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Hello team, I have a steel city grey 72 that I believe is original paint. It has many blisters of varying size. Will original paint do this over time, or am I looking at a previous repaint? I can’t find evidence of a repaint.
Thank you
Hi Bob, I have not seen this happen with orig. paint personally, but anything is possible. Are these blisters concentrated in one are? The hood perhaps? Could you share some pics?
Cheers, Greg
Either rivet bumps or are they over the bonding area where the top and fenders/qtr panels meet. That's pretty common for original paint cars of this age.
I have a repaint on my pace car which was done in 2001 . It was done in a friends garage who was a body/paint guy for 45 yrs or so.
As of maybe 5 yrs ago I started getting little blisters on varies parts of the car . These areas include the rear spoiler, drivers fender and a few on the hood.
I always assumed (right or wrong) it was caused by an error in the prep work at some point. I am sure it wasn't because of all the beers we enjoyed while doing the work. They are very small but numerous in those areas.
They are hard to see unless standing right at the areas
2025 c3 ('74-'82) of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2022 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2020 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
Now granted, my car is kind of a freak. I've had it since birth & it's always had a garage.
And it hasn't been on a wet street since 1985.
But no, original paint doesn't always do that... IMG 0165
Thank you all for your comments. I know rivet bumps and it is not that. The hood and front fenders are ok. The vertical surfaces are ok. The bumps range in size from where you can only feel them to about the size of a small water droplet. They are on the horizontal surface of the tops, cross bar, rear corners and rear deck. I’ve read about poor covers in bad climates can cause this due to moisture entrapment. Mainly on resprays, never heard if it on originals, thats why i asked. Sorry no photos as i am not near the car right now. Thanks again
Bob, what you describe sounds like solvent bubbles. I have seen this periodically with repaints. And yes, this would be due to the prep at some point. If I had to guess, and without seeing your car, I would say it has probably had a repaint at some time as I've never seen this issue with a factory spray.
Is it obvious enough that you want to deal with it, or is it just something you've found and can live with?
Greg
Greg, it’s something i can live with. The car is all numbers original and fully operational. Everything (except clock) works well. If it were original paint, I would definitely leave as is to preserve the “survivor “ status. If it is a respray then maybe sometime in the future between other projects I might tackle it. Thanks for your input!
Bob
I have only seen this on repainted cars. I have heard it is cause by poor preparation, perhaps the bare fiberglass being exposed to oils from bare hands.
I'm the original owner of my '70 and it still has the original Acrylic Lacquer paint. Many, many years ago a blister appeared on the drivers door, lower part of the door, near the front. About the size of a quarter.
I removed the blister, filled the "hole", and paint blended the repair. That was over 40 years ago, still looks good. No evidence of a previous repair.
Original paint blisters?
