Orange Peel

[Goldstar]

I am seriously considering getting a nice 1979 Mark V, all black, with purportedly original paint but it has orange peel in places. Is this normal? Also, the passenger arm rest is cracked (long plastic part) and needs to be replaced. Is this a big deal?
Thanks,
Peter

[action]

Paint that has "orange peel" is not usually original.
The company went to great efforts in paint a finish in the late 1970s to 1980s to overcome the poor fit and finish from the early 1970s with newer paints.
Customers demanded this as well, If it is obvious most customers would have had the dealership repair paint issues under warranty.

Likely it was repainted.

Action

[JimA]

Are there places to look for evidence of a re-paint? Maybe over-spray that wouldn't have happened at the factory? On weather stripping or door tags or ?????

[Mike]

Are there places to look for evidence of a re-paint? Maybe over-spray that wouldn't have happened at the factory? On weather stripping or door tags or ?????

Yes, around anything that's not painted. Window seals, the rubber grommets behind mirrors, door handles, door locks, edges of chrome trim, around grille etc.. But all those parts can be taken off too no over spray is no guarantee its not repainted.

[Lincolnlovers]

Are there places to look for evidence of a re-paint? Maybe over-spray that wouldn't have happened at the factory? On weather stripping or door tags or ?????

Yes, anywhere that shouldn't have paint (trim, weather stripping, or rubber gaskets and seals) but there is paint on it, definitely indicates a repaint. Another indicator would be a tape line in the hood, trunk, and/or door jambs. Often the owner/paint shop will decide not to paint the jambs and will tape them off. So there may be a rigid tape line in the jamb. The factory doesn't do this, so a factory job won't have a tape edge line.

Having uneven textures in your paint is also an indicator for a re-spray. Factory sprays generally come out with an even texture, so the orange peel is consistent throughout the paint. If there are really slick, glossy areas next to heavy orange peel, dry to dull areas, that would tell me it's a repaint, and not a great repaint at that. Likely the whole vehicle was very orange peely, and there were runs, or heavy trash in the paint, so the painter went back in those areas, wesanded and polished them, but obviously didn't do the entire vehicle, leaving it with different textures overall.

[Goldstar]

Thanks for the help. I turned it down. The paint and engine compartment tells me it has 100k more miles than advertised. Scumbags…