We’ve been working on this project 1977 Jeep Wagoneer, and now that the metalwork is done, we’re back at Treasured Motorcar Customs to watch the refinishing of the vehicle, the owner has chosen the shade of yellow from Sherwin Willams that’s paler than the original color. Of course there will be a noticeable color change as we see here, but the owner is willing to live with that.

We’re refurbishing this jeep not giving it a concours restoration. So, we’ve cut a few corners for the sake of budget. For one, we’re only spraying the outside of the vehicle and the door jambs. Under the hood, and the small body-colored areas inside the Jeep will be projects for another day. With the rusty areas repaired, we now have a solid base to apply paint to, but it still needs to be cleaned, smoothed, and free of dents.

So, the new paint will adhere properly and the paint and finish will look smooth and glossy. First, all of the faded original paint is scuffed, not removed, there is no need to take it down to the bare metal except where the original wood grain vinyl decals are located. Now the entire surface of the car is sanded smooth, larger dents the doors are pulled, body filler is used only to level the surface, not to fill dents.

The primer coat creates a paintable surface and makes imperfections more readily visible to the eye and easier to address. After more sanding and a thorough wipe down, it’s time for the paint. Finally, it gets a wet sanding to polish away any remaining flaws and a final coat of clear. And our Jeep is looking great.

Now one thing that we’ve done here is we’ve decided to use a modern wrap material from 3M, this is a satin white, in place of the original wood grain that it came from the factory with. Now, that gives us a couple of advantages.

Number one, we can remove this material if we ever have a change of mind and we want to change the look of the vehicle or anything, we can take it off, we have good paint underneath, and we can change the color or do whatever want with it. If you have a question or a comment, drop us a line. Right here at MotorWeek.