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Months ago, Lee and I said we would do hot and tasty versions of the old Carrera Stingray Corvette from years ago. Mine was to be made from the heavily clearcoated bright red model with a black 427 hood. I've had it since they were new and never got around to messing around with it, so this looked like just the thing. Well, I got all balled up looking after my folks and Lee did his, some time ago now.

Fast forward to today, an unbelievably frigid cold day, everything you touch, your finger sticks, no way I'm going outside. I get that old unfinished car out and begin work. Have you ever stripped the clearcoat off one of those things? Wow, that stuff is nasty. I never did get it all. I sanded it and shot some primer, which held nicely. If it hadn't held, I don't know what I would have done. I emptied my bag of tricks in the first hour. It felt like some kind of vinyl, and it only softened a little in alcohol. I whisked it with lacquer thinner and was afraid I might soften the plastic to much, and I tried acetone and several other things. In the end I gave up and went after it with #600 wet paper. I've never seen a finish that sticky, stubborn, or thick on anything.

The blue car with the red stripe is what I'm planning on.

Nice choice of colors. Looking forward to seeing this one completed. I know you can do it.

Joe F.

Greetings, that will be a very cool finish color when you are done. This may seem a strange solution to stripping clear coat and paint, but a bath in Pine-Sol has worked for me. The stuff that is used to clean the house, floors and such. A good soak in the Pine-sol will lift the paint and clear coat. Let the car body soak and watch until the paint and clearcoat start to lift. Then a scrubbing with a soft brush will peal the paint off and not damge the surface of the plastic or resin. A toothbrush works best. Just don't use the wife's. Washing the car in nice warm soapy water will remove the Pine-Sol. Makes your house smell good too. And if you do this when the wife is out she may well just think you have been cleaning the house while she was gone. Could lead to other good things. Regards, John

Thanks, guys. I've been looking forward to doing this ever since I missed out on our little long distance group project last summer.

John, I have a whole roster of stuff I use or have used, including pine cleaner, Simple Green, brake fluid, some weird stuff a friend mixed up for me that doesn't work at all, 91% isopropyl alcohol (almost always works), a degreaser prep for 1:1 cars, all kinds of stuff. I don't remember the last time I had to give up and sand a car to get the clearcoat off. By the time I got the primer on this thing, I had decided to tell the world what a pain it was for revenge.

Tomorrow I'll grind off door handles and fill in all the holes from stuff I took off. I still have to figure out how to make the grill without the bumper attached.

Rob, its about time! After seeing the one Harry did I had to get off my butt and work on mine. Just cut out the opening for the grill in the body and call it done...looks better that way to, or you could just use some mesh behind it.

Here we go, this will be a nice one. You have been doing some really good work lately, this will be no different.

Aw shucks, Boss... but thanks.

Lee, I'm curious to hear if the one you did was an old one like this or the newer, better looking paint. I have this one that was bright red and toylike, and a newer one that is a duller shine maroon. The toylike version has this impenetrable clearcoat.

Rob, the one I had was the maroon one. I bought it used off a guy so the body had been prepped and primed already so I dont know if it was had to strip or not.

That darned Harry, now old Corvettes. I barely have the paint stripped off my short tracker, and now this. It ain't fair I tell ya. :lol: I had forgot all about the project Corvette I had started months ago. I never did try to strip the paint. Looks like it won't be easy. :(