Since buying #278 last year
(click here to see the original threads on the Early S Registry),I've been slowly doing a light restoration of her back to roadworthy condition. I've also been hounding the previous owner for more missing parts and history...he owned it since 1971.
The cardex shows that she has the original engine (yay!) and that the interior came from the factory in red! I looked closer at a picture I have of the car from 1977...sure enough I could see a little evidence of a red interior! So I go out to look closer at the interior, and I can find evidence of the red interior behind every interior panel except the front seats. I called the owner and he confessed to spray painting (with vinyl specific paint) the original red interior black back in the 80s!
At least he didn't do a slantnose turbo look update kit while he was at it!
He also remembered that he had the original red seats in the back of his storage unit. Many months later he finally digs them out and also finds the original aluminum core wood steering wheel and radio!!!
So I did some research on the best way to remove vinyl paint and bought a high quality lacquer thinner and began removing the black dye off the red interior. It's a lot of work! Here is the result of 1 hour of labor:
The lacquer thinner did a good job and didn't remove any red, but after all the work there is still black paint stuck in the pleats and in some of the vinyl grain. I'm worried about how the door panels and other interior panels will turn out. What would you use to make them look better?
I've had good luck spray dyeing vinyl using Leatherique in the past...they say you can use it on vinyl for non-seating surfaces. They can do a perfect color match. Not sure how this would work on the gathered door pocket vinyl though even if sprayed carefully. Any ideas are appreciated.
01-25-2012, 02:15 PM
