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Paint it or leave it: '56 Corvette

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Crazy prices. The only pricing I could find for PPG products was $660 for a set that includes clear, hardener and a reducer. Not exactly practical.


LOL..............................................No it's not!

I- large can of Red Oxide Primer
1- Can of Aluminum base
3 maybe 4 Cans of Candy Red Enamel
or
1 Quart of Dupli-Color pre thinned Candy Red Lacquer

$60-70 tops.

Only issue with Lacquer is you have to have all Lacquer base products underneath.
 
I think you have a really nice original Corvette there, just carefully clean and wax like others have said. You’ll be pleasantly surprised about how this bike will turn out!
 
CLEAN IT, SHINE IT
If you want a professional paint job...take it to a professional. They have the equipment and know how. In the long run it will save you money and frustration. It truly is a science.
 
Actually for the money, time, practice to copy or even come close to mimicking the original paint, I mean, unless you can discover the 1950's aluminum coat and top candy red and, bake each layer on like Schwinn did, you'd be better off buying a junker frame, fork and guard, painting it with Imron, (yes it's still out there in select paint stores albeit, prob not Calif. ) then selling off your parts. [grin]

Who nu, repainting a dang single colored Schwinn was so fricken hard? Guys like me, who learned back in the 60's that even Schwinn's own paint in their stores was just metal-flake rattle can, touch and chip Crap! Compiled with having tried to hunt online where all the old paints are filed, Schwinn's paint is no more than the same auto paints of the day but, their secrets are confounding.
 
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Dear Twinflight:
Like others have commented, 1) I vote to save the original paint, and 2) I would not consider you an evil person if you did repaint. Here's the thing though: if you repaint, then the chrome will look shabby and you'll have to send parts out for rechroming, then the spokes will look rusty and you'll have to replace them, then the saddle will look kinda tacky and you'll have to send it out for recovering, then you'll need new handgrips. You can see where this is going. You'll spend a lot of money and end up with a bike that looks beautiful but, in my aesthetic opinion (which, I admit, is of little value to anyone else), one that doesn't look really authentic. If you shine this bike up and do some minor touch-ups and upgrades, I guarantee that people will tell you that it is cool and beautiful wherever you ride. Whatever you do, have fun.
Andy
p.s. When I was 12 or 13 years old, My best friend had a 3-speed red Corvette like that and I had a red 1960 J.C. Higgins Flightliner. That Sturmey-Archer hub was advanced technology.
 
Schwinn always had the best paint and chrome. I was asked to repaint a 64 American that looked worse than your Corvette. I dismantled it and cleaned/polished each part. Then followed that with a couple coats of paste wax. The owner thought it was repainted but it was the original Schwinn paint and chrome. I would do that to yours first before deciding to repaint.
 
Schwinn always had the best paint and chrome. I was asked to repaint a 64 American that looked worse than your Corvette. I dismantled it and cleaned/polished each part. Then followed that with a couple coats of paste wax. The owner thought it was repainted but it was the original Schwinn paint and chrome. I would do that to yours first before deciding to repaint.

I'll definitely go the clean and polish route to see what I've got. Do you have any before and after pictures?
 
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