'85 Cutlass Update...It's stripped!

[Outlaw]

So, finally have 'er all stripped down and pretty much ready to start bodywork. Removed all the old bondo from the roof seam and cleaned out nicely. Digging around all that old bondo that was hidden under a vinyl roof all these years, made it a little soggy. Other than a little rust on the bottom of the doors which i took care of, the car is rust free except for a little surface rust in spots. G-bodies are very new to me as I'm used to wrenching on much older cars and still have a lot of questions that I'll throw at you guys as i think of them. I still want to black the car out except for grills, headlight trim and maybe taillight, reverse light trim and door handles. Bumpers and window trim will be blacked and I'm wondering if Hot Rod Black (matte) on these would look good with the rest of the car gloss black? Have the hardtop rear window trim and still looking for a suitable spoiler. Oh yeah, my budget on the whole car including the cost of the car including all the goodies and the new paint job is $2500.00. (I like to challenge myself). Anyway, heres some pics.....

 

[Burnhard]

Its going to be nice good work. Did you buy a new door or did you patch yours?

 

[86Limited]

Looking good can't wait to see the finished results.

 

[Outlaw]

Bought a patch panel for the lower door but when i started stripping, seen that it was only surface rust, so i salvaged it....some welding, rust mort, seam sealer, etc and a couple of good coats of epoxy. At some point i have to stop stripping the car down and start painting......i prefer to like paint in pieces, more work but makes a much nicer job and at the same time you get to replace rusty, broken hardware and clean really well. Plus it's a color change so of course painting the backsides of everything. Still would like to do something funky with the paint but am just drawing blanks for ideas.......maybe some satin black stripes, bit of real flames (I do a lot of flames on bikes but not crazy about them on cars), something subtle but custom, i don't know yet......Any ideas?

 

[O. D. Showtime]

Looking good Rolly!

 

[85GPLef41]

Subscribed ! 8) Looks good i like to see a rebuild project.!

 

[Burnhard]

My first choice would be black as well as my second and third. I always thought custom paint went with bikes and hod rods as well as retro 60's and 70's drag cars. The lines on the cutlass make color choice hard as few colors look good.There was a cutlass that was in a hot rodding photo contest, that I liked. Car had the perfect ride hight with weld pro stars.The car was painted a tri color, black in the shade red in the sun. Cheery Black has been around along time but works. Black with the gold stripe and 442 decals would have the retro 70 w30 442 look.I'm going black with chrome looks clean and sharp works with the body lines.Good luck with your build its looking good.