Topic: painting interior panels

[Toms70mach]

I'm in the middle of re-doing the black interior of my 71 mustang. The rear quarter side panels are faded. What would be the best product to re-paint them with. I want them to be as close to concours as possible. I was going to use npd's paint but read that it is a little bit transparent. What works the best? Thanks, Tom

[J_Speegle]

I would strip them first ( to remove any old paint and stuff that would reduce the look and depth of the grain)

Base coat (light - just enough to fully cover) of your favorite semi-gloss black. Then two thin light, dry coats of the Dark Charcoal Metallic. If you get carried away you will produce a smooth somewhat glossy end product

[Toms70mach]

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to give that a try. What brand of dark charcoal met. do you use? NPD's?

[cobrajetchris]

There is a color code assigned to the interior panels and if you can get a old paint chip book that includes the sixties and seventies cars it will have a formula for that color along with notes on what level of gloss each panel gets (mostly medium to low gloss). SEMS makes a good ready to spray option for interiors as it's ready to spray out of the can and most paint jobbers can put it in a aerosol can for you if you do not have spray equipment. I am not sure on the 71 model if the interior trim panels are plastic or metal, however if they are plastic or fiberglass I have never found a way to strip the old paint off the panel without ruining the grain. If the panels have never been sprayed before I would just clean the panels very good with a cleaning product made for preparing plastic for paint and at the very most use a light gray 3m scuffing pad to sand the panel before painting. Normally if the panel has grain to it and  cleaned very good, you should have no problems. The SEMS interior/plastic paint is very thin and does not tend to fill in the grain like your typical enamels or lacquers. The most common mistake I see in interior restoration is the panels are too glossy and gives it a cheap look. Gloss level can be premixed or added with a flattening agent and will take some trial and error to get the correct gloss. This has been my experience with it, hope this helps.

[Toms70mach]

Yeah, the panels are plastic and don't appear to be painted before. I don't want them to be glossy but they are very faded so I'm not sure how to add enough flattening agent to get the right gloss. I guess I'm looking for a premixed paint (either aerosol or spray gun) that is already the right color and all I have to do is clean the panels and then spray. If SEMS has a ready to spray paint, do you know what color code/ name it is? Thanks, Tom

[J_Speegle]

I used a oven cleaner (lye based) to strip and clean a couple of sets of 69-70 style a while back with success

[cobrajetchris]

TOM, I will try to get some info. for you from my paint jobber as he has some of the old chip books and see if we can come up with a formula. CHRIS

[Darrentxs]

I did my lower '69 dash with rattle cans and it came out pretty darn good. I had it blasted and epoxy primed.  It came back that buff yellow primer color. To get it close before the charcoal, I ordered Krylon Industrial semi-flat black. It's acrylic lacquer spray paint.  I followed up with Accumatch brand automotive detail paint, 67-73 met black charcoal purchased from Dallas Mustangs. That stuff is acrylic lacquer rattle can too. The fan patterns were great. It looks like a factory finish IMO. No overspray issues.  I plan to do it on my inner fiberglass but am waiting until I have all the pieces I'll need first.

[Toms70mach]

Thanks everyone for all your help!!Tom