Stripped

The first priority was to strip the hideous exterior paint & rust off and get it into one solid color. It had been spray painted dark green & white and every inch was covered with surface rust & scrapes.

I worked on one panel at a time with a DA orbital sander & wire brush attached to an electric drill. The paint & rust came off and surprisingly the metal underneath was in great shape! I used self-etching primer then painted with Wolfsburg West's L345 Light Gray spray paint, the color I planned to have it professionally painted after the welding process.

For three months I worked almost daily and by Christmas the truck was all Light Gray on the outside. The bumpers were painted Silver-White to match the rims & front emblem. And gray hub caps were fitted to complete the original look.

In January 2019 I finally stripped the rear gate, the final panel to get painted.