Picking up where Dad left off

[Brent]

So, I've gotten the sheet metal including the doors, cowl, hood, etc. fitting pretty well. In general, I believe the sheet metal is in pretty good shape. Part of the car has been painted black lacquer and part of it is in spotty primer and filler...this was done probably 20 years ago by my dad. As I pick up the body work again, I was hoping for some help with my plan of attack.

First, should I strip/sand off the lacquer paint on the exterior of the car down to the primer, trying to save the primer?
Should I leave the inside as-is, with the exception of the rust under the rear seat?
Next, I figure I'll get the sheet metal as close to perfect as I can on the entire car.
Treat the minor surface rust on the bare metal areas.
Primer or re-primer the entire car.
Add bondo, etc. and sand as needed.
Then primer/filler and block sand to get ready for paint.

Is that a reasonable plan or are there other steps I should be taking?

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[DaWizard]

Since I have not painted a car in over 50 years, I can't really help you there, but I would suggest you see if there is a sound deadening kit or insulation kit and install that in the interior spaces.

You might be better off asking your local automotive paint store for the best advice on painting over what you already have, since they will know best what will or won't adhere to what you already have.

If I was starting this project, and determined to change the color, I would disassemble the entire car and media blast it to bare metal and start from there. The main reason I would do that is because of the unknown factor of the paint and bondo already on the car. There are way better fillers made today than in the past, and you don't need separation of the old fillers.

My 2¢ worth

[Mitch]

It depends what your striving to achieve as an end result. To properly paint one of these cars it needs to be disassembled and the body removed from the frame.

[Brent]

Mitch,
Sorry for the confusion. My dad took it down to the frame, restored the chassis, etc. and started working on the body. He got as far as shown in the pics and I'm trying to pick it up from there. I set the body and installed the fenders, hood, etc. to be sure everything would line up after body work and paint. Now I'd like to get started on the body work.

Brent

[Jeff/Illinois]

Brent looks like a nice little Model A. Keep us posted.

I am interested in how 'easy' the lacquer comes off we are at that point too. 40 year old paint looks presentable from 10 feet but it is cracking like a boiled egg shell on the fenders. Wish they had been enameled but they weren't