The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Whats the basic Prep plan to paint a 1941 GMC?

I have a rare ( less than two thousand made)1941 GMC COE 4X4 military Van model that just came from dry old Colorado. It is VERY SOLID and without ANY rust ANYWHERE! One dented area on a flat, side steel body panel that is easy to straighten out.

It has very sound thick steel (like new) fenders and hood and ABSOLUTLEY no rust anywhere on the chassis or body! Not a speck or ! even down under on the frame and suspension!

So.... Now my question:

Do I first (1) have it lightly sandblasted ( with beads, shells or powder or sand?),

then primed? (what primer?)

and then (3) professionally painted.

I would like to manage and outsource the prep work myself to save dollars. Then turn it over to a quailfied big truck painter.

Know any good truck painters in the North East?

"Old Coes"
Si Lupton

Hartland Vermont :p :rolleyes:

A good media blast is not a bad option. You can even leave it assembled and mask areas you wish protected or left original. If its really THAT clean, you might think in terms of preservation vs re-finishing. If you do media blast, some places offer an "e-coat" service after blasting. Well worth having it done since the mat'l used costs a good sum of $. It`s basically an epoxy base primer to protect the bare steel until the surfacer is applied. PPG epoxy primer is about $200+ for a gallon primer and catalyst. The rest of the process of re-finishing is fairly generic. Good luck with it.

Talk to you painter before you do anything. You need to use a process that is compatible with theirs. Primer is one of the most important parts of a paint job and you need to get it right.