Does anybody have any original photos of the car when it was painted in the 70s?

Bare metal looks more cooler than the guacamole.

Keep up the good work. I was very tempted to buy this car and shipping to NJ was just too high.

But the work you've done so far in the time frame is far better than what i could achieve.

Great to see it is getting some well deserved love.

I’m just about 100 hours into the project and now I’m almost done sanding/chemical-ing off the old paint. I removed the old body filler and hit any areas of rust with a rust converter after sanding them down (the black paint you see in the photos). I used this product called Aircraft Paint Remover to strip the hard to reach areas (that's the foam you see around the trunk where the seal previously was). It worked well in the custom fender flares and around the engine bay. I just have to finish the door jam areas and the area around the back side windows. Almost ready to primer the body! Interior and engine bay will be a separate event.

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Worth the effort!!

Hey guys. Been a while since my last update. 60+ hours and 30 gallons of stain later, my fence is stripped and stained, ready for our Pacific NW winter.

I've started grinding the paint off. Four layers of really crappy paint doesn't come off easy. Whoever did the Guacomobile paint job used weird paint. My grinder was smearing it around in some points while taking it off. 20 hours later with a grinder, I've got the bulk of the body/hood/trunk done, now just for the detail sanding.

Also, I picked up those E30 seats and got my custom plates in the mail.

The plan now is to finish the grinding, finish the fine sanding, and get it to primer before the temps drop too low. I started too late this year to get the orange paint done - next spring.

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Thanks for the words of encouragement! Tonight, I'm going to meet a guy regarding some black E30 seats. I've seen other people put them in and they look pretty sharp. There's no way those gray Hyundai seats were going back in. I might be getting ahead of myself but the price is right.

You've started a large job. But don't give up, it'll be superb when it's done.

Hey all. Figured it has been a while since I last posted. Life has been getting in the way of the restoration. My goal hasn't changed - to have the car down to a rolling chassis and painted by the end of September so I can spend the winter months taking my time putting it back together. I've made a decent amount of progress considering my schedule. The interior is out and everything is off the front and the rear. I still need to remove the glass, dash, engine and tranny, then sand it all down and repair the rusty floor boards. A lot of work to do in 6 weeks while also working full time and having to attend 2 weddings, and finish staining my fence. So here's some pics:

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I had about an hour yesterday after work to start taking the car apart. I began with the rear interior of the vehicle. Only a bit of surface rust from the front seats back - so that's a plus. Pulled the carpet from the passenger front and found rust holes, so there is going to be some patch work in the near future.

The fun part was when I pulled the lower back seat. It turns out there must have been some rodent living in there at one time. There were empty seeds and nuts on one side and a nest on the other. The whole thing smelled faintly of urine. I cleaned it all out and disinfected it. I guess that's what happens when you keep it in a barn.

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b310gx - Thanks for the tip! I'll be sure to check the lines for leaks. I figured I'd be flushing the lines out, as well as all the vehicle's fluids eventually. I was going to start with mechanical on this resto, but the paint is so bad, I'm starting with the body work.