1954 project
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Instructor
Joined: Mar 2017
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From: California
Don't trey to buy everything you need at one time. Just buy what you have to have to keep working on the car. A lot of things you don't need till 1/2 way or near the end or a restoration job. Also only buy and spend as much as your budget allows you to spend. The car will be there next month or in six months if it takes that long to save up a few hundred to buy something that is on the high side. Time is cheap so take all of it you have to have to build your car. Also take a lot of pic and keep a record of all you spend and all you do and what you do and when you do it. Good luck you will have a lot of fun restoring a 54 Vette. 
Brief update on progress. I know this isn't the body/paint forum but I'll post this here for continuity. I tried stripping with Citristrip and was pleasantly surprised at how effective it was. Perhaps a function of the warm weather here in southern CA as well as the very old paint on my car. Curiously, I see a layer of black under the white, and above what I'm assuming is the factory gray-brown primer. Interesting to speculate if this was originally a black car.
with Chris, your car was not Black originally it was Polo White. That is a primer you are seeing. 
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2017
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From: California
Anyhow, what's the consensus on removing the primer? Do most strip down to bare glass?
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I will leave teh stripping all teh primer question to the painters, as paint has changed since i first did my car 40+ years ago.
Your valances are easily repairable.
I posted a long piece in another thread within the last week about fiberglass repair. You can find it by doing a search for other posts by AZDoug
All that i wrote is also in the ST-12, except the part about letting the repair age in the sun a few months, or at least age for a few months before final finishing for straightness, and painting.
With your project, I would do the fiberglass stuff first, then go back and visit it every couple months to correct shrinkage, while you are doing the rest of the car. By the time you are ready to paint, your repairs will have been well aged.
Doug
Your valances are easily repairable.
I posted a long piece in another thread within the last week about fiberglass repair. You can find it by doing a search for other posts by AZDoug
All that i wrote is also in the ST-12, except the part about letting the repair age in the sun a few months, or at least age for a few months before final finishing for straightness, and painting.
With your project, I would do the fiberglass stuff first, then go back and visit it every couple months to correct shrinkage, while you are doing the rest of the car. By the time you are ready to paint, your repairs will have been well aged.
Doug
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Todd - I strip every one to bare glass - you want to get down to bare - it will also show you any cracks, or repairs or any unstable areas in the glass that you might want to address.
