Steve,
Bricklin bodies are fiberglas with an acrylic layer bonded to it. The color
is impregnated in the acrylic. The car may have been painted later so it is
hard to tell whether the current owner means he has stripped off the paint or
sanded off the acrylic layer.
There is a special, water-based primer that needs to be used over acrylic.
There is some info about it on the web site.
Both hydraulic and pneumatic door opening systems have large cylinders which
open the doors. If you look in the compartment under the hatch floor behind
the driver's seat, it will be obvious whether the system is hydraulic or
penumatic. You can also look for a vacuum pump under the hood (typically
mounted to the driver's side inner fender) as an indication the doors have
been converted to air.
The hydraulic doors are slow and unreliable, but you may want to keep them if
you can get them working and care about originality. With the air doors, you
may have some work ahead tracking down leaks.
The club maintains a list by VIN and may be able to give you some info on
previous owners.
Scott Isensee
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