Buffing a Hoover to bare metal.

[cars-guy]

Hey all, new to the forums. Not sure how it’s taken me ten years to join but here we are.

I have an interesting idea. I’ve been on a kick of restoring a few of the many vintage vacs I have, 2 of which, are a rounded hood w light green convertible and a hoover model 28. Both are mechanically and aesthetically in great shape except for the paint on the metal base.

I don’t have a lot money to spend on buying matching paint or powder coating so here was my idea. What about striping the paint and polishing the aluminum of the bases only to a nice chrome finish like a Kirby or old hoover coffee can? The convertible is already sanded and ready for paint so I may do that still. Much cheaper than powder coating and would look original (buffing would be even cheaper) The model 28 would have to be powder coated to get the original almost hammered finish it came with.

Either way for both, the original paint can’t be saved. The convertible is already sanded so I can paint it or buff it down to shiny aluminum. The Model 28 I can leave as is with a fair amount of exposed aluminum (somehow doesn’t look terrible like some 28s with badly scuffed paint and a lot of paint transfer) or buff it down too. I could always take it apart again later and powder coat it when funds allow.

I think at least the 28 would look pretty cool and unique in silver and brown. Not sure about the convertible but who knows.

Any thoughts or any reason why this sounds like a bad idea.

 

[human]

I had the same impulse with an Electrolux PN4A power nozzle a few years ago. It was in decent shape, except the Silverado gray paint was horribly scarred. I got the bright idea of sanding it down to bare metal and polishing it up like the earlier PN4 that shipped with the Olympia One. I spent hours on it, but that paint was tougher than it looked, and I never got it completely down to bare metal. On a trip to Lowe's to look at chemical strippers to speed up the process, I spotted Rustoleum Hammertone Paint and Primer in one. It's designed to go on with a certain amount of 'orange peel' and it hides a world of sins. Eight years later, it still looks great. The available colors are a little limited, but you might find something that will work.You can read the thread on that PN4A restoration here.

Full disclosure, a year or two later, I acquired another scarred up Silverado gray PN4A, and rather than go to the trouble of painting it, I got lucky and found a polished PN4 top cover on the cheap and just swapped it onto the second power nozzle.

 

[hoover300]

A collector named Mike Balda did a 28 this way awhile back. This is what the end result looks like

 

[kirbyklekter]

A collector named Mike Balda did a 28 this way awhile back. This is what the end result looks like

That looks really nice and would be pretty easy to maintain it's shiny appearance.

 

[cars-guy]

Thanks all. I ended up keeping the 28 original. I did a test spot on the convertible with the buffer and I think I will polish it. The casting, however looks as though it went through a different finishing process than say a Kirby before being painted. Even though it came to a mirror finish, it has an almost wavy texture up close. Guess Hoover didn’t expect someone to strip it down and polish it 60 years later.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

But.... it's still working, as it was built to do. That hood looks to be in great shape.

 

[cars-guy]

But.... it's still working, as it was built to do. That hood looks to be in great shape.

It is in good shape. It just needed a good cleaning. That vacuum was in the same family since new