Reviving cellulose paint

[rovermorris999]

I've just bought a 1967 Austin 1100, a real time-warp car. 30k miles, original paint, never welded, it's in amazing condition. However, the paint is oxidised and has swirl marks and light scratches. I was thinking of getting it machine polished/detailed but cellulose is very soft and that may be too aggressive plus someone used to detailing modern cars may not be used to old paint like this. A clay bar gets it smooth but doesn't touch the swirls. Any suggestions?

[Summit_Detailing]

An experienced Detailer will have no problems in transforming the paint/car...infact I'd suggest most will love the challenge on something so old/rare.
In real terms removing the dead layer isn't difficult and doesn't remove much in terms of overall thickness.

Enjoy the tramsformation and the car.

Cheers,

Chris

[rovermorris999]

Thanks Chris. I don't fancy hours of rubbing by hand. I'll ask a couple of local detailers.

[Plymo]

It may not be Cellulose paint though, I know that the minors of the same era were either "Synobel" or Synthetic paint - only the early ones used cellulose.
Not sure it would make a huge difference to what you are doing though, gentle polishes for old paint would be the same regardless but there may be an issue if you have any areas that need touching up.
Sometimes the car number will have a paint type code in it

[Sebring440]

Plymo said:

It may not be Cellulose paint though, I know that the minors of the same era were either "Synobel" or Synthetic paint - only the early ones used cellulose.

Yes, it's very likely (if it's still the original paintwork) to be acrylic paint.

Doesn't really make any difference as far as restoring the gloss goes.

Should ask in the "Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes" section, more experience people on there, rather than modern-car detailers.