Paint

Brandywine is no longer a consideration for the Firebird, I don't feel I have the confidence or skill to spray this color with any acceptable success.

01/11/2026 update:   Called TCP Global  and spoke to one of the paint techs, he convinced me not to try painting the car in candy paint for several reasons, I have to agree so leaning towards a 2 stage paint, Fire Red Pearl - LOW VOC Urethane Basecoat and Clearcoat.

I am planning to paint the  trunk lid, cowl, hood and rear spoiler individually, here's why..

1.  Painting those parts from primer thru clearcoat will allow me to see if my bodywork is good enough to continue with the remainder of the car. 

2.  I will be able to see the color I have chosen on those parts and I will know if its truly the look I was going for. Julie and the kids will also be able to weigh in on the color.

3. I will be able to see if any of sanding marks made it through my scrutiny, I spent a lot of time prepping for paint so I hope nothing shows thru.

4. I'm still wondering if my painting skills are good enough to paint the entire car and have it look good.

I originally did the bodywork on those 4 parts about two years ago, I stripped the paint off, welded some holes shut that had some lettering I no longer wanted on the car, repaired minor rust and fixed a lot of dents. Then I sprayed an epoxy primer as a sealer and stored the parts until now.  Recently I again worked on some minor ripples, dents and sanding scratches and have now sprayed primer again to prep for paint.

The first coat applied was  OMNI epoxy primer MP170 and MP175 hardener

The second coat applied was also the epoxy primer but I added 10% thinner so it acts as a sealer.

The spoiler and cowl looked great so I stopped at this point with those two parts.

The trunk lid and hood got two coats of OMNI MP282 high build 2k primer. Since those parts were large flat panels I thought it would be good to do one more block sanding prior to paint.  

01/19/26 Update:  My plan was to spray those 4 parts off the car with fire red pearl. After talking to several more painters all told me the same thing, don't paint panels separately and off of the car if I am going to use either pearl or candy paints.  I came to the conclusion that to be safe I should just find a paint that isn't candy or pearl and be content with that choice. 

 A friend stopped by that has done full restorations on several cars who also discouraged against painting "panel by panel" showed me a picture of his 69 mustang he restored, the color was awesome, Keith said he painted it a factory color that Ford used on its 69 Mustang, candy apple red and that it was a very easy 2 stage paint to spray, he was happy with the results. 

Because of Keith's suggestion I am going to spray the trunk lid candy apple red and see if Julie and the kids like it, if they do I will be using that color for the rest of the car.

01/27/2026 Julie Gage and I went to look at Keith's 69 Mustang and all of us agreed that it would be a great color choice for the Firebird.  Candy apple red is not a true candy, its not a transparent color that has all of the technical difficulties that a candy has, it is candy in name only. When I bought the paint, the factory spec for that color recommends a grey sealer or primer under the base coat, I have made a change and will be using OMNI dark grey sealer instead, I just think a little darker shade of red is what I am going for.

Currently the day outside high temps have been around 5 degrees so I am going to wait for  30+ degree temperatures, hopefully in a week or two.  This color is a factory paint option for the 69 Mustang however GM had the exact same paint options and paint code on some of their models. 

As it turns out, choosing the color and the process for painting the car has been the most time consuming (years) piece of build process for the Firebird. If you are a professional painter having all the skills and materials necessary to paint your project then choosing the color may be a more enjoyable part of the journey. 

Here's the products I used for sealer, base coat and clear coat

Sealer:

2K Urethane Sealer - Dark   MP237 

High Build 2K Primer Hardener Normal Temp MH283

Reducer MR185 Fast 55-65 degree 

or 

Reducer MR186 Medium 65-75

Applied 1 coat sealer, 1.4 tip, 30 psi at gun.  When dry to touch I wet sanded 800 grit since the surface felt a bit rough. 

Base Coat:

Candy Apple Red  MBC

Reducer MR185 Fast 55-65°F (13-18°C)   

or

Reducer MR186 Medium 65-75°F (18-24°C) 

Applied 3 coats 1.3 tip 30 psi at the gun. Kept gun tip ~4" from surface and overlapped about 50%. 

Clear coat:

Omni plus high solids urethane clear - MC161

Fast Topcoat Hardener 55 to 65 degree - MH167

or

Slow Topcoat Hardener 75 to 85 degree -  MH168

Applied 3 heavy coats, 1.3 tip 25 psi at the gun. Some orange peel and will need cut and buff at a later time.  After 1'st coat clear a ladybug landed on center of hood and dragged its body around. I used a tweezer to remove it and spray a heavy amount of clear on the area and then continued with the 2 additional coats. The damaged area is not noticeable. 

03/06/2026  Pretty large milestone met in regards to the Firebird progress. Trunk lid, hood, spoiler and cowl all painted in candy apple red and clear coated!

Aaron, Jer, Gage, Julie and I are all happy with the color choice and next step will be to start final body work on car and then paint. In June it will be 5 years since I started this project, had I known what I was in for I think I would have still chosen to do the restore. What an awesome learning experience and fun project it turned out to be. I am sure I made a lot of mistakes but what I have found is that if you ask 10 people how to do a task you will likely get 10 different replys on how to do it.  So the question is, did I pick the right solution to a problem? Time will tell. 

After spraying the first coat of clearcoat on the 4 parts I was mixing another cup of clear and when I got back in the booth to look at the parts a ladybug had flown onto the center of the hood and was dragging itself around to escape. I used the needle nose to pick it out and there was an area about the diameter of a quarter damaged by the bug. I sprayed directly over the damage and then put the 2nd and 3rd (final) coat of clear on and I cant see any remnants of the ladybug being there, quite a relief!

Pictured above is the driver side door prior to paint followed by completed door.  First time I painted doors there was a lot of either solvent pop or orange peel and it was beyond cuting and buffing it out. I sanded the doors to basecoat and during my second attempt  painting the doors I sprayed less product each coat and allowed a longer time for flash off (around an hour after each coat sprayed  and used a slower than recommended hardener) and doors look much better. 

Driver/Passenger door jams were painted prior to front fenders, rear quarter panels and roof. First image is the door jam prior to sanding to bare metal

I always liked the looks of older muscle cars having the tail light area painted black to contrast the base color of the car so I incorporated that look on the Firebird. I temporarily set the trunk lid and bumper on to see if I liked the look with the candy apple red and I do. 

8/30/26 Painted the fenders today and car has taken a big step forward towards completion. Will be putting the car back on the hoist tomorrow and assemble the lower valance, air dam, fender extensions, etc...

09/09/2026 Contacted  and drove out to Five Star Detailing in Rochester to meet with owner Jeremy Kasper to see if he would be able to - correct the orange peel, buff, polish and ceramic coat the car this winter. Jeremy came to my home  within an hour and looked at the paint job and said he would be happy to do the work during the winter. Later that day he texted me with an appointment to do the job on 01/31/2027.

09/12/26  Firebird is assembled with doors and hood on and am taping and masking off painted areas to start body work on the quarters and roof of the car. One day to paint those areas and if paint turns out well the car will be completely painted!