Our Alfa Romeo’s bright-red paint was photogenic but a mess in person, holding back the condition grade for the whole car. Though the paint was applied relatively well, it bore the hallmarks of bad preparation: wavy sheet metal, scratches from poor sandpaper selection, and painted trim obviously left in place during the respray.
Repainting the car would help, but we …
I just picked up a 77 MGB in what I believe to be Damask Red. Looks good, shine but upon closer exam it looks like stains on flat surfaces. Possibly from being under a tarp? The car allegedly sat for a number of years. I may attempt to wetsand in an out of the way area. Thouhts?
You can do quite a lot with paint that is solid and not cracking, even to the point of being completely dull. Light wetsanding followed by a buffer with sometimes just water will bring paint up to a relative shine and smoothing. Each successive step which may be light compounding or glazing will improve even further. I like the process as my interest is mostly in getting the paint to looking very good for driver purposes. I am not a concours guy and really don't have interest in museum pieces. That is the work of the high end painters and restorers and those that have a checkbook that is virtually unlimited. To me the real challenge is making someting out of nothing that most others would give up on. Also I like the patina of the existing project. There is something for everyone in the redoing of autombile appearance.
In reply to joeymec :
That's exactly what I intend to do with this
There are a few spots where the paint is down to the primer but I'll blow a little on in those spots and then color sand everything together. I'll try on the inside bottom of the trunk until I get it close then order up a quart
Driver quality is my goal not perfection 
What about saving the dreaded clear coat flaking and fading, or at least making it look presentable? I have a Milano with parts that still have clear coat, parts with the clear coat completely gone and parts with the clear coat with a hazy, foggy appearance.
I have repaired a small section by wet sanding and then rattle can clear coating it but wondering if there are other methods that could be performed over the entire car.
Many cars have this failure of clear coat such as Boxster 986's and similar. Yes, I know my Milano is a bit old but I have other old cars without this type of failure, namely Porsche 944s, Sciroccos, Alfettas, etc.
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