Have you ever wondered what it takes to strip a 190SL to bare metal, correcting sheet metal imperfections and completing the process with fresh paint? Have you wondered why your body shop is taking so damn long to paint your car? Well, you needn't wonder any longer as we can show you what it takes to prep and paint a lovely 1962 190SL that one of our clients has asked us to paint.

At first glance this SL looked quite nice with excellent panel fit and generally nice paint depth and gloss. Finished in a rare non-metallic green, 824G, the overall appearance was consistent and attractive. However, when we put our noses down to carefully inspect the paint surfaces, we found it had thousands of small pimples indicating the paint was no longer adhering to the metal underneath. And as we sighted along various surfaces looking at fender/grille/headlight symmetry, we noticed the right headlight bucket was pitched back a good ¼” compared to the drivers side. This is a good practice as you look at any pre-1972 SL. Stand back and look at the nose and tail to see how all the features line up relative to each other.

Ready for disassembly. Paint color is rare 834G Green.		Pimples indicative of lifting paint.		Inner front fender inspection reveals scar from nose repair.

Looking underneath the fender at the inner surface revealed why the headlight was slightly askew. A fairly serious bit surgery had been performed to repair a crushed right front corner. Ouch!

All would be revealed with a full chemical strip of all paint material from the body. This is done with a very caustic liquid paint stripper applied to the paint surface. Due to the heavy caustic nature of this material, areas to be left alone have to be carefully masked to avoid any stripper contact.

But first the car needed to have every external item removed, carefully labeled and boxed. We want to avoid the classic body shop failing, lost parts! Once stripper has been slathered on a paint section and allowed to percolate for a few minutes, the paint is removed with various width putty knives. This is a stinky and messy process but once completed reveals the underlying metal in all its glory or, as can be the case, all its lumpy horrific mess!

Removing all external parts.		Respirator required during stripping.		Virgin aluminum right door!

Aside from a misguided repair to the nose, this little SL was really quite solid, particularly when you figure it has been on the road for 44 years. The passenger door was a piece of art, its aluminum skin absolutely untouched. The nose repair was a classic case of barely straightening the wrinkled metal and filling deep low spots around the repair with massive amounts of bondo. The craftsmen at the factory who so carefully fit this car together in 1962 would have cried at the sight of this mess!

Thick bondo covers poor metal repair.		Removal of bondo shows crude repair.		Seam over wheel arch reveals where new fender section was butt welded.

Tune in next month for the next installment on bringing this cool SL back to its former glory.

And the next time you look at a 190SL, check the general alignment of body features and try to have a look underneath the fenders for signs of surgery.

Ready for all old bondo to be removed and metal correctly repaired.