Refurbishing a 1964 Ford Thunderbird Interior with ColorBond Car Interior Paint

Chris Ito recently shared the results of the refurbishment of his 1964 Ford Thunderbird interior using ColorBond LVP Refinisher car interior paint. As Design Director with a major vehicle manufacturer, Chris understands vehicle interior styling, and use of interior paints and dyes. We are pleased Chris believes ColorBond is the best interior paint available.

“I was on vacation in Venice Beach, Florida visiting my in laws. I was bored and surfing online when I came across the Thunderbird. It was a stalled restoration. The car had sat outside in the Florida sun for years with the top down. The previous owner had done the body, paint, engine and suspension, but the interior hadn’t been restored. He just wanted to get rid of it” Explains Chris. “I mentioned to my wife I was going to take a drive to check it out, and before I went home, I had bought it.” Chris laughs.

The original red vinyl and interior plastic had severely discolored in the sun. The vinyl had been baked to a brown color. Chris said he decided to simply repaint the interior with car interior paint.

“I had used ColorBond interior paint about 30 years ago when it had a different name. I was in high school and I had a 1940 Ford Truck Street rod and had repainted the seats. I kept the truck for three years after that and the paint never peeled or scratched. Later, I used it the paint to change the interior of my 1971 Datsun 1200 Roadster from blue to black. It was my daily driver and I never had to touch up scratches. The parts store in Oregon where I got the paint from went out of business and by the time I needed to use car interior paint again. By that time, I had forgotten the brand name of the paint, so I couldn’t find it.“ Says Chris.

Chris said he tried other brands of automotive interior paints but was never happy with the results, saying that other brands of paint went on too thick, which made it prone to cracking. He finally rediscovered ColorBond through the Thunderbird restoration parts supplier he buys from. To prep before painting, Chris cleaned the door panels, rear quarters and seats with ColorBond Prep Cleaner, and then applied ColorBond Adhesion Promoter. Then he sprayed those components with LVP Refinisher. 

“I used 14 cans of LVP Refinisher to complete the project. ColorBond just lays down nice. It is a thin coat that has excellent coverage. It doesn’t crack, and with the coat being thin, it doesn’t hide the grain pattern of the vinyl or plastic. When I got done it looked exactly like red vinyl! My friends couldn’t believe it.” Chris continues “ColorBond is the best interior trim color paint I had ever used during my 30 years in the industry.”

Thanks to Chris Ito for sharing his story. The results were excellent.

To learn more about ColorBond LVP Refinisher Click Here

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