Hi! I'm very new to restoration. I have 1970 124 Berlina. I really love it and want to do good work on it. It has spoilt original paint, a few welded places and replaced fenders. And it is time to paint it. Folks in body shop recommended to me don't clear the body to the bare metal. But, instead of it, smooth the old paint to the old priming put a new priming on it and then paint it out. I doubt about this is really good solution.

Please help me, describe to me what is good and what is bad? What should I prefer?

once you go to bare metal it will start rusting so unless you envisage paint reactions theres no way i would go to steel

It sounds right from what your saying, basically you only want to repair the bits of the panel that need it.

For instance if the bonnet has a small dent on the near side where it meets the wing then you only need to repair where the damage is. Providing the rest of the panel is in reasonable condition then once the outer substrate of the repair has been feathered out the remainder just needs scotching and is ready for paint. Once painted the whole panel will look good as new. The latter also applys to any blend panels too.

Hope that makes sense and you understand what I mean