I am starting the bodywork on my 69 and am questioning the method of painting the doghouse from the cowl forward. Was originally thinking that I would paint the body shell, seperate from the trunk, hood, fenders and header panel and then assemble after painted. However, after my trial fit of the sheetmetal, I am wondering how I will be able to do this without scratching the crap out of the finished panels. Anyone have adivise? Also, how did the factory paint these items? It seems as if during disassembly that they were painted individually.?? Also what about blocking the panels off the vehicle? Sorry for the long post.

The way it should be painted is assembled. The jambs all get cut in, then it gets assembled and painted. If it gets painted separatley, it could end up like my 69 and be 4 different shades of the color which looks like crap and is VERY noticeable. If you want to paint everything individually, make sure they all get paintedon the same day from the same paint mixture. When reassmebling, you can load up all the edges with masking tape to prevent paint chipping when bolting everything back together.