Bring back the shine to my 1973 VW Beetle

[Bandolito]

Hello ,

I have a 1973 VW Beetle I bought about 4 years ago. I have been slowly working on it, mostly getting all the mechanical things taken care of so I can drive it safely. While I check things off my checklist and wait for bodywork and paint to come up to the top of the list I would like to make the best of the current paint on the car.

It looks as if the car was re-sprayed at some point as evidenced by the painted-over fender beading (I hate that. Was it that much work to loosen the fenders and pull the old beading out BEFORE respraying it?), but I have no idea how long ago. The paint seems somewhat rough to the touch. In some spots on the hood you can see the silhouette of maple tree leaves. And there are scratches here and there. But at any rate, I would like to get the paint to the glossiest, best shine possible while I wait to get to a new paint job.

Any suggestions on what to do and in what order? Other than washing and occasionally waxing my cars I am new to this.

I have attached some pics with closeups of the paint.

Thanks for any suggestions you may have for me!

-J.

[fly07sti]

Do you own any type of polisher?
If it were me, the first thing I would do is a good wipe down of the paint via waterless or rinseless wash. Clay the paint then start my test spots. Also curious to know if it is SS paint or not.