Paint stripping (March 2004)

Number 250 was stripped down to bare metal before repainting. Although the heavy duty chassis parts and less accessible corners of the bodyshell were sandblasted, this isn't a safe technique for large panels of relatively thin steel. It can cause distortion, and even make holes. Some restorers prepare a vehicle by dissolving away all old paint and organic debris by immersing the entire structure in a vat of caustic liquid. This is very effective, but costly, and we weren't really aware of the technique back then. That leaves the messy and unpleasant manual application of paint strippers, or messy and unpleasant mechanical abrasion of the old paint. We took the abrasion option.

Grinding away

Julie, David and John, ripping that old paint away with abrasive disks.

Job done

It was a long and dusty session, but we did a decent job.

A nice cup of tea

A cup of tea is quite a small reward for filling our lungs with powdered Volkswagen.