Looking for opinions on a survivor car

[rsms]

Although 67 & 68 Camaros are my main passion, I just recently bought a low mileage and always a garaged, special occasion only 1966 Marlin that is the most assembly line correct & original car I think I have ever seen.  My delima is, the owner in the early 80's tried to brighten up the engine a little bit and spray painted the engine.  Originally the engine is a shade of red that has a little orange in it, and he used what looks to be a chevy orange to re-paint it.  The original decals are still on the on the engine, but you can see light over spray on it.  Even though the car shows extremely well, if I re-paint the engine and change the decal it will be nicer than original.  If I leave it, it is also still not assembly line correct, but it would at least look more vintage and will show a little oil seepage.  The engine currently has the worst finish/appearance by far of any area on the car, every other finish under the hood is very nice and totally original down to belts, hoses and ignition components.  One more tidbit, I had to rebuild the original water pump, it will have to be painted as it was boiled.   I'm curious as to what others' opinions would be as to how it would score higher if it was to be judged.  Is it better to look old and incorrect or look fresh and correct?  I wanted to ask this in a non-AMC forum to get a different perspective. 

[R68GTO]

I would repaint the engine the correct color and "age it" by employing various methods.  For methods on aging, go to some of the forums where guys build replicas of old board track racer motorcycles, they have lots of interesting techniques to recreate "patina".  Clay bar might remove the overspray from stickers.

[maroman]

Try thinner on a rag. It may only effect the fresh paint not the seasoned. Except for being a Rambler I have always like the appearance of Marlins.

[rsms]

I've decided to pull all of the bolt-ons off the engine and re-seal the front cover and oil pan and then re-paint it.  My rationale is, either way it's not original so I might as well make it proper.  I will play around with tinting the paint to try and achieve a weathered look the best i can and just go with it.  I've been experimenting with the decals, and I will have to replace them as they were previously taped when the engine was spray bombed, leaving a buildup on the edges and the tape removal must have damaged them.  Has anyone ever had luck "aging" decals??     I've never owned a Marlin and have only seen one other in the wild before, I came across this while looking for an AMX to park next to my 68Z.  AMC seemed to use a hodge podge parts from the others, the plug wires are from Packard, the coil and distributor cap and rotor are Delco.  The 65 was a Rambler Marlin, the 66 was a Marlin and in 67 they also called it a Marlin only, but I think the base for it was more on the lines of an Ambassador, they became a little bigger and bulkier looking.  It was a low production 3 year only run so they are pretty uncommon, most everyone that sees it thinks it a version of an early Charger.  Thanks for your tips and suggestions

[cook_dw]

Upload a photo so we can see what you are working with.

Or email me a photo and I will upload it.


darrellwadecook@gmail.com

[vtfb68]

Depending on how good the OO prepped before he painted the motor you may be able to Hi-pressure or steam clean the repaint off.
 Works on Earl Scheib style paint jobs too.

   VT

[rsms]

Darrel, I just emailed you a couple of pictures of the Marlin.  VT, unfortunately I've tried several methods to remove the orange paint and the only places I've had any luck is where the original paint was missing.  The only thing I haven't tried was dry ice blasting, I just don't think the results would justify the expense seeing how the original paint has flaked off in numerous places under the orange. 

[cook_dw]

Photos from Scott.

Before removing from garage and before cleaning of engine

[cook_dw]

Last few after washing off.

[maroman]

It ain't a Camaro but I am impressed.

[David K]

Just drive it and enjoy it.

[68camaroz28]

Just drive it and enjoy it.

Dang, I agree! Just do things to help preserve. And Darrell is a great source for that.........

[crossboss]

Love it! Not my favorite AMC..However, as the others have mentioned, drive and enjoy...

[PURESS]

Nice looking car, just saw one last weekend at Gearhead show in Maple Lake, MN

[BULLITT65]

The value of the car is the originality, even if the owner did a aerosol overhaul on the motor, it all tells the story of the car. I would run the car as is. I would just replace the water pump, no paint, and let it weather. That would be the easiest way to get it to have patina in the shortest amount of time, AND when guys replaced them back in the day, or shortly after purchase it was more likely to not have paint, and they were more into the function. My 69Z is unrestored and the water pump got swapped out pretty early on, no paint just replaced with an auto parts store water pump. I have a the correct pump to go back on, and it just sits on a shelf. The car works fine so why mess with a good thing? * I don't show my car or really work for show car points. Hope this helps, have fun. 🙂

[rsms]

Thanks for all of the opinions.... I've been playing around with a custom tint on the paint and still haven't been able to bring myself to paint it even if the color is getting really close to what I think it should be. 

[Stingr69]

Here is a pretty one I saw yesterday. '67

[Stingr69]

A few more.  He was at Cars and Coffee a few weeks ago.