Painting Our Project AMC Rambler - Show-Car Prep

12. For this job, you'll need a rotary polisher that spins at least 1,500 rpm, a good wool cutting pad, and a fine wool or foam buffing pad. The good tools can be found at the paint-supply store, so invest while you are buying the paint. Our buffer is a Makita that we bought from a paint-supply store nearly nine years ago. The thick wool pad is for cutting sanding scratches out of the clearcoat. To avoid burning the paint, be cautious around edges where the paint is thinner and make sure the pad is rotating off of or away from seams and edges instead of toward them. It creates less heat and friction.

13. Work the buffer across the surface of the paint, picking up compound as you go and working the area until it starts to shine.

14. This is a good illustration of what 3M Super Duty rubbing compound and a good wool pad can do. Notice that you can see some orange peel left in the area we wet-sanded but not in the buffed area. Now do the whole car.

15. To make a point, we finished the trunk area with Meguiar's Swirl Free polishing compound. It takes care of small scratches, spider webs, and swirl marks. Now do the whole car again.

16. What's missing in most paint-and body-stories is what to do with the trim. If you are building a '69 Camaro, buy new trim from Year One or Goodmark. If you are restoring a car that has little or no aftermarket support, you'll need to save your trim. We pulled ours off using a set of tools from Eastwood then gave them a thorough scrubbing with dish soap and water.

17. To bring back the original luster to the trim pieces, we used a Craftsman 6-inch buffer and wheel compound. The blue is for cutting built-up road detritus, and the white is a finer grit designed to take out any fine scratches. We found that Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish worked to get a bright shine from the parts after we cut them with compound.

18. We taped the trim to a 2x4 so it wouldn't get ripped out of our hands and damaged. Mark each wheel with the compound you are using and never mix them; always hold the part with the wheel spinning away from you and off the edge so it won't catch and bend the trim. We used two 6-inch wheels for the compounds and an 8-inch wheel to buff the trim with the polish.

19. We did manage to mangle one piece of trim when we tried to get the driprail molding off. Fortunately, Galvin's Rambler Parts had one in stock and sent it to us for the final shoot. His advice? "If you are going to remove the driprail, get behind it with a flat blade, move really slowly, and go 1 inch at a time."

20. We are going to get the front bumper rechromed and wait a month before we do any waxing. Next up, rearend parts and more drag racing.