Wogster

I've always wondered about lowering the value, this past summer I attended a old car show, lots of cars from the 1950's and 1960's, maybe 50 cars altogether, I think it's a safe bet, that maybe one of those cars has the original paint. I think the whole idea of keeping the old paint, is popular in North America, because bicycles are considered toys, so if it's old it must look like a museum piece. Unless I had a rare or special bicycle, I would have no qualms about repainting it, providing I could get replacement decals. Those decals may in fact be from photographs taken before the repaint, that have been custom printed by a sign shop. Stripping the paint allows one to do a proper assessment of the metal underneath and to take care of any corrosion that may be on the frame. I would however use a colour that would be period correct for that manufacturer and time period.

I doubt I would use powder-coat, it's the devil to get off again and it wouldn't look right on a lot of frames that were built before powder coating began, a couple of layers of primer, then a couple of layers of base coat and several layers of clear coat, with the decals going on a layer or two from the top, is suitable though. That might be an option for a patina frame, a good cleaning and then a couple of layers of clear coat to preserve what's there....