here.

 

If there is crazing in the original paint, it is shot anyway and you need a respray (depending on whether you're keeping the car or just driving it into the grave).

My opinion is that spider-webbed original paint (and leather interiors turned into beef jerky...) simply look bad and reflect poorly on the car's preservation. Modern paint is vastly superior to the garbage Ferrari and other marques used in the '70s. If it was preserved nicely, originality is the way to go. If the paint is already dead, bury it and move on.

Decide how much you want to spend, but I wouldn't spend any more than it takes to do a more than spot-touch the scratch in the meantime. Professional painters can color match your faded original paint, but there's no way they're going to blend smooth 2007 paint with old cracked stuff.

 

Brian,

You're lucky you're here in New Jersey. You have one of the best facilities around to help you. Call Classic Coach in Elizabeth at (908) 352-3939 and ask to speak with Rocco Planeta. Classic Coach is a Factory-authorized coach repair center. They'll fix it and it will be as though nothing ever happened. It won't need a respray and you'll still have your crazing.

By the way, depending on the type of crazing you have, even that can be remedied. Leave these matters to the pros.

Barry

 

Thanks for your help so far!!
to reply to a couple things-

bullfighter sounds like a bullfighter- I'm not driving the car into the ground! Some people like to see the original paint it actually shows that the car has been well maintained since 1975 and not left in a field to rust to death then restored. It is not cracked and falling off the car - its just if you look very close you can see thin lines in the paint. Thanks for the help and the insult to my nearly perfect original car. Apparently yours is in great repainted condition.

308 GTB- ummm. I moved to PA- oops. I have been to classic coach and I would love for them to do the work but I would have to drive 6 hours to get to them. They are the best! I delt with Rocco before. I will have to call them about that and see what they say.

Steve- my understanding is that in the 70's they used a less sophisticated painting technique with a lacquer finish and that is why it cracks.

Climb- I may pocket the insurance $$ if its not enough to get it done right and use your technique- thanks a million!!!

 

No insult intended - it's hard to judge your paint without a photo, but a description like "shows crazing" sounds like the original paint may have reached the end of its protective and aesthetic life.

Mine's an '87, not a '75, so the paint is newer. The front bumper has been resprayed at least twice, and the nose once, and it doesn't bother me, although a bunch of stone chips in original paint would have been more original. The Lusso and 275 GTB at the Bella Italia show in San Diego this spring were both full resprays, both worth multiples of what my car is worth, so it's not something I would shy away from when the time comes.

Up to you. Here's a photo from 'Decampo's' 308 respray, showing the crazed original paint. IMO, he made the right call.
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You're absolutely right, Brian. Our 1970s cars are prone to crazing because of the type of lacquer used in those days. It's best called "patina" and is a sign of originality. As I mentioned, some of the fine crazing and hazing can be corrected. There's beautiful paint underneath.

He's not so much a matador, a fighter of bulls, as he is a fighter of bull fecal matter.

Barry